Paradise Senior High

"John! Annalise!" 

He turned away from talking to Marina as he heard someone call his name. He smiled when he saw Sam come running up. "Hey, Sam," he greeted him. 

"Heard you pulled quite the stunt yesterday," Sam commented. 

John blinked. How much does he know? he wondered. "Stupid prank with flashlights," he lied quickly. "That class . . . " 

"Boring as hell?" Marina supplied. 

John snorted and nodded. "With a capital." 

Marina turned and started turning the dial on her locker. "That's pretty much what gym is like." 

"And about Mark," Sam started as he, too, began to unlock his. John started, too. "He doesn't like anyone around Sarah, so if I were you, I'd - " 

He cut off when there was a sudden splat when he opened his locker, and gobs of red paint flew right at him. John opened his locker next, and managed to throw his arm up in time so his arm got the most paint on it. Marina, after hearing what she did, turned her head quickly so the paint splattered into her hair and not on her face, and some on her jacket. 

John's face turned red and he slammed his locker shut without even bothering to look to see what caused the paint. "You all right?" he asked Marina. 

She was rummaging through her locker, her teeth gritted as laughs of other students began filling the hall. "If I find out who did this . . . " 

John looked down at his feet, not trusting himself to even look up. He turned to look at Sam and saw him rummaging even more ferociously through his locker than Marina was. He pulled out something, trying to wipe the paint off of it, but wasn't succeeding. 

Howls of laughter came from behind them, and John knew who it was without turning. "Mark," he seethed. 

He saw Marina stiffen considerably. "What happened?" he whispered. 

Marina pulled something out of her locker, too, and he saw that it was a photo album with a picture of her, Gibbs, Tony, Kate, and Savannah on the front. It was coated in paint. She clenched her fist so hard that her entire hand turned white. "That bastard," she whispered, the venom in her voice making John almost pity the guy. 

Almost, he reminded himself when he saw Mark throw a smirk at Sam as he and his gang walked by. Sam dropped whatever it was he was holding and launched himself at Mark. "Stop making fun of me!" he shouted angrily. 

Mark just simply shoved Sam back towards the lockers. John got to him first and caught Sam just before he slammed into the lockers, and Marina threw a punch hard at Mark, catching him across the face. "I'm getting sick and tired of you," she snarled at him, grabbing him by the shoulders and thrusting him hard into the wall. "So give me an answer here." 

She shifted her shoulders back a little bit, her jacket shifting so that John could just barely see the muzzle of the gun she had strapped to her arm. "If I had a weapon on me here and now, why shouldn't I give you hell?" 

The entire hall went silent at that. Mark didn't even look fazed. He looked right at her. "There are certain things that a quarterback needs, Ramaya," he whispered so only he, Marina, and John could hear. "Strength, definitely. And speed. That's also needed." He smirked even more. "But what he really needs is an intuition. A feeling when things start heading south." He shook his head. "I should've listened to it the first day I met you." 

Marina glared at him. "There are certain other things a girl needs, too," she told him. "A bitchy personality hits the top." 

She stepped back, folding her arms. "I know I can beat you any day of the week. And I know that if I can, John would be able to kill you. So you might want to get out of here so we're not tempted." 

Mark smirked. "Good girl," he applauded her, clapping sarcastically as the people in the hall began to move again. "Atta girl, Ramaya. Maybe you do have some intuition in you." 

"If I had some, I'd call Gibbs on you," Marina muttered, taking her bag. "I just hope they allow spaghetti-straps in this school."

***

John took his shirt off, looking at the paint that was splashed across it. He shook his head angrily, stuffing it into his backpack. 

There was a sound from behind him, and Sam walked up with a black sweater. "Here you go," he told him sullenly, tossing it to him. "No one ever loses anything cool in lost and found." 

John raised an eyebrow. "This?" 

"Dude, it was either that or the Hannah Montana jacket," Sam snorted. "Be glad I'm not that mean." 

John pulled the sweater over his head, then heard a knock on the door. Marina poked her head in, and John noted with interest that she had her jacket off. "C'mon in," he told her. 

She did, slinging her backpack onto the floor. "So tempted to call Gibbs, it's not even funny," she snarled, walking up to the sink and ripping her hair tie out and turning on the water. "Mark is just . . . " 

"You shouldn't complete that sentence," Sam advised her. "His father's the sheriff around here." 

"Oh, that's just perfect," Marina drawled, yanking her fingers through her hair in a desperate attempt to get the bright red paint out of it. "He can pull rank." 

John snorted. "Where'd your guns go?" 

"Unfortunately, in my backpack," Marina seethed, grabbing a few paper towels to dry her hair with. "Luckily my badge wasn't in my locker." 

Sam's eyes widened. "You're a police officer?" 

"Federal agent," Marina corrected. "I'm undercover for NCIS. My boss, Gibbs, is my guardian as well as my only father as I never knew my real ones. And my real name is Marina Nightshade." 

Sam's eyes looked like they were about to jump out of his head. Marina pointed at him. "And so far, it's only you, John, and Henri who know that I'm here. If you're near Savannah, tell her I told you that's her real name." 

"Is that the Aliyah girl?" Sam asked, starting to scrub at what he had been trying to save in his locker. 

"That's the one," Marina confirmed. 

John looked at the photograph. "Who's that with you?"

***

OPD Headquarters, Ohio

"So there's not much that we can go off of while we're talking about the football players," Kate commented, looking over the crime scene photos. "Marina's been reporting in on and off, and there's nothing to tell." 

Gibbs leaned back in his chair, watching as McGee scrolled through the photos. "The weirdest thing for me right now is whatever those disintegrated stones were," he replied, sitting up straight. The Mogadorians. 

McGee shrugged. "I'd tell you more about their lives if I could," he apologized. "But there's no mention whatsoever about having work at a masonry or something like that."

***

Paradise Senior High School

Sam looked down at the photo in his hand and swallowed. "That's my dad," he replied slowly. "He went missing about seven years ago on a highway. All that they ever found was his truck." 

"Is that why everyone jokes about you with UFOs and all that?" Marina asked softly. John noted that as Sam kept looking at the photo, Marina slid one of her knives into one of her combat boots. 

Sam nodded, then wadded up the photo and threw it in the trash. "I've spent my entire life believing aliens were real," he replied darkly. "You would, too, if you were hoping someone would take you away from this shit hole." 

He took his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "We should get going," he added. 

John quickly grabbed his bag, and Marina grabbed hers. Both of them bolted after Sam as he left. 

"Hey, Sam!" John shouted after his friend, but Sam either didn't hear him or ignored him. He sighed, putting his face in his hand. "Poor guy." 

Marina looked after him. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "that might help with a case that the team is working on." 

John looked at her, his curiosity spiked. "Really?" 

Marina nodded, gesturing for him to follow her. She pretty much pulled him inside a janitor's closet and flipped the lights off. From someplace inside of her huge backpack, she pulled a laptop out and fired it up. "It's the reason I'm here." 

The glow from the lights illuminated her face, and John then realized that her eyes glittered more than one color. The crystal color changed throughout the light. With the laptop's light, they were a really light blue that he realized absently was pretty distracting. 

Marina's head jerked up as if she had heard his thoughts. She smirked at him. "Take a picture and it'll last longer." 

John blinked, pretending to act dumb. "I was staring?" 

Marina rolled her eyes, then turned the laptop to face him. It was a photo from crime scenes that Henri somehow always managed to keep. "These are the three parents that were killed at a naval base in Washington D.C. They're the fathers of those three football players that walked away our first day here." 

John winced when he saw the three men. "Stabbed pretty hard to death." 

"No mercy," Marina agreed. "Our problem is that they didn't work at a masonry, and they were surrounded by crumbled stone and ash." 

John froze on the inside. He hadn't fought one before, but Henri had always told him what happens when Mogadorians die: they disintegrate into crumbled stone and ash. So had they had a run-in with Mogs? 

Marina kept clicking through photos, then smiled a little bit to herself. "What's Sam's father's name?" 

John snapped out of it, shaking his head. "Malcolm Goode. Why?" 

"He had a rival here who was also on the police force here," Marina replied, clicking on a few keys. "Name . . . Jacob Piercefield." She looked up, giving a crooked smile. "Funnily enough, his son is also on the football team here, even though he and the three naval officers were rivals even more." 

"Coincidence?" 

"Maybe." Marina put a Skype camera on top of her laptop, tapping a few other keys. "I'm telling Gibbs either way." 

"Sounds good," John replied, scooting over closer to her. "Let's do it."

***

OPD Headquarters

McGee frowned, tapping a few keys. "We've got a Skype communication coming in." 

Gibbs also frowned, standing up. "Put it up on the screen." 

McGee clicked on his mouse, and on the screen popped up Marina and . . . John? "Hey, Gibbs," Marina greeted them cheerfully. 

"Marina," Gibbs replied, looking at John warily. "Why . . . ?" 

"Traffic jam," John replied, shrugging. "Didn't have anything better to do except have paintballs explode in our lockers." 

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?" 

John shrugged. "I don't know." 

"Anyway . . . " Marina glared at John, who raised his hands in the air innocently. "One of our friends here, Sam Goode, his father has been missing for seven years. The only thing left was his truck on the highway." 

"Just his truck," Tony repeated, chuckling. "Are you serious?" 

"He sounded serious as he threw the picture away because it had so much paint on it that he couldn't save it," John retorted. "He believes it was aliens." 

"That's not the point," Marina interrupted, glaring at John again. "But his father, Malcolm Goode, had a rival here by the name of Jacob Piercefield. His son plays on the team, too. Interestingly, though, Piercefield's main rivals were the three naval officers." 

Kate started when she heard the name. "Piercefield?" she echoed. "Officer Piercefield?" 

"That's the one," Marina agreed. "Sorry about your luck." 

"Can you try and find out more about Malcolm while you're at it?" John asked, sounding a little hesitant. "It's just that Sam's going crazy having to live here without him." 

"Kid, we don't even know who you are," Tony pointed out. 

Marina rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, DiNozzo. He knows who all of you are." 

"Stalker!" Tony declared. 

Marina did a facepalm. "OK, let's test your knowledge, John." 

"Crazy guy who calls me a stalker is Tony," John decided, and Tony's jaw fell. "Hot girl is Kate, and the quick guy on the keyboard is McGee." 

"Did he just call me hot?" Kate whispered under her breath to Gibbs. 

Gibbs smirked. "We'll try and find out more about Malcolm, John." 

John nodded. "Thanks, Agent Gibbs." 

A loud ringing sound echoed through the room, and Marina cursed. "That's the five minute bell. We'll be late." 

"I'm late every day," John told her. "They won't kill you." 

Marina rolled her eyes again. "I'll talk to you guys later, OK?" 

Gibbs smiled at her. "See you, Ari." He nodded to John. "You too, John." 

They both smiled back at them, then the transmission flickered out. Tony spun in his chair, going for his computer. "Malcolm Goode," he announced. "I'm on it, boss." 

Gibbs leaned back in his chair again, thinking hard. "Guys," he told them slowly. 

McGee didn't recognize that tone, so he kept typing away. Kate, a little more used to it, gave Gibbs a quick glance, then looked back at her notes. Tony, however, stopped what he was doing and peered slowly up over his computer. "Boss?" he replied. 

Gibbs stood. "There's something I have to tell you about Marina." 

That got everyone's attention. They stopped, looking back up at him. "What about her?" Kate asked, sounding protective. 

Gibbs sighed, looking up. "How do I put this? She's not exactly . . . human." 

"I'm pretty sure Tony isn't either," McGee commented dryly. 

"Hey!" Tony snapped angrily. 

"Her true name's not even Marina," Gibbs broke in. 

Tony's gaze flew to him, his eyes widening. Kate was looking at him oddly, and McGee just looked overly puzzled. "Then what is it?" he asked. 

"It's a number," Gibbs replied, pulling up the map of the world he and Marina had been looking at back at NCIS. "Her name is Seven, and she's from a planet called Lorien." 

"So why is she here?" Tony asked. 

Gibbs looked up. "She and eight others were called the Garde, and they were born to protect their people when they grew up." He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There was another planet, called Mogadore. The Mogadorians invaded Lorien and destroyed them all. Except for the nine Garde and their guardians who would protect them from death, Cêpans. I'm Marina's now, as her own didn't survive the trip here. I've practically raised her, as DiNozzo fully knows." 

Tony nodded. "I had always wondered why you brought her with you while she was a toddler." 

"Savannah knows about the Garde, too. Savannah was there when Number Three died. It was when they were in the Hollywood Hills four months ago." 

Kate peered at the map curiously. "There's a three over Kenya . . . " 

Tony's jaw dropped in sudden understanding. "That's where that boy and his father were kidnapped!" 

"They weren't kidnapped," Gibbs corrected him darkly. "They were killed by the Mogadorians. Number Three and his Cêpan, and they only found the guardian." 

Kate overlooked the map again. "So Number One was killed in Malaysia, and it seems like Number Two was killed in . . . is that London?" 

"England," Gibbs confirmed. "One and Two were girls, I found out later. We found out that Three was killed right before we left for the mills." He looked at Kate, meeting her eyes. "And when Mogadorians are killed, they turn into crumbled stones and ash." 

Her jaw dropped, and McGee practically fell out of his chair. Tony's face paled. "It was the Mogadorians that killed them?" he whispered. 

Gibbs shrugged. "A Mogadorian strike team, maybe. But the point is that the guy that could've possibly led them is still here. And the Mogadorians are hunting the remaining Garde." 

Kate let out a noise that sounded like a cat being strangled. "And Marina's here, too, separated from us. In perfect view of the Mogs." 

There was silence for few seconds, then Tony stood up. "I'll go up to the school and get her," he growled. "And John, since he knows." 

"Then I'm going with you," Kate argued, standing as well. "I'm not leaving her there." 

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but Gibbs waved them to go. "Just go." 

Both of them left, already fingering their guns. "Boss?" McGee's voice came. He looked over, raising an eyebrow. "Found something on Malcolm Goode." 

Curiosity getting the better of him, Gibbs walked over. "What did you get, McGee?" 

"Malcolm used to work at an abandoned mill that's been closed for as long as he's been gone," McGee reported, clicking on the mill. Gibbs looked it over, then nodded. "It's within driving distance. You stay here in case Tony and Kate need to call for backup, OK?" 

McGee nodded. "Got it, boss." 

"Good work, McGee," Gibbs added, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder as he dialed a number on his phone. 

She picked up on the first ring. "Hello?" 

"Hey, Starlight," Gibbs greeted her. "How soon can you be picked up?"

***

Paradise, Ohio

Henri was looking at the same article after John had texted him about what was going on with Sam. After a little while, he decided to check out the mill himself. 

He got into the truck, fingering the Loric knife he had in his lap as he drove the hour distance to the mill. When he arrived, he whistled low. "No one's been here for a long time," he remarked as he looked over the crumbling equipment. 

He got out of the truck, flicking on the flashlight in the process. As he entered the building (with the door falling in), he started shining the light around the place. He frowned, taking a few more steps. "Nothing of real imp - " 

He cut off as the ground under his feet caved in a little. "What the - ?" he yelped, jumping out of the way. He peered closer, seeing the stones were loose. Curious, he stamped in the small crater he had made one more time, and the hole gaped open even more. Surprised, he leaned forward to see that there was some kind of room underneath. 

Henri looked up, doing another scan of the room, and his eyes found a staircase in the corner. He walked over, going down the stairs into the other room. 

The first things he noticed were the swirling patterns of white chalk on the walls. The second thing he noticed as he shone the light over them was that they were eerily familiar. 

A chill ran down his spine as he reached the center of the room. The light fell on a very familiar symbol. He saw that symbol every day when he looked at the pendant on John's chest. "Four," he whispered, recognizing the Lorien number symbol. He rotated on the spot, his light bouncing off of the other symbols. There were nine of them in all. One for each of the Garde. "What in Mogadore's name?" he whispered in shock. 

He stepped on something with a crunch. Frowning, he put the light beam down where he had stepped. All he had stepped on was a rock pile, but faint blue light was glowing from under one of the stones. He crouched down and picked up the rock, recognizing the stone as he gazed at the glowing blue under it. "Loralite," he whispered. 

He looked up at the ceiling. "Malcolm, what were you doing here?" he wondered out loud. 

It was then that he heard the slight voices from overhead. 

He looked around, then saw a gap in the floor and the wall with a box in between, and he quickly dove through it just when he heard footsteps come down the stairs he had just taken. 

He turned the flashlight off, hunkering down and pulling the box closer so whoever was coming wouldn't see him. He could see flashes of light flicker through his vision, then heard a very familiar sputter. "What in hell?!" 

Henri leaned around the box and could see the familiar silhouette of Savannah Starlight as she shone her flashlight around the walls, hitting the Loric numbers every time. "This guy was crazy!" she groaned. 

"What I'm wondering is why they were here," another familiar voice replied, and this time it was Gibbs as he stepped into view. He rotated on the spot, his light hitting the Loric numbers as well. Gibbs sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, now my suspicion is worse. Why the hell was Malcolm down here with . . . " He waved his hand around to the numbers vaguely. "This?" he finally said. 

Savannah shook her head glumly. "I'd tell you if I knew, Gibbs." 

"I know you would," Gibbs replied as his phone went off. 

Henri narrowed his eyes. Gibbs had been suspicious of Malcolm? He was lost in thought that he didn't hear Gibbs acknowledge himself, but he definitely did hear when the guy yelled loudly enough that Savannah dropped her flashlight in shock. "He did WHAT?"

***

Who did do what?

Read next chappie to find out!