I was chilling out at my own room, and the loudspeaker on the room blared. 

‘Ms Bloor, will you come to the front desk, please? You have a visitor.’ 

Visitor? I never had one. 

I groaned, and put on my denim jacket, my favourite one. 

I trudged down from my room, on the third floor, and arrived at the front desk. 

‘What took you that long?’ The receptionist, Mrs Bulg asked. 

‘Just a little setback, now here I am, am I?’ 

She sighed, and told me to wait. 

It’s actually a long story, but my guardian left me at the orphanage, due to some problems with me, as she thought that I was a burden, a way too heavy burden. I’ve ended up here ever since — the orphanage. I rarely had visitors, and well, you can say that I was isolated. I didn’t like to communicate, due to the fact that I had a jaw problem and a vocal cord problem. When I spoke, I was very soft, and I just couldn’t speak louder, and didn’t speak unless I had to. My parents died in a car crash when I was six.

I also had a problem in my ear, well, it wasn’t a hearing problem, it was just an disfigured ear. It was lopsided, but just my left ear. My right ear was completely fine. My parent just left me to rot in this stupid place. And then, Mrs Bulg came back with an middle aged man, and she told me that he was my dad. 

Impossible. I rolled my eyes at them. 

My dad was dead. He was killed in a freak car accident.

‘You’re not my dad. Pray tell, who are you?’ 

‘Your dad, Tals. Your dad.’ 

‘He died in a car crash. I saw that happen.’ 

He frowned. 

Definitely not my dad. In my memory, when dad frowned, he looked like a potato. 

‘You’re not my dad. Who are you?’ 

‘Taliana, it’s normal. Denial is the first phase when you see your parents.’ 

‘Have I told you? This is not my parent. When my father frowned, he looked like a potato!’ 

Mrs Bulg frowned at me. 

‘Manners, Bloor.’ 

‘How can I be polite if someone is here to kidnap me, or possibly kill me?’ 

‘He has requested to leave with you. He’s reclaiming you.’ 

‘Impossible.’ 

I sulked. Then, I knew that he wasn’t a parent, or a relative. I just knew it. There was this gut instinct. 

‘Fine. Have it your way then.’ I just followed him out of the orphanage, not taking anything with me. 

He showed me to the back door of the orphanage, and he shoved me into a limousine, well, at least tried to. 

I kicked him on the crotch, knowing that a man’s weak spot was that, so I did that. 

He made an oomph, and fell to the ground, with a thud. Ouch. That must’ve hurt. 

He managed to pull out a whistle, and he blew on it. At first, I thought that it had failed, but it was a silenced whistle. 

Three bodyguards, bulky and surly, walked out from the limousine. Sweet, another three. I just didn’t know if I had the courage or not.

I felt a surge of emotions in me, fury taking up most of it. I just punched and kicked, and punched and kicked. And  I just managed to take them down, weird. I never had martial arts training. Or any training on these areas. It must’ve been my instincts kicking in. And most of all, I did that without breaking a sweat. 

I walked, calmly to the orphanage, back in from the back door. Mrs Bulg was there, watching me, and planning to watch me leave, another burden from her shoulders. 

And she looked shocked as I strolled back in, surprised that me, the freak had a split personality. 

‘Taliana, remind me never to piss you off.’ 

I nodded, and silently climbed the stairs, going back to my dorm. 

Oh. They were in for a shock tomorrow. Mrs Bulg just couldn’t see through the murky glass of the back door. Wait till they throw the trash. 

I woke up sometime, in between the night and the morning. And heard a scream. As I was the most daring in the whole orphanage, even more than the other staff and janitors, I went out to check what happened. And stifled a smile. 

There the trash lady was, throwing out the trash. 

‘What happened?’ I asked ‘calmly’. I did that. 

‘Who are they?’ She asked me. 

‘Better call the police.’ I fished out a phone from my pyjama pocket, one that I always kept there. 

I called the police, and after a short time, there were sirens. I guess that they were patrolling in the area. 

And some people in sharp blue, and yellow jackets came up. 

‘Who found this?’ 

The trash lady raised her hand, and told the whole story. 

‘I was out, dumping the trash, and I saw these four, strapped to the lamppost by some filthy rope. Possibly some rope from the trash. It was the most peculiar thing I’ve ever seen.’ Oh yes. I did that. I rummaged in the trash can and found those. I wanted to say, sarcastically. 

‘How about you, missy? What did you see?’ 

I tapped my fingers on the policeman’s arm, and he yelled. 

‘Don’t touch me... oh.’ He realised what I was attempting to do. 

‘Morse. Can you repeat that again?’ 

I tapped the same rhythm again on the policeman’s arm, telling him what I saw and heard. 

‘All right, we’re done here. Folks, clear up!’

‘Wait, don’t you need them for interrogation? See if they’re working for the same group.’ 

Wait. Group? This is getting banged up. 

‘What do you mean?’ Trash Lady asked the policemen. 

‘Lady, you stay here. I’ll need the kid to follow me, if that’s ok.’ 

I nodded, and whispered that I would follow the men. I trusted them, according to my gut. 

Trash Lady went and told Mrs Bulg, who was also woken up by the commotion and  the sirens. 

‘Take care, will you? From the both of us.’ Trash Lady whispered in my ear, the normal one, and took off. 

Actually, I have to admit, the ride was quite pleasant. The policemen were entertaining. They sang along to the radio, in a funny way, like those people who know how to sing, but just made it out of tune. 

I nearly burst into laughter. 

‘This girl’s not a laugher.’ 

Of course I am not one. I don’t even talk. 

‘What do you like to do, kid?’ The officer next to me asked. She wasn’t the one that I had communicated with. Evidently he didn’t know my ‘issue’. 

‘Dude. Try another way. She doesn’t talk.’ 

‘But she can hear, can you?’ The officer next to me asked. I nodded. 

‘Use another form of communication, I meant.’ 

‘Can you talk?’ 

‘Yes.’ I said, in my loudest volume possible. 

‘Pardon?’ They asked. 

I just knew that it wouldn’t work. 

I morse tapped on her arm. 

‘._|_...|_ _ _|.._|_|  |-|….|._|_ |  |_ _._|.._|.|…|_|..| _ _ _| _.|,  |..|._..|..|_._|.|-|_ _ _|._.|.|._|_..|.’ 

‘Oh. You like to read!’ 

‘Which book?’ 

‘|….|._|._.|._.|_._ _|  |._ _.|_ _ _|_|_|.|._.|, |_|….|_ _ _|._..|.|…|.|._.|..|.|…|.’

‘Oh. You like Harry Potter. That’s nice. Look what I happen to have?’ She rummaged near the seat, and pulled out a complete box of Harry Potter books. The whole series. My fav. 

I immediately immersed into the stack of books that were pushed into my hand. I smiled at the police men and started to read. 

After some while, we stopped at a local LEO’s. 

‘We’re here!’ I was halfway through the Order of the Phoenix. The spot where Umbridge was humiliated in front of the whole OWL examination students with the fireworks. 

I just couldn’t stop reading. So I just while walked, and read. 

The one that gave me the books opened the door. 

‘Stay here.’ She motioned to a chair, and told me to sit and wait for her. Then she was gone for a whole 15 minutes. 

‘Hi. I would like you to meet officer Foa. He’s the chief here. Say hi.’ 

I waved, and continued to read. 

‘A quiet child, is she?’ 

She nodded, I saw the action from the corner of my eye. 

‘Kid, the officer wants to ask you questions. I’ll be with you all the time, don’t worry.’ 

They led me to a room, a conference room. 

There was a pen, and a sheet of paper lying on the glass table. 

‘Tell us what happened. Again.’ The officer told me, and I took the paper, and started to write. 

I wrote everything that I knew of, and handed the paper to Officer Foa. 

‘Oh. Nice and elegant script. I wish that my daughter had that manuscript. She writes, all over the place, messy and scrawls. Cut the crap. Did you know that the one that you saw, chained to the lamppost wasn’t just an ordinary citizen. He had quite a rap sheet. He’s a serial killer, child abuser, and not to mention the sexual harassment files charged against him.’ 

What? I certainly didn’t know that. 

‘Do you know anything more? It’s time to tell the tale.’ 

I motioned for another sheet of paper, and another A4 came to me. 

I wrote and wrote, and drew some of them. I talked about myself, and my life in the orphanage, and it just only took up a page of paper. 

I gave the paper to them to read and watch, and they just didn’t react to anything. 

‘Kid, anything about the case? Did you see anyone, anything when you went down and saw the trash dumping lady?’ 

Great. Time to let the cat out of the bag. I snatched back the sheet of paper, and flipped to the last page, and told the, everything, literally everything, from the morning at the orphanage and so. Then, I pushed the paper back to them nervously. 

It was watching a plasma screen. That’s what they were. Their expression changed from doubt to awe, and from awe to questioning. 

‘Really? Did you do that?’ 

‘Will you excuse me, Neah.’ 

The woman officer’s name was Neah. Nice name. 

That made me feel anxious. What was officer Foa gonna do to me?

It turns out that he just wanted to have a talk with me, and as I thought that the talk had ended, he had just started, as he told me. 

‘How did you manage to take the dude down?’ 

He asked, and I whispered in his ear. 

‘I just fought, instinctively. Don’t ask me why and how.’ 

He seemed to understand. 

‘Did you have any training of martial arts or sorts?’ 

I shook my head. 

‘Huh.’ He shrugged. 

‘I would hate to see some potential like that go to waste.’

‘Then what should I do?’ 

‘Come with me. And I know that you trust me.’ 

I did, actually. And anyway, I followed him towards where he indicated, and he locked the door behind me. 

What the heck are you attempting to do? My brain gears were whirring. 

‘There’s a form for you to sign, a recommendation letter for you to read. Come back here in a week. That is, if you agree to do this.’ I nodded, indicating that I understood him, and he gave me a ride, in his personal car, a Ferrari. Wow. I didn’t know that a police officer had the money to purchase a car like this. 

He dropped me off at the orphanage, and promised me visits. He was really as close as a father to me. My second father, that is. 

He kept his promise. The next thing I knew, I was visited by Officer Foa, and along with a couple of his deputy friends. 

I was knowing people daily. And it just kept on coming. All the people were itching to see the girl, the one who took down the most wanted criminal in the States. I received file after file, file after file, all asking for my signature, and the permission for me to attend their academy. I just didn’t even place a finger on those stuff. The people in the orphanage were nicer to me. The lunch lady gave me more than I usually could have, and she even gave me extra fruits. I ended up having two apples in a meal, or two bananas in one meal. She also gave me stuff that I usually don’t get, for example spaghetti Bolognese which was fresh from the stove, not those ones from the leftover pantry and he even bought me burgers from her own fund! 

And with the help of Mrs Bulg, who was more than happy to do so, I started combing through the files that the visitors gave me. We counted more than a dozen, to be total. 

I was flipping through files, and Mrs Bulg was here to assist me. I just couldn’t choose! There were ones from the major agencies in USA, including NSA, CIA, FBI, DOJ and so on. There were also minor ones, for example LAPD, NYPD, Chicago PD etc. You know, I just didn’t want too much attention. 

‘Hm, I’ve heard of this agency, it has a good reputation. Their efficiency is the highest above all the other ones.’ Mrs Bulg pointed to a file. I picked it up, and started to read. 

It was agency that I’ve never even heard of. 

An agency by the name of NCIS. By Naval Criminal Investigative Service. 

‘Wait, here’s another one on NCIS.’ She handed me another file. For the LA field office. 

‘That much for the same agency?’ 

‘There’re different units, you know?’ 

I think I’ll go with this agency then. The people there seem nice, the recommendation letter’s nicer. 

I pushed the file over to Mrs Bulg, and she asked me a question. 

‘Is that the one that you’ve intended to apply for?’ She asked, but the look on her was weird, very weird. 

Then, I realised my mistake. It was a form from Spain. How would I afford to go to Spain? I blushed and corrected my mistake. But the problem was, I’ve had difficulties choosing between the field offices of the states. 

The ones that I wanted to go were the DC one and the LA one, but I just couldn’t choose. 

I pushed the two forms towards Mrs Bulg, and she just looked at it. 

‘You want me to help you choose? I would recommend the closest one.’ 

The LA office then. I silently agreed with her. The people seemed nice. I think. 

Then, the next day, I had Mrs Bulg call the man that gave me the file. And he arrived, with Officer Foa in tow. 

‘Well, which one did you decide on?’ The answer was pretty obvious, was it? The other files and letters were hidden in my desktop drawer, and only the LA office of NCIS remained, the others dying of loneliness. 

‘Oh. That one. That’s the reason why you called us in, did you?’ I nodded. 

‘Great. Now will you just cooperate with us, and we’ll be set in no time!’ Officer Foa said. 

I did, and they led me into the conference room of the orphanage. 

‘You know, you can choose, and have options, do you?’ Officer Foa said. ‘I’m giving you a couple of options, and this has been passed through the hands of the director and he approved. First, you receive training and become immediately a field agent, and usually the trainees become junior field agents. And the second one is that you can be free from training, and you just simply be a junior field agent. What is your choice?’ 

I held up my fingers and showed them my choice. 

‘ Kay, not much people choose this option. Rare.’ He mused. I had chosen option 1. 

‘When will she start?’ Mrs Bulg asked me the question that I’ve been dying to ask. 

‘As soon as possible.’ 

‘She’s still able to visit, is she?’ ‘Definitely. In her spare time. And don’t mention it to anyone.’ 

We both nodded to show our understanding, and the man that I’ve been requested to contact if I wanted the job told me to hitch a ride with him. 

We arrived at a training centre, and he told me that I should go and unpack my bags. I just had a small duffle bag containing my toiletries and some of my personal stuff, for instance clothes. 

And I did unpack, in a new dorm due to the fact that I was the newest trainee in the whole camp and all the other rooms were full. 

He told me that I was gonna need rest, as it was almost 10, and I had to wake up at a regular basis, just like I did at the orphanage. 

I fell into a deep sleep right after he was gone. 

And when I reopened my eyes, I was at a place which I’ve never went to, or had memories of. It was an abandoned piece of land, rugged land. It felt rocky, and if I had driven a car across it, I would’ve had motion sickness. And I also saw three silhouettes around fifty feet away from me, their faces not known to me, as their backs were facing me. 

I heard screams. And villainous laughter. My instincts told me to run, or save those three people, and I just followed the second option that my gut had given me. 

I dashed towards the three people, and two of them were on the floor, writhing, and obviously in pain. And the other was standing. I seemed to be invisible to the third persons, the only one standing. I rushed to the two on the ground, and attempted to offer aid, but I just couldn’t. And there was a familiar sensation, a tingling sensation when I know that something bad is about to happen. 

And I stared onto the ghostly pale faces of my mum. And dad.

This was when I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Then I snapped back into consciousness. 

My parents didn’t die in a car crash. They were murdered in cold blood. I need vengeance! I’m gonna kill who’s responsible for this! The man with the ski mask! I’m coming after your blood! 

The signal of my clock broke my chain of thoughts. It was exactly six. I’ve been thinking about the dream images that I’ve seen for more than an hour. Great. 

I got up, and prepared myself for the day. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. A boring one? A one full of events?

I had no idea what was in for me. 

I stared at my electric timetable that I’ve been handed on the moment that I stepped foot on the campus, great.

Another form of torture. Dusting the scene for evidence and forensic evidence, well, not exactly that, the ‘crime scene’ was in the garage, and it wasn’t a scene at all. Just a car. The next thing I needed, some peaceful thing to contrast with my raging mind. 

I nearly lost all my patience. There were supposed to be an assessment, and I have to say, I might’ve failed it. Luckily someone did even worse than me. I just couldn’t bear the though that I would be embarrassed on my first day at the academy. I landed in the last three of the class. Not bad, out of 20. 

Then, hand to hand combat. Finally something for me to let my feelings out. 

I was assigned to a person in protective gear. A larger size, the s size, not like how the beginners started, the xs size. I had to use anything that I had on hand and try and repel the man that was running towards me, dressed like an overly-fat penguin. I had only my fists, and there were grass around me. Grass! That’s it! Why hadn’t I though of that before! Grass is the most sturdy in the world of botany!

I dodged, not taking the initiative to attack, and the mentors and classmates of mine all had a confused face on. They just didn’t know what I was about to do. And they thought that I wasn’t oblivious of the time limit. I was.

I dodged, and crawled. I also pulled up a few handfuls of grass, and wove them into a long object. And the people’s faces were even more confused than before. I heard some whispers of ‘what the heck is she doing?’ ‘Is she nuts?’.

Ha. Luckily for the lessons, weaving, botany at the orphanage, the ones that I’ve always paid attention in, I knew how to weave a deadly weapon. I did so by weaving and securing the strands of grass and making them into a nunchakus like object for me to swing. And by combing the ripped piece of my jeans, I managed to make the weapon. The man was bulky due to the protective suits that he was wearing, which made him resemble a penguin. 

I also used the advantage that I was the smallest and the youngest of the whole crew, and I successfully slid under the man, and tripped him, by tangling the rope of grass that I had made. 

They finally knew what I was attempting to do. I had defeated the man in the protective suit, not by brawn, but by brain. By choosing a strategy that I would benefit from, I had changed their views on me. 

The last days of training past. From the person who had always been the last in classes, I had successfully morphed into the person who was admired by others. There were people, adults, some that I didn’t even know of, coming and congratulate me, and I had the well earned nickname of MacGyver. They must’ve heard of my legacy. From the abandoned kid, I was the kid that everyone wanted to steal a look at, and even touch.

And after months, after finishing the course, I graduated from the Academy with flying colours. And I did indeed get accepted into the LA team. And Officer Foa let his promise. I got to be a field agent, directly promoted. And I was on the major team, with the elites. I didn’t ever thought about it in my wildest dreams!

Actually, it came as a shock when I stepped foot on the LA office. It was quite weird. There was a slight shock to me. When I entered the building on the verge of collapsing, the interior was completely fine, not a brick was out of place, and there was a second floor, with black coverage. 

I was blocking the Officer, and he had volunteered to take me there. Then, someone pinned my hand to my back, and I felt pressure around me. There the threat was. There were three gun barrels at my face. Or even more than three. There were possibly a lot more in the black coverage, and perhaps with snipers set up somewhere invisible. And my hands were pinned straight to my back, and the attacker had steel strong grip. I took advantage of my hand, which was tied behind my back, and managed to grip the hand with so much strength that I was able to judo flip him. He landed with a thud. It was a man after all. 

‘I wouldn’t do that.’ A cool voice said from behind me. Finally. 

‘Officer.’ The others said.

The guns were stuffed back in their holsters, and suspecting glares were directed at me. The person who gripped me in the hand winced and complained that his butt hurt. And his hand bones were probably toast.

‘Who’s that? A criminal? A witness? A suspect? A person who needs protection detail?’ 

‘A new member.’ 

‘Does Hetty know?’ 

‘She does.’ Another voice rang out from behind me.

‘Hetty. How many times did I tell you not to do that? You give us a heart attack every time.’ 

‘Sorry. I’ll try not to, Mr Deeks.’ Deeks was the one who had grabbed my hand and got his finger bones crushed.

The speaker’s name was Deeks, but unknown surname. 

‘Manners, guys.’ 

The people that had their guns trained on me immediately acted nice. 

‘New agent, huh. What did you do? Place? Rank?’ 

I mumbled that I was recruited by the director, and I didn’t say anything else. 

‘Speak louder, sweetie.’ The one who appeared like a ninja warrior said. She was short, like dwarf short. That’s probably why I didn’t notice her. 

‘She can’t. That’s her max.’ 

‘Why? Oh...’ The people seemed to understand. 

‘How can she be an agent?’ 

This time, I didn’t need to talk. The officer helped me. 

‘She’s a special girl, allow me to say. She’s recruited directly from the director.’ 

‘What did she do?’ Someone on my left said.

‘Sam, don’t be jealous. Remember the criminal named Arbutus Black? The Plant Slasher? He was caught. By this little fella over here.’ 

‘You’re kidding!’ All of them shouted in disbelief. 

‘No. I am not joking.’ 

‘We’ve been hunting this guy down for the past ten years. how can a kid like you do that?’

‘According to her, she had just knocked the dude down. Along with his accomplices. Without any training of any sorts.’ 

‘You really are joking, John.’ 

‘No I am not. She also did use just a few handfuls of grass and defeat her trainer.’ 

‘Really? Seriously! Now I really do believe that. The name’s Callen by the way. Nice to meet you.’ 

I didn’t even bother to tap in morse. 

I shook his hand, and the others just sorta followed him.

The one named Sam was a SEAL. The only female in the elite team that I knew of was a sniper, a girl of a navy marine. Her name was quite special in my opinion, but I just didn’t know what was the meaning of that. She always had to remind me that she was Kensi. I got too tired, and remembered her name by heart. And the dude, Deeks. His first name wasn’t Deeks. It was Martin. I thought that was his first name!

And the woman wasn't the only female in this complex structure. There were tons of women in the block, there were a lot more. There was a woman on a teen, by the name of Penelope. She was a techie.

Anyways, I got acquainted to the whole team quickly. I guess that they were nice to me. They've probably heard of my legacy and my encounter with the plant named criminal.

Honestly, I knew the Kensi girl throws a mean knife, and Eric the tech boy plays a mean dungeons and dragons. 

Then the first shock came. my first case in my whole life.

I guess that Eric was the case announcer. He whistles and announces that there was a case. I never knew that anyone could be that hilarious. He was attempting to play the saxophone while saying that he had something on deck. The noise was definitely intolerable. Then the only female in the main field team, Kensi saved us from hell. She stuffed the tangerine that she was peeling for the last ten minutes into the opening of the saxophone. And Callen was complaining about the mess that she had made with the skin of the peeled tangerine on the desk of his. The saxophone was gliding at a blusy a flat when Kensi stuffed the naked tangerine into its mouth. Ouch. That must've hurt.

The techs and the wonder twins or the meerkats, briefed us. he said that a petty officer, first class had been found dead. And I was assigned to a small group, Deeks and Kens’ group. They were a nice group,honestly. They quarrelled over the choice of radio music. And they constantly complained about each other, right in front of their own face.

We had the task of visiting the house of the officer, and there was a huge scent wafting out ot the door.

‘Holy... Shit! What happened?’ 

‘Maybe someone didn’t clean up.’ Kensi stated. Deeks was such a procrastinator. 

I was the only one who didn’t react to it. My senses numbed the smell. 

‘I’ll go off in the right, and Kens, you go off to the left with the probie here.’ 

I couldn’t protest. I followed Kensi to the left, and she attempted to talk to me. 

‘So... Are you too shy? Believe me, I do know. I was just the same as you are when I was younger.’ 

I got closer and whispered. ‘Nope. I have a syndrome, and I can’t even spell or read it out. It’s complicated.’ 

‘So you can talk.’ 

‘Yes. Just slightly.’ 

‘So whaddya think about this?’ She motioned towards her surroundings. 

‘I think that it’s probably nothing. It’s just the stench, as you say.’ 

‘As I say? Can’t you smell any foul stenches or sorts?’ 

‘No. My nose blocks out all those unpleasant smells. A nice skill.’ 

‘I got something!’ Deeks yelled from halfway across the house. 

‘What have you got?’ 

‘Allow me to present... This.’ He showed the both of us an opening. 

‘What is this?’ 

‘A lair? I don’t know. I waited for you before I went down. I found it by River Dancing.’ 

‘You’re to scared to do so, are you?’ Kensi mocked him. 

‘No I am not!’ He evidently was. I saw his left foot shake. Kensi noticed this too. 

‘Ha. Coward.’ Then she took out her flashlight, and I did the same, and she led me down, with Deeks trailing behind me like a faithful dog. 

Deeks was right. It was a lair. Something that he didn’t want anything to see. 

‘Video games? Seriously?’ Kensi asked. 

I looked around, and I have to admit that I didn’t know much about video games. I could see Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, Monster Hunter: Rise, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, and lots and lots more. 

‘Woah! The newest computer!’ 

‘How did you know, Deeks? 

‘I have hobbies. What do you say, probie?’ 

‘She’s not a probie, Deeks. She’s higher level than you and me. And you stink.’ 

I just can’t believe it, someone standing up for me? 

‘All right then, what do you notice?’ 

I took out my notepad, scribbled on it, telling them what I know, and handing the, the notepad. 

‘Sense of insecurity, not a fan of social activities. Wow, how did you know that?’ Deeks asked me. 

‘Well, this is what you call observing, Deeks, learn from the kid.’ 

‘What do you know? Nothing else?’ I shushed him, as I heard something, a rustling sound from the front door. 

‘Wha...mmph!’ Kensi covered his mouth with her hand, knowing what I had heard. She probably heard the sound. 

They huddled around, and I spoke up.

‘I’ll go with Kens. Deeks, your chance to show off is now. You go to the back door. I’ll go with the front door.’ They nodded, to show understanding, and I ran, crept-ran off to the door with Kensi.

And my prediction was right. The visitor entered from the front door. 

I heard Kensi say that he or she was all mine, and at that time, I doubted myself for the first time in my life. 

What if I couldn’t take the visitor down? What if I screwed up? I looked at Kensi, and she gave me an reassuring look, telling me that it would be fine. 

Then, this is when my courage returned to me. As the stranger turned the door knob, I  slid to the ground, I tripped the man to the ground, and held him in a sleeper lock. 

With my feet. 

‘Done.’ I panted. 

And there my partner was, standing, staring at me with a face full of shock. 

‘How on earth did you do that? Sam can’t do that!’ She glared at m.e with heavy doubt.

‘Never mind. you're the same as ninja Hetty.

I went back to check on the man  I tripped, and I saw him sprawled on the floor, like a giant mutant goldfish. Ihelped him up, and he burst into a tirade of curses.

I'm not gonna say what he said. it is too inappropriate.

‘Who are you? What do you want with me?’

‘you're trespassing on a crime scene, who are you, may I ask?’ 

‘ law enforcement, you?'

‘ same. NCIS.’ 

‘ FBI, I'm in a joint task force with NSA. my partner out there is NSA.’

‘ what are you doing here?'

"Investigating a murder case of a petty officer. how about you?’

‘ you're talking about Jonathan Wight, are you? we think that he's linked to a huge chain of evidence and intelligence leaks. We've been tracking down and keep tabs on him for the past 9 months.’

‘we'll attempt to include you in the share.’

‘ thanks, FBI-ian.’ Deeks joked.

‘ FBI-Ian? really, it sounds Star Wars-ish. I’ll try my best, though the chain of command might not approve of this.’

‘Wait, I hear something from the silent lamb. What is it, kiddo?’

‘We found a basement full of video games. Is there anything to do with video games?’

‘yes how did you know?'

' she knows psych. she excels at this.’

‘Maybe the information and intel is hidden inside. Kiddo, you know how to play video games?’

I didn't, and Kens suggested that we should take those stuff to Eric and Nell or the wonder twins.

And they did confirm my suspicion. But without listening to any of my complaints as I was soft, they dragged me to play the game with them, while they checked the coding and the algorithms. I was the player. 

And that confirmed my suspicions. Whilst I played, they stared at me, and I felt pressurised, but they weren’t just looking at me, but the screen. 

‘Wait, this has something glitchy in it. What do you think, kid?’ Eric prompted me. I never got the hang of computers and information technology. 

I shrugged. 

‘Watch me play, I’ll do better, Nell, teach her how to read codes.’ 

She scooted right next to me, her chair nearly wheeling on my feet. 

‘Sorry, I’m very hyperactive these days. So, we need to link the game to the computer like this...’ and she trailed off. I just couldn’t know these stuff. 

And Eric booted the game and started to play. 

‘See this app over here? It’s an app that we both started. This is for the algorithms, whenever Eric presses a button, the app shows the chain of command, that way we’ll know if there are any glitches of something weird in it.’ 

And sure enough, something in a complicated that I didn’t even understand popped up on the screen. 

‘See. It’s computer language...’ I don’t understand these whole lot of stuff in just a day, but I nodded just to make her relax and not feel tense. 

‘And this thingy here is to make the computer language invisible on the screen.’ 

She pointed to something like these <>. 

‘Ok. I know this. What is this? It’s at the tip of my tongue, and I just don’t know what to say!’ Eric exclaimed. 

‘Wait. Lemme search that up on another app that I made. Copy the code and send it here.’ Nell told Eric to do that, and with a ding, the app that she made had a proper response. And out popped something rather weird. It was a bunch of utter nonsense, including a huge bunch of numbers, symbols and letters, and they were just utter nonsense, all of them frowned. 

‘Oh. It must be a code. There’s something wrong with that, all right. It’s a code hidden within a code. It’s wonder why we couldn’t find that in our first sweep.’ 

‘Now we need to decipher it, and find out what exactly they mean.’ 

‘Cross referencing with all the known codes in the world... Weird.’ There was nothing that matched their searches. 

‘A new code. Interesting. We need the decryption key. Do you know anyone that knew anything about the petty officer?’ 

I didn’t know anything else. Time to ask our FBI-ian then. 

‘Can you help me call Deeks and Kens? I don’t have their numbers.’ 

‘Mkay.’ 

After some time, the partners came into the room, Kens holding a book, by the title of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Deeks was playing on his phone. 

‘What do you have’ 

‘We have a code. I’m asking around to see if you have anyone that you know could find the decryption key.’ 

‘There’s one. A FBI agent, a man named Bob Hayes. I’ll go and call him.’ 

‘Did you develop a bromance just in a night?’ Kens asked. 

‘Nope. He took me to a salsa class, and even had a few beers with me. So, yes.’ 

And Deeks left ops.

‘So, a code, eh? The wonder twins can’t decipher it?’ Kens asked me.

‘Nope. It’s a new form of code.’ 

‘Oook.’ She sighed. ‘The world’s getting more and more complicated and is changing everyday.’ 

I nodded to show my approval. 

‘Wait. I know what that is!’ Eric said, eureka-ing.

‘What?’ 

‘Thanks to you, Kens, I know what this is!’ 

‘What?’ 

‘It’s like a form of code, a new one, but it isn’t.’ 

What? What does he mean?’ 

‘It’s like a combination of codes! It’s mixed up, jumbled up all together! No wonder why we couldn’t think of that! It’s just like the evolution theory from Charles Darwin! When Kens stayed that the world’s changing everyday, it was just like evolving. Two forms of code mixed together forms a new code, and Shazam! A new kind of code is born!’ 

‘Is there really something like that? I really should just let the kid tag along with me and Deeks. We would really have some fun.’ 

And by the meaning of fun, I really didn’t know what they were thinking about. And they completely blew my mind. They were really like the officers that picked me up from the orphanage, I guess all LEOs do. They were downright crazy. Every single one of them. Jesus Christ.

‘We’re here.’ Deeks shouted from the back seat, I was riding shotgun.

‘where is this place?' I asked him.

‘The house of Bob Hayes.’ 

‘Why is that so creepy? It feels like Halloween!’ 

‘I guess that the man likes that all the time. Everyone likes Halloween!’ 

‘Don’t.’ As soon as Kensi saw my face, she told Deeks to shut up. I really think he should talk less. 

I sensed something, against the nature of me, and it was a weird sensation. 

‘She knows something, and senses. She’s a bloodhound!’ 

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

‘No she isn’t. The next thing you know, if she’s a bloodhound, she’ll be on four feet and with a soggy wet nose.’ 

‘There’s something. Unusual.’ I said on my recently fitted comms. Which were specialised just for me, the others had too. The sounds were magnified to over ten times. 

‘Anything to the back door?’ 

‘Nope.’ Deeks reported. 

‘Front door ready?’ ‘Lock picked.’ From Kens. 

‘All right. On three.’ I was making the orders here, as I had the clearer mind. And I was better at this than I ever thought that I would be. 

‘Three… two… One!’ They followed. Kens and I barged into the front door, and a pungent smell hit my nose. 

‘Ugh! What Is that smell?’ 

‘I don’t know. Perhaps something died in here.’ 

‘Nope. No one died here.’ I said, pointing to the fridge. It was wide open. A piece of pork. Left to rot in the fridge, unattended to. 

‘Chill. Bob is gone.’ 

‘That SOB. I swear that I’ll find him. He said that he was accessible 24/7.’ Deeks got really mad at that. 

‘Nah, he probably got hungry and went out to buy takeout, perhaps Chinese, as the only left in his fridge is a piece of stinkin’ rotting pork.’ 

‘All right. We’ll stay here. Deeks. Go back and tell the others of this situation. Pull up info on Bob Hayes.’ 

‘Yes Mademoiselle.’ 

‘Don’t call me that, Deeks. Not the M word.’ 

‘All right. Yes sir.’ 

Argh. Are those two finished flirting with each other? 

I cleared my throat to announce my existence. 

‘Sorry. Fine. Kens. You stay here with the kid. Babysit.’

‘Fine, Deeks. It’s my strong suit.’ 

Then Deeks left grumbling to himself why he had to face Hetty the ninja. 

I stayed with Kens, and I have to admit that it was indeed one of her strong suits. She’s good mother material. Or she is a mum. Hm… I’ll ask her. 

‘Here. Energy bars. All that I’ve got. Here. Eat them. You need them more than I do.’ 

‘Why?’ As I took off my comms, I could only whisper. 

‘I… uh… just had lunch before this…. Have it!’ 

Excuse. I knew that she was just as starving as I am. 

‘I don’t think so. You’ve obviously been starving.’ 

Her stomach gave her out. 

‘Yes. I am, but kids always come first.’ 

‘Nope. We split it two ways. Fair and square.’ 

‘All right.’ She was scared by my look. 

She took out her knife from her dad and sliced the bar in half. 

‘You know, you’re very nice to me. Nicer than I’ve ever imagined a stranger could be to another stranger.’

‘You know, technically we aren’t strangers. Family isn’t just bonded by blood.’ 

‘That’s nice to hear.’ 

‘Oh. And one question, how did you end up in that orphanage?’ 

‘My dads died due to a car crash. My mum just left me there in the orphanage, to rot.’ 

‘That’s sad. My dad also died due to an accident. He was in an army joint force when he was still here.’

‘At least we have a common thing: a dad who cared about us a lot.’ I concluded. ‘You have kids or something?’ 

I saw her frown, and I added. 

‘If it isn’t comfortable with you on this subject, it’s fine with me.’ 

‘Nah. I’m fine.’ She toughened up. ‘I don’t. We’ve been trying for a long time though… And don’t ask. I have a boyfriend, not Deeks…’ she trailed off, and that’s when I heard a bang. Having crinkled ears doesn’t mean that I can’t hear.

‘Kens! Watch out!’ I screamed, trying my best. 

‘What?’ Then something collided with her, and knocked her to the ground. I didn’t know what though. It was huge. A human silhouette. With something sharp. Shit. 

Kens pulled out her knife, or at least attempted to. The knife was still lunging on the table. 

The attacker had a knife, way longer than hers. 

And I wasn’t certified to carry a firearm or a weapon with me. Double shit. 

I couldn’t defend myself, and due to my obsession in MacGyver, I knew what to do. Since this was a house, there got to be something sharp. I glanced around, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Kens was barely holding on. 

Aha! Finally found something. A vase. 

I took my handkerchief and broke the vase. Sorry, Bob. I’ll pay it back when I see you. The shards of glass didn’t hit me, luckily. That was the purpose of the towel. I pulled out a particularly sharp piece and used it as an defensive weapon. Then I turned back to Kens. 

She was lying there, mustering all her strength, struggling against the will of the intruder. And I was just standing there. 

I snapped back from my stupor and ran to her aid. 

I first decided, on pure instinct that the intruder should be stopped before I tend to Kens. 

I used my newly acquired ‘weapon’ and charged at the intruder. It was shocked at first, but came to its senses and turned it’s gaze towards me, leaving Kens alone. The good news: I got it distracted. Bad news: I was about to be attacked by that SOB and that Kens wasn’t moving. At all. Probably unconscious. And I hoped that it wasn’t the option that I had in mind. I stabbed the intruder in the leg, and it bellowed in pain. I decided that it was a male. Alright. He bellowed in pain. And fell to the ground. Disarmed by me. Yay. Now I really have to go and tend to Kens. But where on earth was his knife that was previously in his hands? I have no clue. 

I shook her, and hot no response. 

‘Cmon. Stay with me.’ I performed CPR, as I learnt from one of those orphanage classes. Wow. I never thought that CPR class could be useful. And those jocks there said that it was like trash. Pathetic. 

And she still didn’t respond. My own eyesight was staring to get woozy, and the best thing to do? Leave it to the professionals. 

I reactivated my comms and said. 

‘We need an ambulance. Anybody here?’ 

‘Hello? We need help!’ 

And I nearly passed out. 

‘Ambulance on the way.’ I heard someone say. Lucky that someone heard me. 

Then, my eyesight got really blurry, and something was on my jacket. 

At first I thought that it was from the previous CPR that I had performed, as I saw that she had been stabbed in the abdomen, thrice. 

But it wasn’t. It just kept on flowing. 

And I guess that I solved the case of the missing knife. It was found, finally. But not sticking in the right spot. 

‘Oops.’ I muttered, and fainted. 

The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital, connected to several systems by some cords and needles, and there was a morphine supplier. 

There was a button right next to me, with the words of ‘nurse.’ 

I pressed it, and someone, presumably a nurse walked into the room. 

‘Oh. Ms Bloor you’re awake. How are you feeling?’ 

‘I’m fine. How about Kens. The other one that you picked up with me.’ 

‘Uh… she’s still on death’s door.’ 

‘Will she be all right?’ 

‘I’m not so sure. She may need a couple of months to fully recover. Three stabs to her, two on the abdomen, right on the abdominal artery and the aorta. It’s a miracle that she survives.’ 

‘Miracle?’ 

‘Yes. You’re lucky. You couldn’t have survived without the surgery. This is what the morphine’s for.’ 

‘Wait. How was I when I was on the way here? And where am I?’ 

‘Ah. Not too good. You’re face was completely chalk white, like you were running out of oxygen. And not to mention with multiple stab wounds. Of course, you knew about that one in your side.’ 

‘What else was there? I was helping to defend my friend. Tell me.’ 

‘Ok. A kid, huh. All right. There were three in total excluding the one in your side. Tow on your right leg and one on the shoulder.’ 

‘How about her? When can I see her?’ 

‘In surgery. I’ll tell you when she’s done.’ 

‘Thanks, nurse…’ 

‘Oh. Call me Theodori.’ 

‘Thank you, nurse Theodori.’ 

‘Make sure you get some rest, little Jedi.’ 

‘All right, Yoda.’ I knew Star Wars stuff. I practically invented it!

Then I returned to trying to sleep, not before one last request. 

‘Nurse Theodori, can you bring me books? I am bored to death in here.’ 

‘All right. What do you want?’ 

‘Uh… whatever you have. It’s fine. I’m an advanced reader. I may need it in case I can’t sleep.’

‘Ok. I’ll see what I can do.’ 

I laid down on the bed, and attempted to sleep. I did. But not without having dreams. Horrid and scary ones. 

I entered the LA office building, and it was chaos. War was breaking out in every single corner, no matter friend versus friend or friend versus enemies. There was bloodshed, and the floor was completely smothered by blood. I saw Hetty, and the main team of the LA office fighting someone, and I couldn’t see his face. The person was heavily armed though. With automatic, semiautomatic, guns, and magazines of ammo that I’ve never seen before in my life. One by one, the people fell. 

Sam… Callen… Deeks… Kens, with a smile on her face… Eric… Nell… Hetty… everyone I knew was dead. 

And surprise surprise! I was the only one alive in the whole building. Not a single mouse, cockroach or living thing has been spared. Except for me. 

The blood spatters were completely on the walls, smothered across the ground, and bodies, not to mention that, were all lying on the ground. All bloody. Then someone in an large overcoat with a huge baseball cap which covered his face walked towards me, and did the unexpected. He put his knife in his pocket after cleaning the blood off it. 

‘I’ll be waiting. Tick tock tick tock. Time’s running out. Tals. Come back to me.’ 

Did I know this guy? I don’t know. Then, my thoughts started to whir, and the churning seas of emotion in me finally took me out of this hellhole. 

I’ve just realised that I’m in the hospital, but not the LA office. My dream self took me there for some reason. 

I pressed the button, the only button that I could find. The nurse button, and the nurse that took care of me, Theordori stepped into the room and asked if she could be at my assistance. 

‘Yes. How’s Kens? Is she ok?’ 

‘We’ll, I was just attempting to come and tell you that.’ 

She gave me an apologetic look. 

What did that mean?

‘Sorry to say, her heart stopped beating thrice, and now she’s in a coma. Possibly never ending coma. She’s ok for visiting, if you still want to see her.’ 

‘Where’s she?’ 

‘I’ll lead you there.’ As I’ve improved hugely, the nurse helped me on a wheelchair and wheeled me towards her room. 

She was right. Kens wasn’t looking good. She was connected to a lot of tubings, and she needed the supply of oxygen. She wasn’t moving too. 

Nurse Theodori also said that she may have a chance of a concussion, since she fell headfirst onto the marble floor.

‘Do you need a moment?’ 

I nodded. All right. This is actually an automatic wheelchair. By moving this joystick, you can move forwards, backwards and even from left to right.’ 

‘Thanks, nurse Theodori.’ 

‘Welcome. Call me if you need any assistance.’ 

‘Will do.’ I said gravely. 

I wheeled myself towards the bedside, and saw her in this state. She was completely wrapped in gauze, and she was in a coma, just like the nurse had said. And her heartbeat was steady, not too fast, not too slow.

And one more thing. She was muttering? Something that I couldn’t make out. 

And after that long time, she was muttering something that I couldn’t make out, which made me annoyed. 

Then, something stirred, and I realised that she was healing way better than the nurses had expected her to. 

‘How are you!’ 

‘Fiiine…’ She slurred, just waking up from a coma. ‘How…long was…was…I out?…’ 

‘You’ll have to ask the nurse.’ 

‘How’re you?’ 

‘I’m fine. Just tired. From running and fighting. I fought pretty hard at the house. Where’s Deeks?’ 

‘Still at headquarters. He still doesn’t know about this.’

‘What? Did anyone tell him?’ 

‘Hello? Anyone named Kensi here?’ I heard a familiar voice sound from outside the corridor. 

‘She’s right there, sir. The room on your right, door open.’ 

‘Thanks.’ 

I guess that they were notified too, as the speaker was Callen. 

I heard a herd of footsteps and felt someone’s existence.

‘H…Hi.’ I said.

‘How are you?’ Sam asked and pointed to his ear. 

‘Wha…oh!’ I realised that they couldn’t hear me.

I reactivated my comms. 

‘I’m fine.’ 

‘No you’re not.’ The nurse, Theodori said, suddenly appearing. 

‘What happened exactly?’ Deeks asked, overprotective, sounding exactly like an old married husband. And later when I asked the others, and they weren’t a couple. Weird.

‘To answer your question. Three stabs to her, two on the abdomen, right on the abdominal artery and the aorta. The docs said that she might be in a coma, and she was in a coma, and they also said that there was a slim chance that she could wake. And oh, I forgot to say, your heart stopped thrice.’ I said to the others through comm network.

‘What? Did that really happen?’ 

‘To answer your question, yes.’ Kensi said. ‘But I ain’t know nothing about a heart inside me stopping for three times.’ 

‘You did. Ask the nurse if you don’t believe me.’ 

‘I’ll take your word for it.’ 

‘Hey, Hetty’s notified. Rest.’ 

‘How many times do I have to tell you that I hate hospitals?’ Kensi argued. 

‘As much as you hate it, you have to recover. You have to be on your A-Game for this case. It just got more complicated. Another three casualties. And not to mention, children between 10 to 16 just suddenly got sick. We’ll have to collaborate with the different branches of the agencies all across the states and try and put an end to this.’ 

‘How old are you?’ Sam asked. 

‘14.’ 

‘Wait… what? That puts you in the ‘at risk’ zone! We think that this might be an bio attack.’ 

‘At risk? I’m not. I’ve been breathing the air of this hospital and nothing else!’

‘I’ll go and ask Hetty, see if she lets you work on this. Haz-Mat suits on.’ 

‘How do you expect me to run in that penguin outfit?’ 

‘You don’t. Office duty only. I just asked.’ Callen, who had exited the room without me noticing, re-entered the room and said.

‘Fine. How about Kens?’ 

‘We’ll put in Nell for a substitute field agent until she recovers.’ 

‘Nell? Is she fine? At weapons training I meant.’ 

‘She is. Wonders what a tight schedule of playing video games can do.’ 

‘Tell her good luck for me.’

‘Will do.’ Then the group exited. Without me. 

‘What are you doing here? Go! You heard the G-Man!’ 

‘Just wanna stay here to say thanks.’ 

‘Accepted. Now go!’ 

I went out not without giving her a package. 

‘For you. Keep it safe.’ 

‘Thanks. What’s that?’ 

‘Just a protection detail.’ 

‘Thanks! Go! They need you!’ 

‘I’m coming!’ I yelled at the retreating silhouettes of the team. 

‘Took you long enough.’ Sam said when he saw me.

‘She needed something and I gave it to her.’ 

‘How is she, really?’ Deeks asked, concerned. 

‘She said that she’s fine. But I don’t think so.’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘She’s troubled. Since she cares. About me. And she’s afraid that I won’t be able to protect myself and end up going to the other side because of her.’

‘You can.’ Sam said. ‘You’re even better than Callen.’ 

‘Am not.’ Callen argued back. 

‘All right. Brief me.’ 

‘About a day ago, while you and Kens were still out, the first patient appeared. A girl, by the name of Mallory Larson. Twelve. From Oklahoma. CDC thought that it was just a couple of different viruses attempting to breach her system, but the second patient appeared. This time, male, 14, Don Smith. From DC. I just can’t bear to say all of their names. It makes me so sad after reading their names. Here’s a master spreadsheet on the names of the patients and their symptoms, plus personal information.’ I didn’t know that Eric was here too, and I knew that when he handed me a tablet. 

‘Thanks, Eric.’ 

‘Sure.’ 

I stared at the iPad, startled. I didn’t bother scrolling down. I just sorta lost it when I saw the first five patients.

Patient Name

Age

Symptoms

Living location

Medical history

Nationality

Mallory Larson

12

Slight cough, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea

Oklahoma

None

Brit-American

Don Smith

14

Cough, fever, headache, nausea

Washington DC

None

African-American

Luna Felicity

11

Cough, signs of measles, fever, stomachache

Wyoming

Anorexia Nervosa

Irish-American

Carl Millers

16

Cough, mild symptoms of the measles

Phoenix, California

None

Australian-American

Ali Muhammad

11

Boils spouting, high fever, cough

LA

Anorexia nervosa

Latino-American

I couldn’t read down the list. 

‘I get it.’ I turned off the iPad. And handed it to Eric. 

‘No, it’s yours. Everyone has an office issued iPad, and here’s yours, since Hetty forgot and haven’t given yours out yet.’ 

‘Thanks.’ I gripped it. 

‘All the people are with different races, different ages, and different medical history. And some, don’t have one. How can a whole lot of perfectly healthy children just get sick like that? Oh, and also, Hetty told you to sort through the names. See if you have anyone that you know. And she has spared you the sorrow. I’ve also made another list, consisting of only the names, but not the medical stuff. Go through that when we arrive. And I’m warning you, you won’t wanna be in the office. I’ll sent someone follow you to a cafe. That way you can work more efficiently.’ Eric ranted on.

‘Why? How come?’

‘You’ll see.’ Deeks said. ‘We’re here.’ 

Sam pushed open the door, revealing chaos. 

There were makeshift tables and chairs set up all over the place, and it was like a while battlefield of our own. The one closest to the door had a huge radio of pop blasting out of it, and it was nightmarish. 

‘Is there… uh… anywhere that we can have silence.’ 

‘Yes. The only place. Ops.’ 

Eric used his retina scan and went into the room, and it was the rare silence, and it was accompanied by the presence of computers and the huge plasma. 

The computers were quiet too, for some reason. 

‘Why…’ 

‘Don’t ask. We turned the notification alarm off. We’ve been bombarded with calls. Ranging from 10 to 36 in a day. It’s killing me.’ And he saw the computer screen. 

‘Ugh… not again. The CIA gave me a heart attack. I was at the toilet at that time, with my tablet finding inner peace and it rang. Scared the hell out of me.’ 

‘Who’s it this time?’ Callen asked. 

‘Huh. NCIS. One of our own. DC. The last one. From statewide.’ 

He clicked ‘accept’. 

‘Hello. How May I help you?’ I saw four faces, one was African-American, one was a man, probably full American, one was Middle-Eastern, and the last one was Caucasian, female. 

‘Oh. Director. I didn’t expect to see you.’ 

‘Hello Eric. I heard that there’s been a very mysterious thing going on there.’ 

‘Yes. Something’s fishy.’ Sam answered.

‘Did you hear that, Ziva? The idiom is Something’s fishy, not I smell fish.’ 

‘Thank you.’ I heard the Middle-Eastern woman say, sarcastically to the full American man. 

‘Where’re my manners? This, is Special Agent David, and she’s… uh… returned from Israel from her holiday, persuaded by Tony DiNozzo here. And this is Tony DiNozzo.’ The full American. ‘Well, next to me, is the newbie, Special Agent Ellie Bishop. She was a replacement for David, and when she returned, we decided to keep both, as they’re a hell of an asset.’ Director Vance said. ‘Ellie has ties to the NSA, and Ziva has the support of Mossad.’

‘So, what have you got?’ Nell asked.

‘Since, you know, one of the first cases had occurred here, so we, uh, actually Abby and Ducky did an analysis of the virus or the bacterium, well, maybe microorganism to be exact, as we don’t know what it is, and the patient, Don Smith, wasn’t reacting to any of the meds that we gave him. Maybe it’s a complicated strain of an old virus or disease, and I’m hoping that it’s not something like the rat plague or the Spanish Influenza or the Black Death.’ 

‘All right. When will you come here? The place is crammed.’ Eric asked. 

‘Uh… if it’s cramped, we’ll rent a hotel. I’ll give you the address once we have it.’ Director Vance said. 

‘All right, director. See you soon!’ 

‘Bye and thanks for the permission for us to help.’ 

‘You’re welcome. Thank you, director.’ 

Then the line went dead. 

‘At least we can still have some personal space…’ Deeks said.

There was a large commotion downstairs. 

‘By golly, I have to go! See what’s happening downstairs.’ We said in unison, and left ops together. 

It turns out, the commotion wasn’t something big. It wasn’t an alien invasion or anything, just the unexpected return of one of our own. Kensi. 

‘Get off me! I work here!’ Apparently, someone thought that Kens was an intruder, but not a worker. 

‘Get off her!’ Deeks yelled. Just like an overprotective mama bear over her Cubs.

‘Who is she?’ The officer who had grabbed Kens’ shirt sleeve demanded.

‘She’s an officer, and that:s none of your business, you Cheating Incompetent Animal!’ 

Well. The agent was CIA. And Deeks just gave them another name. Make sure that I learn that. 

‘Yes… sir… sorry.’ The agent apologised and let go of Kens. She was still staggering. 

‘Can you help me pick those up please?’ She asked me, not anyone else. 

‘Sure…’ I crouched and picked up the long and stick-like dark object on the ground.  It was a stick. A walking stick. 

‘How are you?’ Sam asked, dismissing the existence of the stick. 

‘I’m fine. No field duty. Doc cleared me.’

‘As if you ever listen to him.’ Deeks muttered. Kens gave him a death glare. 

‘I do listen sometimes, unlike you, you dork.’ 

‘Touché.’ Deeks admitted.

‘In your face.’ Kens rebutted. 

‘All right. Quit the bickering and go to business. Eric?’ Nell prompted. 

‘All right. This mystery disease. I’ve named it Mysterio. Mysterio is a diseases which the patient might show signs of measles, the usual fever, cough diarrhoea and etc etc. So far, only 14 have been affected, but it’s gonna be like the COVID-19. It’s gonna spread, and fast.’ 

‘Can I ask something?’ Kens asked. 

‘Sure.’ 

‘How about the agent, Bob Hayes?’ 

‘Who?’ 

‘The person that we set out to find a couple’a days ago.’ 

‘I’ll deal with that later. I’ll see if anyone is available. Hetty said that controlling and terminating the disease is the most crucial thing right now.’ 

‘All right. Thanks. I’ll go with Taliana to meet up with the DC team. They’ll be arriving shortly. An acquaintance there told me that they will be arriving shortly and gave m the address of the hotel.’

‘Then I’ll go with Callen and Sam to ask around for the close contacts of those who have been infected.’ 

‘Haz-Mat suits, remember. The disease might be from one of their houses. And if you are able to do that, and have extra time, assist us with finding patient one. Hopefully that it won’t be a Hail Mary.’ 

‘Hail Mary?’ I asked. 

‘Yes, it means that the one who was infected didn’t show any signs of infection.’ 

‘All right. Thanks, Nell.’ 

We took Kens’ Audi. It was black, like how I like it. As black at the midnight sky. 

After driving for a while, she stopped the engine. Her driving was bad, I have to admit. I nearly vomited twice. 

Once my feet touched land, I sighed with relief. 

‘What?’ She questioned. 

‘Just queasy. I’m fine.’ 

‘Carsick?’ 

‘Well, sorta.’ 

‘Thanks for clonking the man out by the way. I would’ve died if it wasn’t for you.’

‘Nah. I couldn’t help you. You still got stabbed.’ 

‘Better late than never.’ She gave me a bitter smile. 

‘Ok. Remember that conversation which was put on the ‘to be continued’ list?’ She piped up. 

‘Yeah. What about it?’ I asked her.

‘I wanna finish it, before it’s too late. I don’t like to leave conversations hanging.’

‘Aren’t I curious. So… you’ve wanted kids. Why not an adoption?’ 

‘I’m afraid that I’m not going to be accepted by the kid.’ 

‘Believe me, I know what that feels like. And you won’t be declined by the kids. Those like me. They all yearned for a home, a warm home. Remember where I came from.’ 

‘I’ve been worrying about that for a long time. And I’ve been having bad dreams recently, those which I can’t explain at all, it involves a whole lot of people dying, in the office. All of you, and my boyfriend, Nike from NSA.’ 

‘Your boyfriend works at NSA.’ 

‘Yes. Intelligence officer.’ 

‘Woah. Actually I have to confess, I’m confused too. I see everyone that I love and like, die right in front of my eyes. Almost the same as yours. But there is one different element. After the bloodshed, a man in a hood, face covered came up to me and said that the time was ticking. And that I had to hurry and do something.’ 

‘Ok. How did we have the same vision? I don’t know. Maybe we’re connected telepathically? I’m not sure.’ 

‘Maybe we really are telepathic.’ 

‘I don’t think so. Just a joke. All right. Federal agents, can I have the room key for room 304 please?’ Kens asked. We had arrived at the front reception desk. 

‘Sure. The man with the blonde hair just told me to give you the key to federal agents that showed up here.’ She handed me a key. 

‘Thanks.’ I muttered. 

‘Pardon?’ 

‘It’s a complicated condition. She was born with that. Sorry.‘ Kens gave her an apologetic look.

‘It’s ok, sweetie. Ma’am, is that your child? She’s cute.’

‘Nope. I hope so, though. She’s a fellow coworker. Helped us a big fat lot.’ 

‘Oh. Kid, uh, agent, nice to meet you.’

‘Likewise.’ 

‘Take the lift on my right, for odd number levels. And on the left, walk across three rooms, stop at the fourth one, and you’re here.’ 

‘Thanks for the detailed information.’ 

‘Anything to help Uncle Sam.’ 

We followed the instructions, and arrived at the door marked 304. 

‘Wait here. Don’t touch anything, I have to see if it’s booby trapped.’ 

She did an inspection, and came up all clear. 

‘Done. Don’t knock. I’ll do it. There is a code.’ She pointed to the ‘do not disturb’ card hanging casually on the doorknob.

She knocked, and I could swear that it was morse code for NCIS.

There was a small click, probably from someone behind the door pulling away the door chain. And the door opened. 

There was a woman with a gun, and she had pulled her hair into an Ariana Grande style ponytail. Nice choice of fashion. I remember her as Ziva, the agent who had ties to Mossad.

‘Who are you?’ She hoarse whispered. 

‘As you know.’ 

‘Let them in, Ziva.’ A distant voice rang out from the hotel room. I hadn’t seen any peep of the room, the door was only slightly opened, not exposing the interior of the hotel room. 

‘All right, boss. Letting them in.’ 

The door opened. It was just like a normal hotel room, but there was something else that a normal hotel room didn’t have: a set of high tech computers along with a whole set of advanced computer equipment. 

‘Welcome to our own Batcave.’ Ziva said. 

‘Everyone! Listen up! This is the NCIS agents who are in charge of this op.’ 

‘We’re not in charge!’ I shouted. And as usual, they can’t hear me. 

‘Pardon? What did you say.’ I rolled my eyes, not wanting to explain.

‘She said that we aren’t in charge, we just work for the one in charge.’ 

‘And that would be?’ A man, Indian I presume, in glasses asked. 

‘Hetty Lange, is it? Hasn’t changed?’ The voice whom belonged to the man who told Ziva to let us in, the boss said. 

‘Yes. Right.’ Kens said. 

‘How much do you know about us?’ I asked 

‘Actually, a lot.’ The boss said, finally getting out of his chair, which was facing us previously. 

‘Your old director there was a woman named Macy. She was killed and burnt to death in DC. After that, the director has always been Hetty Lange. And I remember you. How’s Sam? Callen? Dom? Nate?’ 

‘Don’t ask. Sam and Callen are fine. Nate? I don’t know. Dom? Don’t mention that.’ 

‘Oh… I understand what you’re talking about. Sorry to hear that.’ 

‘It’s fine. I got over that. We have a new member. Deeks. He’s overprotective over me. And he’s hilarious. And as you know, this little fella here.’ 

‘Hi! What’s your name?’ 

I muttered a reply, and the boss told me to repeat myself. And that’s when I first saw him. He had a military hairstyle, and he was ancient, I have to say. In his hair was either patches of grey or white. He looked traumatised.’ 

‘It’s a birth defect. She’s Taliana. Age 14.’ 

‘14?! It’s against the rules!’ 

‘Rules are being broken every day. Besides, she helped take out the most wanted criminal in the US. The Plant Slasher.’ 

‘Wha… Her?’ The Indian man asked in disbelief. 

‘Yes. Her.’ Kens defended for me. 

‘Nice. You have no idea how much we wanted him dead. He killed two of our own, a man by the name of Kevin Khan, a friend and a brother of Kyle Khan here. He’s a dad to four. Second one, by the name of Sally Greene. She was single, but a good daughter.’ Gibbs said. 

‘All right. So, brief us.’ The boss said, no pleasantries needed. 

‘All right…’ Kens told them everything. 

‘And new comms from the hands of Hetty Lange.’ She pulled out a box, like a jewellery box from her pocket, and gave it to the boss. 

‘Thanks.’ He turned it on and stuffed it inside his ear. 

‘Now can you hear me?’ I asked. And saw the boss’ eyes widen, the pupils dilating. 

‘Wow. Now I do. How are you, kiddo?’ 

‘I’m fine. Just still processing the stuff that happened just recently.’ 

‘It’s normal, actually, probie. I remember I took almost a month here to process.’

‘And I’m a field agent, not a probie.’

‘What? I bet the director has approved of this.’

‘Yes. He did.’ 

‘Speaking of probies, I have someone that I want you to meet. She’s also a probie. That’s your cue!’

A girl, nearing womanhood stepped out of a door. Somehow, her face looked familiar. She was brunette with short hair that barely reached her collarbone. She had green eyes as startling and as green as freshly mown grass. She was slightly shorter than me, perhaps just three to four centimetres.

‘I want you to meet Estelle, kid. Estelle NLN.’ 

‘NLN? What does that mean?’  

‘No last name. Estelle, this is Taliana.’ 

‘Hi…hi.’ I stuttered. As usual, she couldn’t hear me.

‘Hey, put this on!’ Gibbs handed her the comm. Lucky that Kens brought extras. 

Estelle stuffed the comms into her ear, and eyes widening at the sounds that she could hear with that, I guess that she heard me loud and clear.

‘Hi, there’s something familiar with you. Something that I can’t tell.’ Estelle burst out. 

‘Same here.’ 

‘All right. No blabbering. These folks are here to brief us on the situation. And you missed the part.’ 

‘No, I didn’t boss. I was listening in the toilet compartment. Across the walls. I have good hearing.’ 

‘All right then. We need someone there to brief us. And we can’t send in the whole team, since the place is crammed with a lot of other intelligence officers.’ 

‘I’ll go.’ 

‘You? Probette?’ I heard a voice, very familiar.

 ‘DiNozzo!’ 

‘Yes boss.’ 

‘Stop whining! Estelle, go and grab someone that you like to follow you there.’ 

Estelle said,’ I just happen to have someone in mind.’ And guess what? Girl power! All of which she had chosen were female. Ziva and Ellie the ex-agent from NSA. That makes the five of us female. 

‘All right then, you come back here later to brief us, and you act as a messenger. We deliver information for you to share, and we get info from you three. You guys are ok with that, are you?’ 

‘Yes boss.’

‘See you tonight.’ 

He showed us out. 

We arrived at the Audi. 

‘Woah! An Audi?’ 

‘Yes. How did you know, Ziva?’ 

‘Tony. He likes cars.’ 

‘Oh, right.’ 

‘So, who’s your acquaintance at NCIS?’ I asked. 

Ellie and Ziva, who didn’t know about the comms looked completely lost. 

‘Pardon? I can’t hear you.’

‘Sorry. Comms on.’ 

‘Why?’ Ellie asked. 

‘Just do it!’ Estelle told them. They put on the comms and turned it on. 

‘So, who is your acquaintance at NCIS?’ Finally, they heard me. 

‘Oh, you’re wondering who that is. I have to say, you’re one of the normal type.’ Kens said. 

‘Who?’ 

‘Oh. It’s me.’ I heard someone say casually. And I couldn’t believe it if that didn’t come out of her mouth. 

‘Really? Ziva.’ 

‘Yes. I’m the one. We met sometime when I arrived at Tel Aviv. She helped me out. Her team was there on an op at Tel Aviv.’ 

‘Oh. We’re almost there.’ Kens stopped at the traffic light directly one block away from headquarters.

When the light turned green, I too, turned green, from the horrid driving. I had to muster up all my strength not to do so and not embarrass myself.

‘Here we are.’ 

‘A shabby building?’ Ellie asked in disbelief, as if she expected something more than that.

‘Yes. Home sweet home.’ She opened the double doors. 

‘Woah. This is amazing.’ She breathed when saw the two-storey structure. 

‘This is ops on top, and this is the bullpen. It’s not that messy always. Just because of those stupid jerk agents who made a mess all over the place.’ Kens said. 

‘We have something.’ Eric said from the crow’s nest.

‘Who are they?’ 

‘Remember Abby Scuito, Eric?’ 

‘Yes. Why? Her parents are deaf. She knows sign language.’ 

‘These, are Abby’s friends. From the DC office.’ 

‘Hi! Any friends of Abby is a friend of mine.’ 

‘Wow. The same enthusiasm! I like it!’ Ziva exclaimed. 

‘Uh, she’s Ziva, and the other is Ellie.’ 

‘The Ziva David?!’ 

‘Yes.’ Ziva gave him a sceptical look. 

Eric dashed towards her, and gave her a hug.

‘What… what was that for…’ Ziva said, breathing rapidly.

‘Abby told me to give you a hug when I see you. She hasn’t seen you. You’ve just landed. And from Tel Aviv.’

‘Really? You just landed? From Tel Aviv to DC, and now DC to here? Wow. How’s the jet lag?’ I asked her. 

‘Yes. I was having a mojito fresh off the bar, and Tony called. He said that he needed me, and knew that I was itching to help, though my ‘I wish’ list stated that I couldn’t do it. I just missed the adrenaline rush of the job, after all.’

‘Man. That sucks. Really? Right in the middle of a nice mojito?’ Kens asked. Ah, the topic of alcoholic beverages. Never mind that. 

We had arrived at ops, and Eric scanned his retinas for access. The door beeped and opened.

‘Woah. This is the legendary ops!’ 

‘Yes. You’re looking right at it.’ Eric said proudly, of his computer room. 

‘What have you got?’ 

‘Who out patient number one might be.’ 

‘Who?’ 

‘A girl by the name of Marie Saunders, living in LA, lucky for us.’

‘Give me the address.’ Kens said. 

‘Remember the rules!’ Nell shouted to us as we were leaving the room. 

‘What? Oh… Tal, no field duty.’ 

‘No way in hell.’

‘I’ll ask Hetty then, she might let you in this. Perhaps just the coaxing part.’ 

‘No need to, Ms Blye. I’m allowing you, kid. Go! And bring haz-mat suits.’ Hetty appeared out of nowhere and said to us. 

‘Thanks Hetty the Ninja.’ 

‘No problem, and wow, I have to learn from you. Hetty the ninja! That sounds nice!’ 

I chuckled due to happiness.

Kens let me ride shotgun, and Ziva was stuck with Estelle in the backseat. And I just knew that Estelle was 17, and she wasn’t prone to the disease. Only me. That sucks.

‘All right we’re here, haz-mat suits on.’ We suited up in that penguin suit, and waddled in, and we were lethal penguins with guns, magazines of ammo and knives, in my case, I wasn’t allowed a gun yet. 

Kens let Ziva do the kicking and she kicked the door in. 

We screamed that we’re federal agents. And found no one. 

‘Clear!’ 

‘Clear!’ 

‘Clear!’ 

I hear three shouts of clear, and it was just only me who didn’t shout that it was clear. I hurriedly yelled the clearance, and that left then baffled. 

‘If Patient Number Zero isn’t here, where is she?’ 

‘I know a way. River-Danse!’

‘What? River Dance?’ 

‘Danse! French! For Dance! We tap dance!’ She started off, with a slightly off beat tap dancing routine, and Estelle joined in, I have admit that the girl has skills! She does know how to tap dance! She didn’t lose any beats or did any step wrongly, then Ziva mumbled, ‘oh, I’m so gonna kill you, Blye.’ Then started to tap, not even tap dancing, but just tapping at the floor with the sole of the shoe. I joined in later, and I knew that I was so gonna screw up. And then, I heard the whole group of three agents and probationary agent stop. 

They were gaping at me, mouths hanging in shock. 

‘Did you know how to do this? You’re almost as skilled as McGee! He likes and is good at this!’ 

‘I didn’t actually, just went with my heart. I didn’t think anything else.’ I said without stopping. The ground was emitting a faint tapping sound, and once my feet hit the second left porcelain brick near the wall and the fireplace,  the sound changed. 

‘Hey. Come here. Check this out.’ I tapped on the brick with my sole. 

‘It’s hollow! River Danse worked!’ Estelle exclaimed. 

‘You got style, Blye.’

‘Let’s see what’s under this brick, can you do the honours?’ I asked Estelle. 

‘Nope. You found it, you go open it.’ 

‘All right.’ I tugged on the brick, and it wouldn’t budge. 

‘Screwdriver or thin tools?’ 

Kens handed me a credit card.

‘Credit card? Wow. You’re treating me as MacGyver.’

‘You are MacGyver. You made nunchucks from grass and leather! One of my friends at the Academy told me.’

‘What? Is this common knowledge? Fine. I’ll try.’ 

I attempted to wedge the credit card into the gap of the porcelain brick. And it worked. I had super strength, I guess. Surprise surprise? 

‘Flashlight.’ Kens commanded. We switched ours on and started to explore the unknown, posing as huge penguins. 

There was a flight of stairs, and it seemed endless to me, since I was slightly claustrophobic, well, highly. 

There was a small room in the depths of the darkness. And lucky for the whole squadron, there was a light switch. Estelle turned it on, and the shoe, room brightened in an instant. 

‘Woah. This is nice. A tad bit small for my taste.’ Estelle said. There was a bed in the right hand corner of the room, leaning against the wall. There were kids’ clothing, a rather pink (hot pink) lying on the floor. 

‘Where is the kid?’ 

‘Who are you? I swear, I’ll clonk you out with this baseball bat!’ A new voice rang out from behind us, lurking in the shadows. 

‘We’re agents. Do you know about the recent disease that broke out in America?’ 

‘Mhm. From the news. Why?’ 

‘We just need you to come with us. You’re not in any trouble. You’re the…er…close contact of a patient. We need to run tests.’ 

‘Fine. But I’ll kill you when I have the chance to kill you if you guys do something that I disapprove of.’ 

‘Put this on then.’ Kens had gone out without me noticing and had came back with a kid sized haz-mat suit. 

She did exactly what Kens told her, put on the suit properly, and let me accompany her to the Audi. 

We arrived at the bullpen with success. No traffic jams of any sorts. The odds are smiling at all of us. Kens locked the girl in the car and went off towards headquarters.

‘Hey! You’re back! How were the guys?’ An agent was parking her motorcycle, probably used in an undercover mission. ‘Who’re they?’ 

‘They’re from DC. One of our own. The kid there is Estelle. And you know the rest.’ 

‘Oh I do. I remember them. I was in ops when they called. You see, it’s my first undercover mission working for Hetty. I was a tech operator up there in the huge dark room.’

‘Wow. A motorcycle job.’ 

‘I’m lucky. First undercover assignment: own a dirt bike. Nice.’ 

‘Anyways, I got wind that Hetty’s looking for you.’ 

‘Thanks.’ I pushed open the doors and led the others in. 

‘Wow. Going for a retro look, eh?’

‘Mhm. It was how this looked like when we first moved headquarters over to here.’ 

‘According to the others, they’ve seen your old headquarters. This one’s nicer, I think.’ Ellie said, comparing the two images in her head. She was an analyst after all. 

‘It’s slightly newer.’ 

‘But the exterior is even older than the one that I saw before.’ Ziva chimed in. She had seen the headquarters before. Me, on the other hand, haven’t.

‘How was it like? The old headquarters, I mean.’ 

‘A.most like this one, not much things and rooms. Only one main one, not the bullpen. Ops. With lots of world clocks. I recall having Budapest, Hong Kong and Berlin, and so on.’ Kens recalled. 

One country sounded suspiciously of Budapesht. 

‘Budapest? Where is it located?’ 

‘Hungary. Capitol. And it’s Budapesht. With the ‘sht’. The Hungarian pronunciation.’ 

‘Budapesht. Got it.’ I repeated, feeling weird. I was spitting all over the place. 

‘Never mind that. Hetty!’ 

‘How was it?’

‘Apparently, it went well. Objective secured in the car. I’ll bring you to her.’ 

We went towards the direction of the car. Kens took out the keys to the car and unlocked it. There was no one in sight. Not one single trace of the girl left behind.

‘Where is she?’ Hetty bellowed at us. 

‘She was here. One second, she was here, the other, she was gone!’ I defended myself. 

Hetty’s glance diverted towards Kens, and that’s where I looked. To my surprise, instead of looking guilty, puppy dog like, she had a sinister smile on her face. 

‘What?’ I asked her. I was the only one confused here. When I looked back towards our ninja boss, she was smiling, just like Kens was. 

Hetty spoke up. ‘I see what you’ve done. Nice, Ms Blye.’

‘What did she do?’ I asked Hetty.

‘Oh. She either sprayed overwatch spray over her clothes or placed a tracker. I think before the Haz-Mat suit was on her. She would have to dump it if she left this compound, as I know that she won’t want to be a penguin waddling around. 

‘Tracker. Activate Tracker A-351.’ Kens ordered me. 

‘On it.’ I took out my tablet, typed the number on it, and activated the tracker. 

The tracker was only less than a block away, but moving quite quickly.

‘It’s moving. Fast.’ 

‘Yes. I know, Ms Bloor.’ Of course she does. 

‘Probably on transport. Check the bus stations. The Ubers if you have to.’ 

‘On it. Wait. The tracker’s movement stopped. Probably a stop.’ 

‘Ok. Dig up all the bus which had just stopped. We’ll go and check it out.’ 

‘Got it. Here.’ I showed her my tablet. 

‘Ok. Not too far away. We’ll be there at about five minutes.’ 

‘Not quick enough. Catch her at the next stop. She’ll be there. As the bus stopped with the tracker, and moved just now.’ 

‘What are the chances that she realises that we put a tracker on her and plucks it off and adheres it on her seat, or any seat?’ I asked them. 

‘There is this possibility. But it’s slim. The tracker is a chameleon. It changes colour with the surroundings. In this case, clothes.’ Kens explained. 

‘How did you know?’ Hetty asked her.

‘I bought them. From my own capital.’ 

‘What? Wow.’ 

‘Now go. The bus will arrive at about eight minutes. See if you can reach it. And ignore the speed limit. I have a friend at the Transportation Department. I’ll smooth it out. Bring Ziva. Let her drive. According to Gibbs, her driving skills suit our needs.’ 

‘Ziva! You’re coming! And driving. Do your best.’ She shouted afterwards.

‘Really? I’m not letting her lay a finger on my Audi.’

‘Fine. Take the office car.’ 

‘Ziva, Cmon, this is the car. Impress me.’ 

We got into the car, with Estelle grumbling and whining. 

‘Why her?’ 

‘Hetty said so.’ Kens rebutted. That shut her up. She would never disobey a direct order. 

And it turns out that she was right. ‘Why her’ was an understatement. ‘Over my dead body’ was more appropriate. 

I hopped in shotgun as no one volunteered. Ziva revved the engine and stomped on the gas pedal so hard that I could’ve sworn that the other half of the world would feel the hit. The tires screeched the whole time. And I read the speedometer. There was never a millisecond when the KM/H dropped below 90. 

The other users of the road were raging. Classic cases of road rage. They honked and yelled at us whenever they had the chance. 

I was closing to becoming green when the car finally stopped. And according to my precise biological clock, we had stopped at the five minute mark. I figured that it was about this time, since she swivelled and nearly killed us all. God bless us.

And including the time that we had wasted while chatting with Hetty at the office, we still had two minutes to spare. 

‘Two minutes. Ugh. Excuse me. I need to throw up.’ Estelle exclaimed. She was really looking green. 

‘Next time when us probies enrol at this office, we need to have another test, one that we have to endure Ziva’s driving for more than 30 minutes.’ I half-jokingly said. 

‘Hey. This hurts.’ 

‘By the way, who taught you to drive?’ 

‘Myself.’ 

‘What?’ We all yelled and exclaimed in unison. 

‘I taught myself from those shows that we used to watch in Israel.’ 

‘No wonder.’ 

‘All right, here it is. We’re standing right in front of it.’ 

‘Right in front of it?’ 

‘Yes.’ 

‘NCIS. Stop the car!’ Ziva yelled in her Israeli accent. 

‘All right. I’m stopping. Search all you want.’ 

We boarded the bus, and snatched one of the microphones and announced us as federal agents and in order not to spook the girl, we said they it was a raid to see if there are any contrabands. 

We swept the whole entire bus, and there was nothing suspicious. 

‘So… faulty tracker?’ 

‘No way. It’s not faulty. Any old model won’t be faulty.’ 

So we’re sure that she’s somewhere here? 

‘Search again.’ I whispered. 

This time, instead of just looking for something human like, we expanded out and searched for hidden spaces. I was walking along the aisle when I tripped on something. 

‘Ow…Wait. I found something!’ 

‘Where? What?’ 

‘Here, I tripped and fell on this thing here. It’s a latch. The kid might’ve known that this bus was flawed with this latch right there. Smart kid.’

‘All right. Can anyone do this without scaring the kid?’ Ziva asked. ‘Definitely not me. I scare people from a mile away.’ I agree with her. 

‘Maybe you should do it, kid.’ Kens said. 

‘Which one?’ 

‘Both of you. You’re less intimidating. On three. One… two…’ Before the three even came out of her mouth, we opened the latch and was staring into the depths of darkness. 

‘Woah. This is creepy. I’ll hop down, and give you the clear or take the girl with me.’ I said. 

I was like the Marvel character, Black Widow, was she called? I was super stealthy, and landed on the floor with a soft thud. I took out my flashlight and shone the beam around the dark room. And when the beam hit the rightmost corner of the room, there was a shriek of surprise. 

‘Who’s there?’ She screeched. Yes. It was the kid. 

‘Hi.’ I announced myself. And as usual, I didn’t make myself clear. One last resort. 

‘She’s here.’ I said. And I was a hundred percent sure that my comms were on. 

‘Noted.’ I heard the voice of Estelle say right into my ears. With three thuds, I hear someone land. Kens. Ziva. Estelle. They’re here. 

‘You brought someone, huh? You just don’t give up! All right. I’m coming with you.’ 

She walked towards me, and I pulled out my cuffs, telling myself a job well done. 

And of course it wasn’t that easy. She walked towards me, and in a blink of an eye, she attempted to lift the knife off my tool belt. 

And she did. And pulled me towards her, holding me at knifepoint. I felt the cool blade slightly dig into my neck, but not as deep as any of my arteries. Lucky me. But it was still deep enough to draw blood. And there was a sharp pain at where the knife dug in. I guess that’s normal. I tried to struggle, and she of course told me not to or I die. And I stayed as still as one of those wax statues at Madam Tussaud’s wax exhibition. 

‘Kid?’ I heard voices. 

‘Situation here.’ I peeped at my smallest volume as possible, and of course she couldn’t hear me. I could just only stare at the ground, making her know that I know that I have not a single sliver of hope of getting out of here. But what I was doing was staring at my surroundings, and as my eyes adapted to the darkness, I really was glad that I didn’t trip over all those stuff lying on the ground. This small space was just like a mini tool shed but a thousand times messier. There were spanners lying around on the floor, chains abandoned there like dead snakes, and load of other wrenches, screws and nuts. What an arsenal of scraps. What a treat. I could use that for a lot of things. But I need to acquire them first. I need a distraction quick. And luckily the others were psychic, literally, I think. They chose to storm in at this moment, and yelled of Feds! resonated around the room. Thanks. 

‘Hand over the kid or I’ll shoot!’ Estelle yelled. She was tiny but had a big heart for her friends, and was willing to help her for any cause. 

‘Fine. Fine.’ She loosened me and shoved me towards the others. And she held out her wrists. That was the moment when I knew that she was about to do an attack on the rest of us. I changed direction midway, and headed the other direction, not towards my other colleagues, but towards the corner of the room. 

‘What are you doing? Don’t move, kid. Come here! She is armed and highly dangerous!’ 

‘Wait. Who are you talking about? I’m just picking something up, Ziva.’ 

‘Come back, Tal. And the other kid who has possession of a knife, stop in your tracks. Or I’ll risk shooting you, just like Gibbs when he shot the target and grazed Fornell in the butt.’ Ziva added. 

‘Wait. What? Did that really happen?’ Kens asked her. 

‘Yes. This did happen. We laughed our heads off. Can you gimme a pair of handcuffs? I left mine at the hotel.’ 

‘Sure.’ I threw mine towards her. 

‘You have two? Who does that?’ 

‘Me. And Sam. He brings double serves.’ 

‘Ok. You’re more extreme than Gibbs.’ 

‘Really?’ I said, while fumbling around the ground and finding what I needed.’ 

‘Aha.’ I tried out my handiwork after playing with it. It worked, fortunately. 

‘What is this?’ 

‘Never mind. You need to go and grab her. This is the only shot that we may have.’ I said to the rest. 

‘How? You nearly got killed doing that.’ Estelle asked. 

‘We’ll catch her. As this time, we have this!’ I held up my work. 

‘What is that? A chain wrapping around two spanners?’ Ziva asked. 

‘Almost. I have something else.’ I held out the other things that I made, and they still were puzzled. 

‘Wait. What? Chain-wrapped screwdrivers? Nails?’ 

‘Never mind. I’ll tell you later. Ziva, cuff her.’ 

‘All right, boss.’ When she went up to the girl, I saw a sinister smile creep up her face. 

‘Wait. Don’t. Everyone, positions.’ I held up my tools and assisted Ziva with the cuffs. 

And the girl did struggle. Like a pro. I swung my tools and it hit the girl exactly how I wanted it to be. 

‘Ha! Yes!’ 

I admired the marks that I made. I had managed to use the screwdriver-chucks to make her feel pain and she didn’t even fight back again when I went up to her with the weapons.

‘If you struggle again, or go on with your disappearing act, Houdini, I’ll make her use this on you when I find you again. Now, go on and get into the car.’ 

‘Wait. Don’t dissemble them yet. I’m sure that someone will find a use for that.’ Everyone in the car said, well, except me and the kid, who had just felt the wrath of the screwdriver. 

‘Huh. As if. What is so impressive about that?’ 

‘No. I’m serious. You can teach a class in the future or something. I’m seeing the big picture. Hmm… let me see. The class’ name is ‘How to make weapons out of Scraps’. Yes. That is a good course name, and you’re gonna be the teacher. And it is gonna be mandatory.’ 

‘Huh. You wish. I’ll never do that. Remember my condition?’ 

‘Yes. But they can get the students fitted with those comms that we have.’ 

‘Yes. Good point, Kens. But there is no way that I’m doing that.’ 

‘I’ll propose this idea to the boss. You may even have a chance to come and teach the probies.’ 

‘I’m not doing that. It’s a special skill. How will it be special if everyone knows how to do it?’ 

‘You have a point. We’re almost there.’ Kens said to all of us, but to the girl in particular. 

‘Of course. I’ve been here once already.’ She said with a huge eye roll.

‘Huh, right. Aren’t you the girl who escaped?’ Estelle rebutted, slightly agitated. 

She didn’t answer backwards. 

‘This time, stay with her. All eyes on her. I don’t care I if you just crash into walls and knock everything to the ground. Just stay with Miss Houdini here.’ 

‘Roger that.’ 

Kens called Hetty that she had secured the target and the next thing we knew, we were escorting her to the incineration room, with the huge incinerator which took up three quarters of the room. 

‘Sorry. This was the only available spot.’ Hetty met us there.

‘Never mind. She deserved it.’ Ziva was really hotheaded, to be honest. 

‘I’ll seal it. There is no way out here.’ And we all know that this is false. There was a secret exit somewhere in the room. 

‘I’ll stay with her.’ I volunteered. ‘This way, she wouldn’t have a chance to escape.’

‘You sure?’ Kens asked. 

‘Yes. I’m sure.’ 

‘All right. Take care of yourself. And her.’ 

‘Gee thanks.’ I replied, thankful for their care. 

‘Wait. You should take this.’ Hetty handed me something folded. 

‘Haz-Mat suit? Really? Is that necessary!’ 

‘Yes. She might be the first case. And a Hail Mary.’

‘Thanks.’ 

‘Welcome! Take care!’ The gang said well before I got stuck inside. It turns out that I should’ve regretted it. The girl was a chatterbox. 

‘Do you know that it is against the laws that you should keep me here? I can go out, fight my way out if I have to.’

Not if you’re a flight risk or a person at a risk of getting a disease. I wrote. I wasn’t in the mood of speaking. 

‘So what! I have the right to leave.’

Yes. And I’m risking my life to stay here with you! I wrote again. 

‘So what? I can go out. I don’t care a damn about you. I should just go now.’

Door is locked. 

‘You’re not taking any chances with me, right?’

Yes.

‘Fine. I’ll stay here until someone comes.’

Ok. I packed my pen and notepad back into my pocket. 

‘Done. CVC’s here.’ Kensi unlocked the door in a Haz-Mat suit. Someone in full ‘armour’ stormed in and stuffed us in airtight chamber. 

‘You ok?’ I heard Kensi ask me through the chamber.

I gave her a thumbs up. 

‘Good. They’re good to go.’ I was stuffed in a seperate car with from the girl. Kens and Deeks had volunteered to say with me. 

‘You ok?’ 

Yes. I signed. 

‘What is she doing?’

‘She’s signing in ASL, Deeks. And you’re an idiot.’

‘I can’t read that and it doesn’t mean that I am an idiot.’

‘Good point.’ 

Did she reveal something? Anything? She signed back. 

I shook my head. 

‘She said that the girl didn’t reveal anything.’ There was an itch in my throat and I started to cough.

You ok?

Yes, I’m fine.

‘We’re here.’ A paramedic said, while the car stopped. 

‘Thanks.’ Deeks said and the paramedic wheeled me in with Kens and him at my side.

‘We’re going to do a few tests on you, ok?’

I nodded my approval. 

A team in full precaution measures went into the room and did some tests. After that, they told me to rest. 

‘Ok. Thanks.’ Kens said. 

I did. After an hour, someone barged in.

‘Move her to the airtight rooms.’ What is happening? 

‘Ma’am, we have full reason that you and the other girl back there are infected with the mystery virus and we’re quarantining you two.’ What? How did this happen? 

Never mind. I let them wheel me in into the chamber thingy and they locked the room. I didn’t need any oxygen, so I wasn’t attached to the bed. 

I sat down, frustrated. How did this happen? Is the virus airborne? No. Otherwise a lot of the kids will be infected. Source? No. Impossible. Since the infected are all around the country. I don’t know what to make of it. 

‘Hang in there. I know that you can do it, Cmon. Fight it!’ The two cheerleaders said, cheering for me. I fell asleep due to the tiredness. 

The next day, I explored the room. It was like the one that I I had in the orphanage, plain and simple with a notepad and stuff like that. That includes a pen too, since the ones that I have was confiscated for sanitising. I started to write. 

Day 1

I’m feeling completely exhausted, and my power and strength was stripped off from me. When will this nightmare end? Well, fortunately, I had my favourite bear with me, Mr Cuddles, and my co-workers had spared the time to visit, and even the DC crew. Ive learnt that they could be very nice, and not icy towards people. Ziva, the supposedly Mossad assassin, was nicer than I thought. For me, she put on a haz-mat suit and came into the room, and accompanied me, talking with me to make me feel better. I was completely worn out. My fever has shot to 108 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Ziva. She brought me the most updated news on my condition, and told me that it wasn’t looking good, she admitted after I told her to be honest with me. And Sam, who has a daughter, Kamran, stuffed her to a nanny and put me at the topmost priority. How nice of him to do it. The next thing that I knew, he insisted that he was going to watch me sleep and keep me safe from a haz-mat suit. 

I got up, and someone delivered breakfast. There was an extra surprise. Under the orange, on the tray, were messages. And stuff that I didn’t expect.

Day 2

I’m feeling better. At lest I think so. I think that claustrophobic feeling in my chest has improved, and I was able to breathe better. The others dropped off stuff for me, for example some training tools from Sam, which I didn’t really need, due to my weakened condition, but he explained that it was for finger training. Seriously? Do my fingers need training? I don’t think so. I play the piano, and for a good 10 years. And oh my goodness. There were messages left on the trays. Lots of other messages from a lot of people. And there was even one from the director. Most were just encouraging messages, and one was a briefing message. From Hetty. 

‘Ms Bloor. Hope that our get well soon. We’re finding a cure for this. The numbers rose, very rapidly. Twenty three more people have fallen victim to this disease. We’re hoping to catch whoever did this. I’m asking for your help, on behalf of NCIS. And as a friend. I have a laptop linked to the servers NCIS. If you’re in good shape, we can work together. Tell the nurse to give you the laptop. Hetty.’ Was what it said. Hetty knew that I was rotting here due to boredom. Thanks. I switched on the laptop, and the webcam turned on. 

‘Hey! You fine!’ I heard someone said, in improper English. 

‘Who’s that?’ A familiar voice said, from the background. Then I heard the wheeling of a chair. 

‘Hey! Kid! How’re you?’

‘Fine. Bored. Hetty gave me work clearance. Laptop only. Fill me in.’ I just couldn’t talk much since I was still worn out. 

‘All right. Did you know that twenty three more people fell victim to the disease?’ 

‘Yes, Hetty told me.’ 

‘All right. We’ve got to identify a suspect. Check your email. Just sent some info to you. All the suspected people, companies.’ 

‘Wait. Can I run background checks here?’ 

‘Yes.’ 

‘All right thanks, Eric. Check in with you later.’ 

Then, I started to search up the name that I had in my mind. 

I literally searched until the nurse came in with the haz-mat suit with my dinner. 

‘Cmon, kid. Lunch time.’ 

‘Wait. I have to do this first.’ 

‘I’ll place it here. When you wanna eat, do it yourself.’ She stomped out. A nurse with a bad temper. Nice. 

I continued to stare at the screen. The man, that I have been searching for, finally popped up on the screen. 

It read in large letters, with caps lock, Bob Hayes. Yes. The fed. That Deeks has a brotherly bond with. I have been suspecting him since day one, as he ferreted at around the time when the plague or disease started to break out. 

‘Hey. Eric. I think that my theory has been validated. See?’ 

I shared screen and showed him where I thought that he was suspicious. 

‘Oh yes. You’re right. Chemistry degree, biology degree, and loads more. You’re right. He could’ve just simply did this to get to someone. Who?’

‘I don’t know. And enemy? At school? At work? According to his time at the Bureau, I think that he’s gotta be higher up than that.’

‘Agreed. I’ll have people go and take him in, that is if I can find him.’

‘Yes. I hope so. He got close to Deeks and  used this as his advantage. To know information from the inside to see how successful his virus is.’

‘And I think that he took all the time to go and infect those people individually. Since there is no way that it is from a single source.’

‘Ok. Can you send someone here? I need the company.’

‘Sure. Yes. Kens is on her way here.’

‘How about Deeks?’

‘He’s pissed off.’

‘Cool. All on me. Apologise to him for me.’

‘Ok. Sure. And I think that it isn’t going to work, believe me when I say this. He went on his own to hunt Bob Hayes down.’

‘Sure. He hates dirty cops.’

‘Say hi to everyone to me.’

‘There is no need to. I sent the b team there in the field. Per Hetty’s orders. 

‘Who stayed here?’

‘Everyone. Deeks, Sam, Kens, Callen. Even Hetty stayed. 

‘Wow. Talk about devotion. 

‘You sure that they are ok with this?’

‘Ask them yourselves.’ Sam, Callen, Deeks, Kensi and Hetty appeared right out of nowhere. 

‘I get it now. Thank you so much for helping me out.’ Eric went off, and the computers connected to the comms. 

‘You’ve helped me out.’ Kensi shrugged as if it was nothing. 

‘You helped me too.’ Deeks said to me, smiling. 

‘Deeks! I didn’t, did I?’

‘You did. I thought of you before I wanted and went to kill Bob Hayes. That bastard.’

‘Wait, what? I did?’

‘Yes. You did. He has family. I imagine that they will be devastated if he got killed. He deserved more in jail.’

‘Good point.’

‘What can I do from behind here?’

‘You rest, kiddo. And try to find a way to this? I know that you’re a scientist.’

‘Me? I’m no scientist.’

‘You’re everything but nothing.’

‘Thank you?’

‘You’re welcome.’ Sam, the bear, soft inside, said. He really is so nice in the inside, once you get to know him. 

‘Oh. A call from the other leader. Natalya. I’ll have to get that. Sorry.’ Kensi excused herself. 

‘You hang in there, kiddo.’ Deeks encouraged. With him, I think that everything is possible. 

‘I will.’ I beamed. 

‘You do. Or I’ll kill you myself, ok? You’re one of the best that we have. The most elite of the elite. This is what composes of the team. The best sniper, Kensi, the best undercover agent, G, the best plotter, me, the best joker, Deeks, the best fighter, Sam, and the best technical operators, Eric and Nell.’

‘Deeks is the best joker, I do agree with you.’

‘Yes. Thank you very much.’ Deeks flashed his smile at me. I slightly blushed. 

‘And get out before Halloween. We need you. It’s no fun without you.’

‘I’ll try.’ 

‘And do finish your dinner.’ 

‘That? Oh. Ok. I want to throw this out. I hate this.’

‘Is it as bad as cafeteria food?’ Deeks asked. 

‘Worse. You have no idea.’ I said, winking at Deeks. 

‘Kens. What’s going on?’

‘Bob Hayes is dead. The other team shot him.’ 

‘Really?’

‘How about the ‘rotting in jail’ part?’

‘No. Actually, the other team didn’t shoot him. My bad. Bob kills himself. We found a note. About him admitting that he did everything. That he had released the virus, and there was a vial lying on the table. He said that it was a cure. Forensics discussed and checked. It is the real deal.’ 

‘And how about the other patients?’

‘They are currently being treated for it.’

‘Good, love a happy ending.’

‘But…’

‘There is always a but to it. Shoot.’ 

‘But… the other team do not think that Bob did it. Someone killed Bob. Don’t know how yet. Have to wait for autopsy report. The virus is contained, but the threat is not yet neutralised.’

‘And who do you think that is responsible?‘

‘I don’t know, maybe a terrorist who wants to cause mass terror.’ Kensi suspected. 

‘Maybe. Any more suggestions?’ Hetty asked.

‘A furious relative.’ Deeks said, I nearly couldn’t hold my chuckles in. 

‘Like who?’

‘An angry ex-girlfriend. And those that has Kensi’s skills.’

‘Ok…’ Hetty frowned. ‘That works too.’

Kensi just got a call. 

‘Hello?’ ‘Ok. I’ll tell them.’

‘What was that?’

‘Autopsy report. Pufferfish poison.’

‘How can one get pufferfish poison?’

‘On the black market.’ 

‘Black market, huh?’ Callen said, thinking hard. 

‘Yes.’

‘How do you know?’ I asked him. 

‘I have been undercover in the black market about a month. Saw someone with a great deal of pufferfish poison to sell. And it’s not too expensive, either.’

‘Mr Callen, can you too back into your cover?’

‘I’ll try. I’ve locked it in. And I’ll release him out.’

‘Thank you.’ I said. ‘It means a lot to me. You guys helping me out, I’ll never repay that.’

‘Just do your rehab and you’ll be fine.’

‘It’s too small of a favour to ask.’ 

‘Just do what I order you to. And just let the nurse touch you. The last time I didn’t let them do it, they do fight back sometimes. They gave me morphine and knocked me out.’

‘Ouch.’ 

‘Hey, kid. We have a cure.’ The nurse walked in. ‘Good. You’ve started your lunch.’

‘I’m almost done. Just the orange left.’

‘Huh. Leave it alone. You can have it later.’

‘Ok. How is it going to get into me? Drip or mouth injected?’

‘Sorry to say that, but it’s going to be from a drip.’ Ah… I hate drips. 

‘Where?’ 

‘Here. You’re not going anywhere.’ 

Three people in Haz-Mat suits walked in, wheeling something behind them. The drip materials. Ah. 

‘This might hurt. I’m not kidding.’ Kensi said.

‘You’ve tried that before?’ I asked her back in comms. 

‘Well, yes. Once.’ 

‘Who are you talking to?’ The nurse asked. 

‘Oh, me? Them.’ 

‘Them? You don’t have a phone.’

‘But I’m a magician.’

‘Ok. Good.’ She gave me an eerie look. 

‘Here it goes.’ The nurse jabbed the needle into my artery. Oh. Shoot. It did hurt. The other people right outside of the room winced. I guess that they also did know what I feel. 

‘Did that really hurt?’ Deeks asked. ‘I’ve never gotten a drip before.’

‘The hell it doesn’t.’ I heard Kensi say, frowning and giving Deeks a very horrible look.

‘Got it, Tiger.’ 

‘We’ll have you on this drip for about three hours. And continue tomorrow.’

‘You mean, that we have to do this everyday?’

‘Yep.’ Holy. I don’t want to do this. 

‘Do everything they tell you.’ I remembered Kensi’s words. I know that I house follow her word. Since you know, she is trustworthy and has a hell lot of experience more than me. 

‘I guess, I’ll see you in three hours.’ 

The nurse left the room, leaving me alone with the people outside. 

‘How was it?’ Hetty asked. 

‘Don’t.’ I frowned. It hurt like hell.

‘They do have to do this?’

‘Yes. Until you fully recover. And they’ll do PCR tests and hopefully you’ll be up to shape in no time.’

‘That I can come out and do field duty?’

‘Yes.’ 

‘Yes!’ I really hope that I recover soon. 

‘So, how many times did you end up in the hospital?’ I asked them all

‘Uh…more than ten times.’ Kensi replied first.

‘What happened?’

‘I was shot in the butt by this idiot right here.’ Kensi punched Deeks’ arm. 

‘It was a nerf gun bullet!’ 

‘Doesn’t make a difference.’

‘And the other times?’

‘Missions.’ 

‘How many missions have you been on?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe…A hundred times in the past year?’

‘And how long have you been here?’ 

‘19.’ Hetty stated. 

‘Which means, you’ve been on at least 1900 missions!’

‘And that’s not a bad record. 9 out of 1900 missions, I was injured. And this is not a bad record.’

‘G?’ 

‘Once.’ 

‘Once?’

‘When I was born. I never was admitted into the hospital. But I had to visit someone in the hospital.’ G’s a lone wolf. Who could he possibly meet?’

‘Who did you visit?’

‘Sam.’

‘And that leads us to you, Sam, how many times?’

‘Twice.’ 

‘Shot once.’ I heard G said. That’s when he visited him, I guess. 

‘How about the second time?’

‘SEAL mission. It’s classified.’ Sam said. 

‘He came back a scar. This scar, in particular.’ G pointed to somewhere near Sam’s chest. On his shirt. Somewhere in his chest then. 

‘Deeks? I can’t wait.’ 

Kensi, obviously a master of Deeks, helped him answer. 

‘Thirty six times.’

‘Did not.’

‘Did too. I saw your hospitalisation records.’

‘Those were classified!’

‘Not if you have a friend in the hospital authorities.’ 

‘Huh. Yes. It was thirty six times.’

‘You’re  not going to ask about it, right? It’s a bit too weird and… funky.’ Hetty asked. 

‘I’m curious.’

‘According to Deeks, he was punched in the face hardly by a prostitute when he was on an undercover mission.’

‘Aha! That’s interesting.’ I said, joking. 

‘Don’t ask.’ Deeks blushed. 

We sorta talked like we were just an ordinary group of people. Like students from exchange programs. And the nurse came back, right after three hours. 

‘Ok. Done for today. And here’s dinner. Eat it. You need the proteins and energy.’

‘Yes madam.’ 

She left the room, mouthing ‘she better do that’. Of course I was going to do that. I glanced at my tray of food. Fish, with broccoli. And green jello?!

‘Green Jello.’

‘Yes. It’s standard hospital food. You don’t like that?’

‘Well, I don’t like it.’ 

‘Kensi likes it. She once came to visit and gobbled up my jello.’ Deeks stated. 

‘Deeks!’

‘Sorry.’ 

‘If you want me to, I can tell the nurse get this to you later. She’ll come after I finish dinner to take a swab for the PCR test.’ 

‘Sure. Yeah. Thanks.’

‘And I’ll have someone, no, me, get something for you all.’ Hetty said, like a caring mum. 

‘Thank you. And coffees too please.’

‘You know what we like.’ 

‘Yes. I do.’ 

Hetty then left the room, like a ninja.

‘Oh, I hope that I can slither out like a ninja. And just not get jabber in the arm everyday.’ I said to the crew after the swab was taken. 

‘I know that you don’t want to do this, but just do this for us. We need you and your skills in the field.’ 

‘Like…’

‘Improvisation.’ Sam. 

‘Determination.’ Deeks. 

‘Strategising.’ Callen. 

‘Observant.’ Kensi. ‘And lots more.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Welcome. Now we just have to wait for the nurse.’

‘Well, maybe after a day.’

‘A day.’

‘Yes. It’s the average time for PCR test.’

‘Cool. I’m just going to sleep.’ 

‘Night.’ 

‘Night!’ I closed my eyes and attempted to doze off.

And I couldn’t do so. I laid there with my eyes closed, but knowing that Callen, Sam, Deeks and Kensi, and the small Hetty watching over me, I was a bit more relaxed. 

The next day, I woke up. I finally could sleep. 

‘So,’ the nurse came back into the room. ‘Your friend enjoyed the jello.’

‘Of course she did. She’s a fan of jello.’

‘And I did the PCR test.’

‘What happened? The result?’

‘That you’re all clear. The effects are better than we’ve ever imagined. And now most people have been released out of the hospital. But we’ve put you in the topmost priority.’

‘Why?’

‘Because, you’re you know what. And you know who.’

‘You know who.’ 

‘Yes. The one that you’ve captured the Plant Slasher. And you’re an agent.’

‘Thanks. I do have priorities here.’

‘You can pack and go now, if you want to.’

‘Really? Wow.’ 

I gathered all my stuff.

‘You’re a free kid now!’  Deeks exclaimed.

‘Betcha.’

‘And right in time.’ Kensi said. ‘Eric has something for us.’

‘Really? What?’

‘That we have located a suspect and that we can close in and catch him, to see if he was the one who has threatened to make a terrorist attack happen. 

‘Where?’

‘Not far from here.’ 

‘Good. I’ll go and gear up.’

‘I have your stuff here. When you were sleeping, the nurse told us what you were, what they found, and that you’ve developed an immune system for this thing. And that you might be able to get home soon. So I had Sam grab your gear, and now you can go now.’

‘Thank you so much. I owe it to you all.’

‘Don’t. Catch this person and we’ll be even.’

‘I’m ready.’ I changed out of my robes and got back into causal wear, and put my bulletproof vest on. Let’s catch a terrorist. 

‘Where’re we going?’

‘We are going to an address in LA. A block away from the hospital.’

‘Good. We’ll be there in a short time. And are you up for shape?’ Deeks asked. 

‘I think so.’

‘Ok. Good. We are going to need you.’ Sam said. 

‘You’re better than that at me.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, you really are.’ When we arrived at the place, I saw a lot of cars parked there. 

‘What’s going on?’ I asked. 

‘Taliana? Wow. You’re ok!’ It was Estelle. 

‘I’m fine.’

‘Really. And we got a call from Hetty. Gibbs got the call and had told us to gear up and come here. Now we are ready to bust terrorist butt.’

‘Good. And you have Ziva. Good. Can she come with us?’

‘Yes, I know that you’re not confident about your skills after days without training, but I know that you can. Ziva’s the backup plan. And Kensi and Deeks too. They’re team B. They will be your backup in case you cannot catch the,. Call the code word pear and they’ll come to you.’

‘Really? How did you get this code word?’

‘Gibbs said that it was the best one. Or Forrest.’ 

‘I think pear is better.’

‘Good. Than pear it is. We’ll be the A team, with Ziva and Gibbs.’

‘Ok.’ I took out my huger gun. 

‘Change of plans! Kensi will be a sniper. In case he escapes, he’ll be shot by her.’ Gibbs said. I know that Gibbs is also a good sniper. I guess that Kensi convinced him that she could do that. 

‘Ok. On three.’ I ordered Gibbs and the others. He threw me a look. 

‘Sorry.’

‘On my mark!’ Gibbs ordered, like a leader. 

‘If you want to lead, do this. They listen to you that way.’ He winked. I thought that he was going to scold me.

‘Go. Go. Go!’ He gave the order to go in. It was our cue. I kicked open the door and it broke into half. Whoops. 

‘Hands up!’ I yelled. The person in the room raised his left hand. 

‘Both hands!’ Ziva reinforced the order. 

The second hand of the man went up slowly, then he turned and smiled a sinister smile. Something bad is going to happen. I know. 

He had a gun! 

‘Gun!’ I yelled, but that was not necessary. The man was running at full speed. 

I went to chase him. And I was lucky that I was still in shape after hospitalisation. I caught him while bullets were flying everywhere. He fell down to the floor, but stood back up in a short time. I guess that it was one on one. I had kicked the gun away from him. But what I wanted was to catch him alive. And Kensi was very far from this spot. She could’ve shot him in the arm. 

He swung a punch at me. I snapped. I hit back. Hit him on the nose. I heard it crack. He fell down to the floor with an oomph. But I don’t think that did the job. He stood back up, I had to punch him in the gut to make him surrender. I managed to hit him the the gut, after twenty or more times off punching back, but my knuckles hit something hard. 

‘Haha. Can’t beat me. Can you?’

‘What!s underneath.’

‘You really want to know?’

‘Yes.’ I swallowed. It was something not good, I know. 

He got rid of his coat. It was a bomb. And he had a switch in his hand. Oh. Shit. 

‘Pear. Pear.’ I whispered. 

Soon, the B team was here.

‘What happened. Oh.’ Deeks said, as the leader of team b. 

‘I need a bomb squad. Bomb squad. Quick.’ Deeks ordered.

‘And send Sam here please?’

‘Sam?’

‘Sam.’

‘Am on my way.’ I heard Sam say. 

I saw Sam’s silhouette approaching.

‘What do we have here?’

‘I don’t know. But there is definitely a dead-man’s-switch.’ A dead man’s switch was something that requires a pressure applied on it, or the bomb will go off and kill us all. Sam approached the bomb. 

‘Be careful.’

‘I will. Ok. I do have something in mind. But all that I need a professional bomb detonator.’

‘The bomb squad is ten minutes out.’

‘But you cannot just convince him to give this up.’

‘Maybe. But maybe… you should try.’

‘Nope. I’m rusty at that.’

‘Maybe, Ziva, see if yo can try and attack him.’

‘What we need the most is a sniper.’ 

‘I’ll try and lure him to Kensi.’

‘Hey, Mr…’

‘Karaji.’

‘Mr Karaji. I know that you want to kill more people and free them, right?’

‘Yes, I do,’

‘And I know where more people are. Most people are. They’re just right outside your house.’

‘Really? Take me to them.’ He pointed to me. ‘Or I’ll kill you.’ He pointed a gun at me and shoved the barrel into my back. 

‘All right.’ The plan was working. 

‘How dare you.’ Ziva said, frowning at me, I was betraying them. And I’m sorry for that.

‘Here they are.’

‘Listen up! Do no…’

I heard a swish and a bullet shot towards us. And it blew the detonator out of the man’s hand, destroying it instantly. It didn’t detonate the bomb, luckily. 

‘You’ve tricked me.’

‘Yes. And I’ve did that without you suspecting.’ Just then, four more high velocity bullets came shooting towards us. I know that they all came from Kensi. Attagirl. 

It hit his two arms and legs, letting me pin him to the ground, without fighting back, and not lethally harming him. We had him in custody in no time.

‘So, it’s a wrap.’ After Kensi and Sam had interrogated the suspected terrorist turned into confirmed terrorist,  they exclaimed. The terrorist had confessed to hiring Bob Hayes, as Bob’s back account had half a million dollars transfer and it trace back to him, courtesy from the wonder twins. 

‘Good. We can all rest. Call this a day.’

‘Hey, do you want to go back to the orphanage?’

‘Me? Nah. I like this place. Maybe I can Kip and kill some time here at night.’

‘Then, I have an offer.’ Kensi said.

‘We have an offer.’ Deeks smartly added. 

‘Shoot.’

‘You know, for what you’ve done for us, it’s time that we helped you. Do you like the orphanage and the orphaned?’

‘Not too much. I’m more of a lone wolf.’ 

‘Cool. Then you might like to hear this. So… do you want to live with us?’

‘Me? Of course!’ It was the best news that I’ve ever heard! 

‘Good. I have taken care of the paperwork.’ Hetty the ninja snuck up on us again, scaring the hell out of Deeks and us all. 

‘How did you know?’

‘Because, I hear things.’

‘Ok. Thank you so much.’

‘So that’s a wrap, huh?’ Ziva asked, walking in with Gibbs, Estelle and the others. 

‘Yep, and that means, that you have to go. Back to DC.’

‘Yes, it sucks.’

‘I guess, see ya then.’

‘Hey, before I go, something that I have to say to you all.’ Estelle said, while turning slightly red. 

‘Go.’

‘I finally figured out why she looked so familiar to me.’ Estelle said to me. 

‘I’m all ears.’

‘I saw you in the orphanage. And I had the tech guy dig in about my past and your past. And they’re very similar. I think that we’re sisters.’

‘Wow. Really.’

‘And that brings us to another question. We’ll be separated, after reuniting.’

‘I appreciate your decision.’ Gibbs, said, knowing what would happen. 

‘Hetty, up to you.’

‘Fine. One more wouldn’t hurt.’

‘Thank you.’ Estelle said, looking at me, smiling. I guess that I wasn’t alone. 

‘Maybe you can stay at ours too.’ Deeks and Kensi said. 

‘Thank you, that would be nice.’ 

‘So, I guess that it’s goodbye, Estelle.’

‘See ya... I’ll visit sometime.’

‘Cool. And we’re proud to have you as one of us.’ Gibbs said pulling Estelle in a hug. 

The others followed. They embraced in a huge hug.

‘Wheels up in twenty.’ Gibbs said, a bit sentimental. 

‘See ya, keep in touch.’ He said, hugging us each in turn. 

‘Will do.’ 

They left. I’m going to miss them. 

‘And also, I have something to say.’ Kensi again. 

‘Go. I’m intrigued.’ Sam said, anticipating. 

‘Let me see, a new house. A new bar.’

‘Nope. But it’s something new, all right.’

‘What’s new.’

‘This.’ She choked up a bit. 

‘Deeks?’ 

‘I don’t know about it. Only she knows.’

‘I’m going take a couple of days off some day in the future.’

‘Really. Oh. I get it.’

‘Congrats.’ 

‘I’m so happy for you.’ I hugged her. The warmest hug that I ever gave. 

‘And wait. What’s that peeking out of your pocket?’ I asked Kensi. 

‘I don’t know. I’ll see.’ She pulled out the sheet of paper.

‘Oh. I know about that. Gibbs told me not to say, but he left a list of their numbers in your pocket. He told me to tell you to use them well.’

‘Thank him for me.’

‘Tell him yourself.’ Estelle pointed to the topmost number. 

‘Hello? It’s Kensi…’

Time skip to about a year later… 

Estelle and I were lying on the sofa. 

‘Hey, they’re back.’ I pointed out to Estelle.

‘Yes, they are.’

‘Dad! Mum!’

‘Hey.’

‘I just want to have a coffee after all this time.’

‘And you’ll have it. Here.’ Estelle held up the coffee that we made together. 

‘Thanks.’

‘Who is this little midget?’

‘Her name, is Esther. Esther Blye-Deeks.