Hi all! This is the sequel to "The Attempt" (Found in the Batman and Alex Rider crossover section). It's not necessary to read that first, but I'd really appreciate if you did and dropped me a review. Also, this takes place after Leviathan Strikes (the Batman INC. one-shot).

Thanks so much for your support and enjoy!

"A shot to the heart," Special Agent Tony DiNozzo remarked to Agent Tim McGee as he continuously snapped pictures of the body. "The lover was clearly jilted. She deemed it 'poetic justice' that his cause of death should be the same as hers. Except, her's was metaphorical and his was literal."

McGee sighed. "Tony, you don't know it was the wife—you don't even know if he was married!"

"Ring on the ring finger Probie—he was married," DiNozzo pointed out and smirked at McGee, who rolled his eyes.

"You still can't say right off the bat that it was the wife, Tony."

"Always suspect the wife, McGeek. Always suspect the wife."

"Well, it seems the me that the wife would have had to been pretty proficient with a gun," McGee said, "because the person that killed our marine knew what they were doing."

"Hm…..an assassin wife then," Tony mused. "Maybe they were like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Angelina Jolie, heh."

"Focus Tony, will ya?" McGee asked, taking pictures as well.

You know, Probie, I—" Tony began, but stopped when he heard a thud. "Ziva? Boss? You alright?"

"Wasn't us DiNozzo," Gibbs said, appearing behind Tony.

"Then who?" McGee asked, but halted as another noise was heard.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. It was repetitive, but growing weaker. Gibbs hustled over to the wall and rapped his knuckles against it. Thud-Thud-Thud, the noise answered in response.

"We need to break this wall," Gibbs ordered.

"We may not need to," Ziva David interrupted. Three heads turned towards her; she pointed to a dresser on the far corner of the wall. "Perhaps there is a hidden door; after all whoever put the person making the sounds back there had to get in somehow."

Tony and McGee separated the dresser from the wall, and sure enough, a locked door was behind it. Ziva pulled out her gun and blasted the lock off; then the four pulled held their guns ready and stepped inside the room.

They froze as soon as they caught sight of the person trapped in the room. Ziva muttered a few choice words in her native language as Tony and McGee swore under their breath. Gibbs said nothing, but his rigid posture conveyed how outraged he was.

The figure was a bloody mess; lacerations covered all the visible parts of his body—some were deep, some were shallow, but all of them were extremely painful. His hands were zip-tied above his head; a rope connected his wrists to an exposed pipe in the ceiling above. He was unable to escape; he sat on his knees, which were bound together with a strong wire, and his ankles were zip-tied as well—to each other and a water pipe jutting out from the wall. A sign written in Arabic was hung with a chain from his neck. He caught sight of NCIS and appeared to give a grin through the blood-crusted gag in his mouth. Catching their eye, he contorted his hands to grip the rope that kept his arms suspended and pulled his knees up from the ground; then he let go. He landed with a thud—the sound that had brought the agents to his rescue.

But all of that wasn't what had shocked the seasoned agents. Not the blood, the injuries, or the pain the captive was in. The prisoner had them frozen in place, unable to move. Because it wasn't a man tied up, but a kid—one that only looked about 10.

Ziva was the first to gather herself and sprint to the boy's side. She was about to cut him free when he shook his head at her, then motioned to Tony and Tim. They came forward with Gibbs and Tony reached for Ziva's knife. Again, the boy shook his head "no" and stared hard that the two cameras that they had placed on the ground.

"But you're in pain," McGee stated, breaking the silence. The boy glared at him, and there was something in his eye that made him look more formidable than his pre-teen years.

"Quickly McGee," Gibbs ordered. "Take the damn pictures." Tony and Tim immediately began to take as many pictures of the scene as they could in the shortest amount of time possible. Once they had finished they looked at Gibbs, who looked at the boy. The kid nodded, and Ziva began to release him.

Gibbs caught the boy as he fell forward, and gently eased the bloodied gag from his mouth. The boy tried to say something, but Gibbs told him to keep quiet. The boy struggled and swallowed, before hoarsely speaking to Gibbs.

"No…hospitals…" he croaked out. "They…find me." And the effort of speaking and escaping joined with no nourishment finally took their toll on the boy as he passed out in Gibbs' arms with all four of the agents' gaze on him.

Making a decision he was sure he was going to regret, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood up with the boy in his arms and began to walk out to his car.

"Bag and tag everything—I'm talking the kid to Ducky," he called over his shoulder. Nodding and adding affirmatives, Ziva, Tony, and Tim began to follow Gibbs' orders; once they heard the sound of the engine and heard the tired squealing away, the silence that had fallen over them was broken by Tony's loud explicative.

"Tony," Ziva reprimanded. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Like you weren't thinking the exact same thing," Tony snarled. "I can't believe it. A kid withstanding all of that? I couldn't do it."

"I couldn't either Tony," McGee added, as he shivered. The both looked at Ziva, who sighed.

"While we are taught to be tough in Mossad, I could not have done what he did at his age," Ziva finally said.

"Who is he?" McGee wondered, "I mean, we get called in for a dead marine, found by some kids who were getting high, only to stumble upon a ten-year-old in a hidden room."

"Just another day on team Gibbs, Probie," Tony said. He turned to say something to Ziva, who was staring darkly at the sign that was hung around the boy's next.

"Ziva?" McGee asked. "What's wrong?"

"This is an extremely odd message to leave," Ziva responded. "I am unsure what they could possibly mean."

"What's does it say Ziva?" Tony asked. The woman turned and looked at the two men, confusion etched across her face. She glanced at the sign and then back at Tony and Tim.

"It says 'Your move, Beloved.'"

So I hope you guys like the 2ed installment. Please, please, please let me know what you think!

Thanks and I love you all! :)

Reviews= happiness.