The team of NCIS agents and Avengers read through the files sent over by Fury, absorbing the information about G.R.A.V.I.T.Y. As evening approached, the team reviewed mostly already discovered information, but there was data that had previously been unknown to them.

"Ciyako is not just used as an Enhancer," Barton read. "It's needed for their light-manipulator project, the Photon Guard."

"So if Clare Leopard and her associates are trying to rebuild the Photon Guard," DiNozzo said slowly, propping his elbows up on his desk. Romanoff, perched on the edge of his desk, looked down at him as he continued, "They'd need ciyako."

"What does it do in the Photon Guard?" Romanoff asked.

"It conditions the pieces that make up the machine to withstand exposure to extreme amounts of light," Stark said, standing before the large screen. After sending the command to the energy source in Loki's head, he and McGhee had rejoined everyone in the squad room. Stark pointed the remote at the screen, clicking the button, and a photo appeared. He enhanced the image. "Jarvis and I have been working on creating a visual representation of what the Photon Guard would look like, based on the descriptions and images in the S.H.I.E.L.D. files. And this –" the image rotated on the screen, showing the Photon Guard from every side "– is what Leopard and her pals are constructing."

McGhee practically jumped out of his skin when he saw the image. "That's the same shape –"

"– as the piece that vanished from the Lunar Project," Gibbs said, coming around the corner. He placed a full cup of coffee down on his desk as Rogers came in behind him, loaded down with two trays full of the coffee ordered by the rest of the team.

"We're staying late tonight," Gibbs told them as Rogers handed out cups.

****

DiNozzo woke up with a start, the dim lighting of the squad room showing the faint figures of the sleeping Avengers and NCIS agents. He glanced around, seeing McGhee at his desk and Bishop at hers, Thor sleeping at Loki's. Rogers was sprawled out on the ground in front of the screen. Romanoff had gone downstairs to take advantage of the wiped down autopsy tables, and Barton had elected to sleep in the corner where Loki and Bishop had lost DiNozzo twenty dollars. Stark had thrown a fit on realizing that Dr. Strange had already claimed the conference room in which to sleep, and the billionaire had had to find some other place in which to rest. DiNozzo had no idea where Gibbs had gone.

Slowly easing himself out of his chair, DiNozzo winced as his neck throbbed from the awkward position he had slept in. He thrust his shoulders and neck back to stretch his muscles, moving his arms around to work the cricks out of his body. Then he stepped over Rogers into the hallway, noticing that Gibbs wasn't at his desk as he walked past. When DiNozzo had dropped off, Gibbs had still been at his computer working, glasses pushed back against the bridge of his nose.

But he wasn't there now. And DiNozzo knew that he hadn't gone home. So, had he found a new lead and was tracking it down? Or what?

Palming the button for the elevator, he winced at the soft ding the doors made, the noise echoing through the silence. He stepped onto the elevator and peeked out through the space between the closing doors, glad to see the noise hadn't woken anybody up.

The elevator let him off in Abby's lab, where the first thing he saw was Abby lying on her stomach, head cushioned on the stuffed hippopotamus she kept on a shelf. Gibbs' jacket had been tucked over her. Banner was curled up on the desk chair in the adjoining room, head beside the keyboard.

And Loki was lying, either asleep or unconscious, under the soul forge, with Gibbs sitting silently beside him.

"What, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked quietly, glancing over at him.

"Nothing, Boss," DiNozzo answered. "Just...how's Loki?"

Gibbs sighed as DiNozzo approached him and crouched down, balancing on his toes as was his custom. DiNozzo didn't tend to squat correctly. "Still unconscious, but the source has almost withdrawn itself." He gestured to the plasma screen, which showed the results of McGhee's command. The pulsing strands of blue and yellow energy were pulling back into the main source, unwinding from within Loki's brain matter. "If everything goes well, the source will be out of his head today."

"Today?" DiNozzo frowned, glancing at his watch. "But – oh. Today. Right." He grimaced at the clock hands pointing to five fifty. "It is today."

****

Bishop found it impossible to focus on the files before her as the clock ticked away the seconds. Gibbs, Dr. Strange, and Loki had left shortly after six this morning, heading for the hospital and leaving DiNozzo in charge.

As Loki had walked past her desk on the way out, he had looked down at her, his lips attempting to form a smile but failing before he redirected his gaze straight ahead. The only thing she had been able to do was watch him leave, the words of reassurance she wanted to offer frozen on her tongue, replaced by the squeeze Gibbs gave the Asgardian's shoulder.

And now, there was nothing to do but wait. Wait and work. The slight ease of tension and the laugh that had come when Stark had told Director Vance that "he needed more comfortable office chairs" had faded, leaving the work-filled silence.

Bishop stared down at the files, trying to make her eyes focus on the words, but they refused to cooperate. Closing her eyes, she silently counted to ten before opening them and pinning them to the top page.

Special Agent Loki Laufeyson pronounced dead in surgery.

Bishop jerked back, blinking furiously, as the malicious words contorted back to their original shapes, which had nothing to do with Loki or surgery. Her heart racing, she took a deep breath and leaned forward to continue reading the file.

Gamma radiation effects spell death sentence for the Asgardian war criminal.

Bishop pushed back so hard her chair slammed into the partition behind her. Stark glanced over at her as DiNozzo looked up. The other agents and Avengers paused in their work to shoot quizzical glances in her direction.

Fine. She didn't care, not for this second, what they would think. She climbed out of her chair and hurried toward the elevator, her car keys in her hand.

As soon as her destination was clear, DiNozzo grinned and glanced over to his right. "McGhee!" he called, holding out his hand. "I believe you owe me double."

McGhee looked miffed as he peeled two twenty dollar bills out of his wallet and tossed them at the Italian agent, who laughed as he caught them. Stark glanced over at Barton and raised his eyebrows.

"All right, Barton, you lost."

Grumbling, Barton handed over the twenty dollars, which Stark promptly turned and handed to Romanoff. When he noticed the strange looks everyone else was giving him, he shrugged. "What? This way, I lost nothing."

****

Gibbs wasn't surprised when he saw Bishop coming through the hospital door into the waiting room, her expression worried. As soon as she saw him, she made a beeline right for him and sank down into a chair.

"Anything?" she asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "He's in surgery now."

Taking a deep, shuddery breath, Bishop settled back in the chair, staring at the floor in front of her as Gibbs' phone rang. Snapping it open, he placed it to his ear. "Gibbs."

"Gibbs!" Abby's voice was frantic on the other side. "You remember those fingerprints I was running through AFIS? The ones I got from Leopard's trailer?"

Gibbs leaned forward. "You got an ID?"

"No!" he heard Banner moan through the speaker. The scientist started to say something but Abby was talking over him and it was all Gibbs could do to piece together what they were both saying.

He couldn't believe it.

"Abs," he said. "Say it again. Slowly, and without Banner's help."

Abby panted for a few moments before speaking again. "Gibbs, we crashed AFIS!"

/**/

First things first, I'm sorry about missing last week's update. Life just got in the way.

Second, Special Agent was nominated for The Rose Awards in the fanfiction category, and I would really appreciate it, if you haven't already done it, if you would go and also nominate the book in the awards. It would mean a lot!

Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/124830282-the-rose-awards-open

Thanks for reading; please comment and vote!

Skylar Wittenborn