Totally boss cover made by marvelously_crazed! :)

***

Three Years Ago

The Hollywood Hills

She runs through brambles and thickets as fast as she can, supposed to be pursuing a suspect. Why she had decided to go outside in the middle of the night, she has no idea. She just knows that she saw someone murder someone and that it's her job to catch him. 

She's in fact so distracted that she doesn't pay attention when she runs into another figure who seems the same age as her.

"OW!" she shrieks, falling back and landing on her butt.

The other figure sits up, rubbing her head. She's a few months younger than Marina, her dark hair streaked with orange. She glares at Marina with a piercing brown gaze. "I'll say, I was going just fine until you showed up!"

Marina grumbles, standing up and brushing her pants off. "I was chasing a killer!"

The girl stops short. "You're not here to kill me?"

Marina frowns, shaking her head. "No, why?"

The girl sighs. "I escaped from a science lab. They . . . did something to me."

Marina nods. "I'm not normal, either."

"Yeah, a federal agent who's . . . what, twelve isn't normal," the girl drawls.

Marina looks around, making sure no one's nearby. Then she slides up her pant leg and takes her Loric pendant out from under her shirt. The other girl's eyes widen when she sees the swirling Loric numbers branded into her ankles and the number on her pendant. "I'm an alien," she replied casually. "From a planet called Lorien. I've got super speed, strength, and soon enough, I'll be getting more. If you think that you're different, think about me."

The girl nods her understanding. "Do you know how to control them?"

Marina shakes her head. "My Cêpan - my guardian, Gibbs - and I are always busy at NCIS to even pay attention to what I can do."

The girl beckons to her, going down a path Marina can't see. "I can help," she offered. "I've been training ever since I escaped."

Marina frowns, starting to follow slowly. "What's the catch?"

The girl grins over her shoulder. "Could you show me how to shoot so if the lab finds me again, I can defend myself?"

Marina considers. She finally nods. "What's your name?"

"Savannah Starlight. I usually went by Savvy when I was younger, though."

Marina nods again. "I'm Marina Nightshade. If you want my Loric number, I'm Seven."

***

Present Day

Paradise, Ohio

Marina shakes her head in amazement, running over and hugging Savannah to death, who hugged her back. "I can't believe it!"

"Neither can I," Savannah laughed, pulling away and flicking her bangs back. "I ran for all my life's worth to get here. What're you doing in Paradise?"

"I'm undercover," Marina replied quickly before John, Sam, and Sarah could get within hearing distance. "My name now is Annalise Ramaya."

Savannah nodded her understanding. "Which reminds me, I changed mine for a while to Aliyah Sayegh." She grinned. "And it's not Anastasia now?" she joked.

Marina rolled her eyes. "Russian names. And you chose Arabic?"

"That way if I do something that could get me killed, they'll think I'm a terrorist, and I'll change my name again," Savannah supplied, then smiled at John, Sam, and Sarah as they finally came up. "Hi."

"Hey," John replied. He raised an eyebrow. "You usually don't drop down from trees, do you?" 

Savannah smirked. "Former gymnast. I have to keep up my flexibility."

Marina punched her friend in the arm. "Yeah, she does it often. She likes doing it. Sometimes her landings are off though. John Smith, Sam Goode, Sarah Hart, meet Aliyah Sayegh."

"'Sayegh?'" Sam asked incredulously, snorting. "What kind of name is that?"

"Hey," Savannah retorted, miffed. "My friend back in D.C. has an even crazier name than that. Weird names mean that whenever you're pissed, don't be within range of a good-sized throw."

"Translates to 'get your lazy ass into the school within three seconds,'" Marina supplied, and Sam's eyes widened fearfully as he gauged the several-yard run back to the school. "So don't piss her off."

John grinned. "So what brings you to Paradise?"

"Only to catch up with meh friend," Savannah replied, nudging Marina with her elbow. "Can I talk to her for a few seconds?"

The bell rang at that moment, and Sarah nodded. "There's a five-minute time to allow you to get to your next period. You'll be fine."

When John, Sam, and Sarah left, talking between themselves, Savannah turned to Marina. "Has Four died yet?" she whispered.

Marina shook her head. "No, that's why Gibbs was hesitant to let me take this assignment on my own."

"That's another reason why I'm here," Savannah added, swinging a backpack she hadn't seen before off of her shoulders. She set it down, rummaging inside. "Gibbs found me somehow and told me to bring these to you in case you did run into Mogadorians. He drove me up here, and he's waiting for me around the corner. I just dropped these off." She pulled out a wickedly sharp black knife with a jagged blade, handing it to Marina. As soon as she touched it, the blade began to glow blue.

Marina's eyes widened. "Whoa."

"Only works on Lorics or Mogs," Savannah told her, pulling out a few ammo cartridges. "And these work on both humans AND Lorics and Mogs."

Marina pulled up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing a 9mm gun strapped into a holster wrapped around her forearm. She took the gun out, took the ammo cartridge and replaced it with one of the Loric ones. She did the same to the SIG-Sauer she had in a holster in the back of her jacket. "Does he have anymore?"

Savannah finally smirked. "This whole bag is filled with them."

Marina's jaw dropped. "Does the term 'overprotective' come to mind?"

"Seven, it came to mind the instant I started running through states with that thing thumping on my back..

***

John waited out front with Bernie Kosar, who had somehow managed to follow him to school and wait forever for him. When he saw Annalise exit the building, he noted that she now carried two backpacks. He raised an eyebrow. "What's in the second one?"

"Things I forgot from when I moved here," she replied as she stepped to his side. "She stays with us on occasion and noticed I had forgotten a few things."

"Oh."

They continued walking a long way, and Annalise frowned as she looked at her watch. "How far away do you live?"

John shrugged. "I didn't count how may hours it was."

Annalise's jaw dropped, and John snickered. "Kidding, it's only a few more blocks."

"Oh, good," she sighed. "I could never walk this long."

"We walked a lot while I lived in Santa Fe," John said absently. "Henri and I would always walk to the gym blocks away and back. We didn't even know what fatigue was after a while."

"Who's Henri?"

John cursed silently. "My father. I say his name sometimes because it sounds French."

Annalise raised an eyebrow. "He's French?"

John grinned. "Sadly, no."

She smirked as the house came into view. "And yet his name is French. Very nice."

John held open the door, and Bernie Kosar pranced inside. There was movement from the kitchen. "John? That you?" Henri called out.

"Yeah, it's me," John confirmed. "I have a friend from school. She just moved here, too."

There was a little bit more movement, and then Henri emerged from the kitchen, running a hand through his hair. "She did?"

"And living alone in a drab apartment complex," Annalise confirmed, holding a hand out to shake. "Annalise Ramaya."

"Henri Smith," he replied, shaking it. "When did you move here?"

"Only a few days ago," she replied, leaning against a wall and leaning down to take her boots off. "My - "

Henri's sharp intake of breath cut her off, and he reached out, grabbing her arm and straightening her up. Annalise gave a cry of surprise, being held against the wall. "Your what?" Henri whispered. "Your hirer?"

"What?" John yelped. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Henri spun Annalise around and lifted up her jacket and reached up. His hand came out, and with it came a handgun. "Trying to find out why there's a girl with a gun in our house," he replied.

John looked up into Annalise's eyes, seeing them go from a frightened girl to cold anger. "Annalise?" he asked.

"I'm not here to kill you if that's what you're thinking," she snapped, her voice going from fun and playful to cold and harsh. "I don't even know what you're so paranoid about."

"Bad experience with guns," Henri lied briefly. "My wife was killed in a crossfire between gangs back when we lived in Colorado before we moved to Santa Fe."

Annalise's eyes narrowed, and then she moved so fast John didn't even see her, so he couldn't see Henri by a long shot. Next thing he knew, Annalise was on the ground, cheek pressed against the floor with Henri practically straddling her, his feet on hers, hands holding her arms behind her back. And as her jacket sleeves were pulled up, the muzzle of another gun came into view. "She even knows where to hide them," he commented, twisting her arm a little bit.

She whimpered, but other than that she didn't say anything. Henri looked up and raised an eyebrow at John. "Did you tell her anything?"

John shook his head. "About home? Not a thing."

Henri cocked his head, looking down at Annalise. "Makes me wonder why on earth someone would have so conveniently had a knife like this - " He reached up her other jacket sleeve and withdrew a Loric knife that glowed blue. " - like this hidden on her person."

And that's when Annalise started screaming, "Savannah!" she shouted out. "SAVANNAH!"

***

Marina thrashed on the ground against Henri's grip, trying desperately to get free. She had, in fact, no clue where Savannah would be, or even if she was anywhere nearby. Henri was going along with her, for some reason not even flinching against her. "That's not going to get you anywhere," he told her, clapping one of his hands against her mouth. She nearly gasped as his other hand pressed down even harder on her wrists. "But maybe if you tell us why you have these - "

BANG!

The door to the house suddenly broke in, and John was suddenly on the ground as well, Savannah leaning over him, her eyes wild. Henri himself looked up, seemingly expectant to find just the girl.

What he obviously didn't expect to see was Gibbs standing in the doorway, gun drawn and pointed straight at him. "Get off of her," he ordered.

Henri complied, hands up. Marina scrambled to her feet and running over to Gibbs. He switched hands so he was holding his gun in only one. With the other, he hugged Marina and twisted so she was behind him. "What happened?" he asked.

Marina grimaced. "They didn't find everything on me," was all that she replied with.

Gibbs looked at her and sighed. "They found the knife?"

"And the guns," she replied.

"They had better not have found the ammo," Savannah muttered darkly, still on top of John. She raised an eyebrow at Gibbs. "Can I get off of him now?"

Gibbs nodded, and Savannah was off of John and by Marina in a second. "Didn't know you heard me," she whispered.

Savannah shook her head. "I didn't. Gibbs did."

"So there's a police officer for a student at the high school?" Henri asked before Marina could say anything else.

Gibbs smirked. "It's a federal agent."

John blinked in obvious surprise. Henri, on the other hand, didn't move a muscle. "Why?"

"Three football players' fathers were murdered in D.C. the other day," Marina replied, scratching her head. "I'm undercover to see if I can find out why."

Bernie Kosar came down the stairs, and Marina could have sworn she saw Gibbs stiffen up a little. Henri looked at her. "What's your real name?"

Marina raised an eyebrow at Gibbs for permission. When he nodded, she replied, "Marina Nightshade. This is my boss, Gibbs."

"Your father?" John guessed. "That was a lie, too?"

"Except the Marines," Marina replied.

"I was a scout sniper," Gibbs supplied. 

John pointed at Savannah. "So are you undercover, too?"

"Nope," Savannah replied, rolling out the kinks in her neck. "I'm a runaway, so I keep changing my name. Real one's Savannah Starlight."

There was an awkward silence, then Henri spoke again. "Agent Nightshade, do you have a place to stay?"

"A really crappy apartment," Marina replied, sighing. "But I'll manage."

"You can move in here with us."

Henri said it so matter-of-factly that even Gibbs seemed surprised. John looked like his eyes were about to pop out. Finally, Gibbs managed to speak. "What?"

"We're already so secretive as it is," Henri replied, shrugging. "We could take in someone else. I can take the couch and you can take my room."

"No," Marina objected, shaking her head. "No, I'll take the couch, it's fine."

"Or she can sleep in my room and I can take the couch," John offered.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Marina. "You're sure about this?"

Marina didn't even hesitate. "Yes. I'm sure."

***

John watched as Marina started shuffling through her bags from her apartment. Aliyah, actually Savannah, would be moving into the apartment while Annalise/Marina stayed with him and Henri. He had recognized the knife that she had up her sleeve, and it was similar to the ones that Henri kept for if Mogs came. "Nice knife."

Marina looked up, smiling nervously. "Thanks. Stupid Halloween prank thing, but they actually work really well. I use them sometimes if we're going on a mission and I run out of ammo."

She sounded much more comfortable talking about NCIS than when they'd been talking at school. "What's it like working for a federal agency?" he asked.

Marina's eyes brightened. "So much fun," she breathed, sitting down on John's bed. Under much argument, they had decided that John would sleep under the covers in bed and Marina would sleep on top of the covers with blankets she had brought from D.C. "Throw me anything tech wise, and it's usually Abby or I that take it on. Although with the way McGee has gotten on Gibbs's good side, he might be joining the team soon."

"Who's everyone else?" John asked, sitting down by her.

Marina pulled out her iPhone and started scrolling through the camera roll. "I've got a picture, hang on . . . " A photo pulled up onscreen, and she burst out laughing at the mock Charlie's Angels photo. "I'd forgotten we had done this."

In the middle of the photo was a brown-haired man with a sneaky smirk, as if he was sharing a joke. On his right side was Marina, and on his left was a dark-haired woman with a stern expression. All three of them had guns loaded in the classic Charlie's Angels pose. He smirked. "Nice."

"That's Tony," Marina told him, pointing to the man in the middle. "I couldn't think of someone funnier. He's always got a joke on his side, but when it comes to Gibbs's or my safety, I wouldn't have anyone else lead a team to get us. He's extremely loyal and hilarious at the same time." She pointed to the other woman. "Kate joined about six months ago. She was formerly a Secret Service agent, but she resigned. Gibbs took her in, and she's been with us ever since. She's the one I learned a classic ammo reload from."

She scrolled through her camera roll again, and a second picture popped up. This time, Marina and Gibbs were the only familiar ones that showed up. They stood side by side, Marina on Gibb's right. On his other side was a black-haired woman in her early twenties, wearing black clothes under a white lab coat. On Marina's other side was a graying-haired small man with glasses and another lab coat. "Abby's the one in the black," Marina continued saying. "She's our forensics scientist. If you tick her off, she could kill you and leave no forensic evidence behind. Ducky," she added, pointing to the man on her side, "is our medical examiner. There's nothing on a body that can get past him."

"They sound like a great team," John said honestly. If the rest of us come together, would we be as great a team as NCIS is? he couldn't help but wonder.

Marina cleared her throat, going back to her home screen. Before she locked it, John could have sworn that he saw what looked like a Loric symbol pop up before it went black. "Yeah, they are."

Henri knocked on their door, looking a little annoyed. "Do either of you know a girl named Sarah Hart?" he asked.

Marina nodded, frowning. "I met her today. What's up?"

"Look on her blog post, it's called 'Strangers in Paradise.'"

Marina took her laptop out of her bag and fired it up. She clicked on a few keys, then frowned, showing John. A few photos popped up. "What am I looking for?"

"Under new."

Marina clicked on the button, and she blinked. There were three folders of photographs there, plus a few others. The ones with the most were labeled "John Smith", "Annalise Ramaya", and "Aliyah Sayegh." Curious, Marina clicked on the folder with her fake name. It showed her jumping Mark and doing her thing, followed by her classic smirk and her hands held up in the 'what are you going to do' pose. She clicked on Aliyah's next. It had the least, but it had Aliyah jumping in the trees, looking like she was having the time of her life. John's had the most. It showed him in class, him talking to Mark with Marina close by, and also when he was with Sam helping him and laughing with him after Marina kicked Mark's butt. "She's good," she whispered.

Henri raised an eyebrow at John, and he knew what he was thinking: I thought I told you to stay hidden.

As John continued looking at Sarah's photos with Marina, he knew just how hard that was going to be in Paradise.

***

Savannah lowered her binoculars when she saw the lights of the house go dark. "They're off," she whispered.

At the slightest sound, Gibbs awoke from his small nap. "Let's go."

They got out of the car, heading up the driveway. "What exactly are we looking for?" Savannah asked.

"Something that'll raise suspicions about Henri and John Smith," Gibbs replied, clicking on a dim flashlight and looking along the edge of the driveway.

Something caught her eye at that very minute. In a flash, she grabbed Gibbs's arm and pulled him behind a tree. "Like that?" she asked, nodding in the direction of a hidden camera in the treetops.

Gibbs nodded. "Just like that."

Savannah got on her knees and started crawling. Eventually, she made it to where the camera was. She shimmied up the tree, careful not to make a single noise. She leaned down towards the camera, looking at it cautiously. She gasped softly in horror and shock when she recognized the swirl on the side: the Loric symbol for number four. And yet . . . she knew she couldn't say anything about this to Gibbs or Marina. She saw yet another camera that was pointed right at the door's entrance, then dropped down onto the ground, walking back towards Gibbs. "They have another one on the door."

Gibbs shook his head slowly. "I can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I can't say I know for certain, but I'm almost positive that I've seen Henri Smith somewhere before. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in Santa Fe."

I know it wasn't, Savannah thought numbly as she held her head in her hand. You saw them on Lorien before you all came here to Earth.