Paradise Senior High School

"Again, Annalise, I'm so - " 

Marina sighed, turning to raise an eyebrow at the blond who kept stuttering over her many apologies about Mark's actions. "Sarah, look, I know you are. You've said so about a hundred times already." 

Sarah stopped mid sentence and blushed sheepishly. "Sorry." She winced. "There's number a hundred and one." 

Marina snickered as she and Sarah sat down under a tree to study. "I'm glad we have the same study hall." 

Sarah grinned. "Me, too. Don't John and Sam have the same one, too?" 

Marina nodded. "They should be here in a few minutes." 

Sarah pulled her precalculus book from her bag and opened it to a place she had marked. "I still can't believe you somehow squeezed your way into Spanish III, and you're only a freshman." 

Marina shrugged as she flipped though her chemistry textbook. "My guardian, Gibbs, and I lived for a year in Spain. I had to learn pretty quickly. I just need a recap." 

Sarah looked up at her, smiling. She looked over Marina's shoulder, then shook her head, grinning. "OPD paying a visit. Probably some dumb inspection." 

Marina twisted, seeing the four officers in uniform. "Do they have those often?" 

Sarah snorted, smirking. "At least three a semester." 

Marina whistled. "That's a lot." 

Sarah nodded, then pointed towards the school. "There they are." 

Marina turned, waving to the boys. John nudged Sam, pointed them out, then they both started heading their way. 

Sarah sighed. "Annalise, how long have you been in Paradise?" 

"When Gibbs went to Afghanistan, I relocated here in the summer," Marina replied, easily slipping into the lie. "I came back to school when I f - " She stopped in the middle, frowning. Something in her back of her head was going off. She unconsciously reached for her bag, pulling it closer and reaching for the zippers that would reveal her two guns. "Does something feel wrong to you or is it just me?" 

Sarah cocked her head. "No, why?" 

Marina was about to reply when she heard something that made her voice run cold. "MARINA!" 

John. 

On pure instinct, she tackled Sarah, pulling her down and diving on top of her. She heard a sharp bang, then felt the bullet that had been aimed straight for her fly close by her. 

Screams rippled across the yard as teenagers scattered. Marina jumped up, crouching in a defensive position, scrambling to open her bag and grab her guns. As she did she looked up and saw who her attackers were. 

The whole group of police officers had their guns drawn. 

And they were aimed straight at her. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she sputtered, grabbing one gun and jamming it into the waistband of her jeans without anyone seeing. She hoped. "What in the hell is that for?" 

"Annalise Ramaya, is that right?" the leader of the force asked, and Marina's eyes widened as she recognized who it was. "You're sure?" 

Jacob Piercefield. "Shit," she whispered under her breath. 

Thankfully, someone saved her from answering. "You're saying she's a liar?" John shouted, coming to Marina's side. As he did, he seemed to purposely trip. As he did, he landed over her backpack. 

In a perfect place to grab her other gun. "Thanks," she whispered. 

Piercefield chuckled, stepping forward, gun still ready to fire another blast. "Well, I'm positive there were three current dead navy men that saw her in Washington D.C. that she saw. And right after they died, she comes up here. Where their sons attend school." 

Marina stood frozen, hearing the shocked and furious shouts of the football team. He'd played that very well. 

Sarah and Sam had joined her as John stood up, Marina's backpack slung slightly off of his shoulder. "You're saying she killed them?" Sam shouted incredulously. "She's a teenager!" 

"So are suicide bombers for Al Qaeda," Piercefield retorted. 

"Yeah?" Sarah countered. "Prove she is one." 

BANG. 

Marina didn't think one bit. She just turned, grabbed Sarah, then swung herself so she was in the bullet's path instead of Sarah. She felt blood run down her left shoulder, heard Sarah's startled scream and Sam and John's roars of fury. 

And then a feeling previously unknown to her came. Pain. 

She whimpered, sinking to her knees, clutching her shoulder, feeling the blood run through her fingers. It was a through and through, but she was utterly confused. The Loridas charm . . . it kept the Garde safe except for the one that was next to be killed. Why was she feeling it? 

Or had some of the Garde come together? 

Piercefield approached, his gun held lazily in his hand. It had been one of his officers who had taken the shot. "I'd say you should tell the truth, Ramaya," he said in a softer voice. "Or else you - or your friends - might get a bullet somewhere worse than that." 

Marina let herself put on a defeated expression, moving one hand towards her knee as if for support for her to get up. The pain was beginning to go away, and she looked up at Piercefield, saw his triumphant expression. "Go to hell," she spat. 

His face twisted, and his goon raised his gun, but Marina moved quicker. Her hand grabbed her own gun, and she was already firing before the man had even sighted. He stumbled, the bullet having gone right through his calf. One more shot, and he was dead. Marina took it. 

Piercefield stumbled backwards as Marina rose to her full height, her hand tightening on her gun as she pointed it right at Piercefield. "That, my friend," she hissed, stepping forward, "was the wrong move." 

The entire field was silent. Marina didn't even notice the black federal car pull into the parking lot. Piercefield had his eyes narrowed. "SIG-Sauer," he commented. "Nice choice." 

"The meaner one still in my bag?" Marina asked. 

"And loaded and ready if you need it," John confirmed. 

Marina smirked at the remaining officers. "Three against one, and I got two shots before your guy even got one off. You gonna take that risk?" 

Her reply was three guns aimed right for her face and being fired. 

Piercefield ran right for her, and Marina gritted her teeth. "I don't need this," she growled, dropping her gun and running for him, too. 

She could finally prove everything she had. The innocent Annalise Ramaya who had a black belt in karate was gone. The fierce Marina Nightshade that had mastered many martial arts skills was back. 

Before she reached the guy, she dropped to her knees and slid the rest of the way, her momentum keeping her going. Piercefield stumbled, obviously not expecting that. When he did, Marina whipped her knife from her boot, tossed it into her left hand, and slashed it through Piercefield's knee as she slid by. 

She heard shouts and heard her real name be called more than once, but all she heard clearly was Piercefield's roar of fury. She stabbed her knife into the ground so she stopped, and she landed crouching, turning to look at Piercefield, who was standing there, clutching his knee. He stared at her in awe, rage building up in his eyes. 

Marina couldn't help it. She smirked. "Not so cocky now, are we?" 

She never saw him move. She heard Sarah's scream of fear, but then she felt a hand squeeze around her neck, the other hand on her forehead. Her blood ran cold when she realized Piercefield was in the perfect place to snap her neck if he wanted to. "I have had enough of you," he whispered in her ear. "And give me one reason why I shouldn't either choke you to death or snap your neck right now." 

She sputtered as his hand tightened, and spots danced in her eyes. Then she heard two things that practically made her want to sob in relief. One was the cocking of guns. 

The second was a voice she could never forget. "How about you could be charged with murdering someone higher than your position?" 

The grip on her neck loosened, but then she was spun up by her bad shoulder, and her back was pressed to Piercefield's chest, a knife pressed to her neck. Standing over two unconscious - maybe even dead - police officers were Tony and Kate, their guns drawn and aimed at Piercefield. Kate looked ticked. Tony, however, was looking royally pissed. "Did you not hear me?" Tony asked, his voice dangerously calm. He wants to shoot, Marina thought. "Let her go." 

"Why would you care about someone like her?" Piercefield snapped, his knife digging deeper. 

"Let her go and we'll tell you," Kate replied, her voice so venomous that even Gibbs would've thought twice about what he was going to say next. 

Piercefield didn't. Marina looked at Tony, not paying attention to the officer's words, then swallowed. She knew Tony could lip read like a pro. She put that to use now. "If you act like you'll shoot him and he hurts me, you can automatically arrest him," she mouthed. 

Tony narrowed his eyes, but his eyes shone with understanding. His gaze came up to Piercefield's. "You have five seconds to let her go," he ordered. 

Piercefield was predictable. "Screw it." 

Marina drew back so the knife only grazed her neck, and this time both Sam and John, along with several other students, screamed out. What Marina wasn't expecting, though, was for the knife to stab into her side. 

She stumbled out of the officer's grip, staggering as four bullets fired simultaneously, two slamming into Piercefield's legs, the others slamming into his arms. He yelled out, too, and Marina finally let out a scream of pain that amounted for every wound she had endured without pain. John got to her first, catching her under the arms as she started to fall. She gritted her teeth, wrapping he fingers around the hilt of the knife and yanking it out. She felt the heat of her blood begin staining her shirt as John's arms tightened around her. "Someone get a jacket!" he roared at the frozen students. 

Tony was far from frozen. He had crossed thirty yards in what seemed like three seconds and had Marina in his arms. He took off his own jacket, revealing the bulletproof vest he had been wearing underneath. "And call an ambulance," he snapped. 

Kate was calling someone on her phone while pointing students back into the building as more police cars began screeching into the parking lot. Stars began spiraling in Marina's vision, and she whimpered. "Tony?" she whispered. 

Tony wrapped his jacket around the stab wound, then squeezed one of her hands. "Right here, Ari," he promised. "I'm not moving." 

"Sarah Hart," she croaked, covering her mouth as she coughed. When she pulled it away, there was hints of red on her hand. "Sam Goode. John Smith. Can they . . . ?" 

Tony understood. He rose. "Sarah Hart!" he yelled in his loudest voice. She bet Gibbs could hear it from wherever he was. "Sam Goode! John Smith! Get over here!" 

John winced, then started talking to the 911 operators. Sarah and Sam ran over, Sam fuming, Sarah sobbing with tears streaming down her face. She dropped to Marina's side, half hugging her and holding her other hand. "Hang on, Annalise," she whispered. "Marina. Whoever you are, just hang on." 

Marina swallowed, tasting metallic blood. "Marina," she whispered. "Marina Nightshade." 

The last thing she heard before she fell unconscious was Kate vaguely shout to Tony as she stormed over to Piercefield. "Gibbs is on his way!"

***

Gibbs slammed the brakes in the parking lot of Paradise Senior High, the tires squealing on protest. Beside him, Savannah groaned, unbuckling her seat belt. "Never again," she seethed, opening her door and getting out. 

Gibbs did, too. He heard even more sirens wailing behind them, and several police cars were already parked, but he saw Kate having a man in a police uniform on his knees, her gun pressed to his head, his hands cuffed behind him. She was shaking with fury, and Gibbs swore that she was about to pull the trigger. She looked up as Gibbs and Savannah ran up. "One of his friends shot her in the shoulder," she spat. "He drew a knife across her neck lightly, then stabbed her in the side." 

Gibbs felt his anger boil over. If Kate was mad, he was livid. He slowly walked over to Piercefield, who was catching his breath. "I know about you and the Mogs," he hissed. "If you hadn't gone so far, I would consider letting you go." 

Piercefield looked up hopefully. He was met by Gibbs's fist punching him in the face. Hard. Gibbs leaned down, narrowing his eyes. "Next time you try and kill the girl I love as a daughter," he threatened, "you are a dead man." He nodded to Kate. "Read them and call McGee." 

"Jacob Piercefield, you are under arrest for the murders of three naval officers and the attempted murder of a federal agent named Marina Nightshade," Kate began, sounding elated. 

Gibbs and Savannah ran onto the field. Police officers were talking to some of the students and teachers, leaving the center of the field empty, which exaggerated the now obviously dead other police officers. "There's three," Savannah whispered. "Four altogether. Four of them . . . " 

"Boss!" 

Gibbs whirled when he heard Tony. He was on his knees, looking over his shoulder at them. Marina was sprawled on the ground in front of him, face pale and exaggerating her dark hair and turquoise highlights. Blood was seeping from a bullet wound in her shoulder and the slash mark on her neck. Tony's black jacket was soaked, and so was the grass. Grimly, Tony pulled it away, revealing the gruesome stab in Marina's side. Gibbs's jaw dropped, and Savannah let out a sharp cry of horror. "Oh my God," he whispered. 

"In twenty minutes," Tony snarled. "Twenty. Minutes!" 

There was a sob, and Gibbs finally noticed the girl that was on her knees by Marina, her hands stained red and over her mouth, her blue eyes bloodshot. Her blond hair had red streaks where she had run her hands through it, and she squeezed Marina's other hand, getting even more blood on them. A dark-haired boy with dark eyes was next to her, awkwardly patting her shoulder. John was a few feet away, talking into his phone at someone. He turned and met Gibbs's eyes, then mouthed "Henri." 

Gibbs nodded his understanding, then crouched down, putting his hand on the crying girl's shoulder. She didn't jump or anything. She just turned her face towards him. "She'll pull through," he whispered. 

The girl sniffed loudly. "You think so?" she asked, her voice cracking. 

Gibbs nodded. "She's a strong one. She'll make it." 

She nodded, biting her lip. "She took the bullet for me." She laughed, high pitched. "I tried helping her, and one of those bastards out here tried to shoot me. Me!" 

Gibbs hugged her unconsciously, and she broke down sobbing even more. He looked at the other boy there, who was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sam Goode?" he guessed. 

The boy started, then nodded. "Agent Gibbs, I'm guessing?" 

"She told you?" Gibbs asked. 

Sam nodded. "Earlier this morning. After the, uh . . . " He made air quotes. "'Paint bomb.'" 

Gibbs frowned, looking over the students. A few, all wearing football jerseys, all swallowed when his eyes landed on them. "Those kids there?" 

Sam set his jaw and nodded. "That's them," he agreed. "Mark James is the ringleader." 

A gunshot rang across the parking lot, and Gibbs and Tony rose to heir feet, drawing their guns in quick motions. Kate backed away from her car, her gun in her hand. She looked spooked, and she had every right to as Piercefield fell out of the car. She looked over towards where they were. "Went for my gun!" she shouted. 

The ambulance pulled into the parking lot, and John finally rejoined them. Gibbs shook his head, sighing. "Get this Mark James fellow," he muttered to Tony. "Savannah and I can handle it here." 

Tony nodded and strode off towards the school. Gibbs leaned down and picked up Marina almost effortlessly. The girl stood up on wobbly legs, and Gibbs smiled at her. "You can come with us if you want," he offered. "We'll call your parents." 

She sniffed, nodding. "Thanks." 

"Anything for a friend of Marina's, miss . . . ?" 

She finally gave a real small smile. "Sarah. Sarah Hart." 

The paramedics finally ran over, and relieved, Gibbs handed Marina over to them. 

But a tug on his sleeve stopped him. He stopped leaning down as Savannah stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. "How could she have gotten hurt so badly if the Loridas charm is in place?" 

Gibbs's blood ran cold. "I don't know," he murmured back, climbing into the ambulance with her, Sarah, John, and Sam. "I really, honestly don't know."

***

Tony watched the ambulance leave, then turned to the football team giving witness statements, all of them fuming. He heard one of them talking. " . . . been something up with her since she started here." 

Tony folded his arms, trying hard not to take his gun and shoot him. "Really?" he asked dryly. "Tell me more about how 'something has been up with her.'" 

The boys turned to him, looking a little surprised. The police officer talking to them frowned at Tony. "Sir, you shouldn't . . . " he started to say, then his eyes widened as Tony raised his vest, revealing his badge and gun at his side. 

Tony raised an eyebrow. "No offense meant, sir, but that's a friend of mine dying right now, and I rank higher," he told him. 

"Sheriff James," the man told him, narrowing his eyes, 

Tony grinned. "Special Agent DiNozzo," he retorted, emphasis on his title. "Funny, it's your son my boss asked me to talk to." 

The boy who had been talking to narrowed his eyes. "Look, Ramaya's a stuck up bitch. I don't know why in hell you protect her - " 

"Don't," Tony growled, stepping forward. "I'm pretty sure there's charges for insulting a federal agent." 

Mark's eyes widened in obvious shock. His father's did, too. "Ramaya - ?" 

"Use her name," Tony countered. "Her name's Marina Nightshade. You - " he pointed to Mark. " - are coming with me. No excuses, and no one is stopping. A fed was almost killed, and when it's a fed that is closest to our boss, it's best not to argue before he decides to kill someone. Comprende?" 

Everyone was looking at him, jaws agape. "Good," Tony told them tersely as he gripped Mark's arm. "Let's go."

***

Ooh, I don't pity Mark one bit. But poor Marina . . . and Savannah, the Loridas charm is broken.

But no one knows that yet . . . ;)