Chapter Text
"Oh come on", Tony mumbled to himself, running at a steady but fast pace through the labyrinth of streets. He was persuing one of their suspects, who had bolted the second he had seen the NCIS Agents at the front door. "It's not as if you are really fast enough to outrun me, buddy", the young agent continued under his breath, as he put on a bit more speed to diminish the distance between himself and the fleeing Petty Officer even more.
Tony smiled to himself, when he saw his 'prey' throwing a look over his shoulder and dark eyes widen in fright when the Petty Officer realized that the NCIS Agent was catching up more and more on him. The young man tried to run faster and doubled left and right in hopes of gaining more distance again - but it was in vain because Tony hadn't been the star on his track team in high school for nothing.
Running had always been one of his favourite sports and combined with his training as an NCIS agent Tony was in an excellent physical shape. It was one of the reasons he hadn't needed Gibbs' bark of "DiNozzo" to know it was up to him to follow the fleeing Petty Officer and bring him back for questioning. He was easily the fastest runner of Gibbs' team.
The second he had seen the young man turning for flight Tony used his knowledge from his time on his track team, letting the Petty Officer setting their pace at first, because he knew the suspect was running as fast as he could and would probably tire soon. And he was right, because the young Navy Officer had trouble keeping up his speed, starting to sound like an asthmatic wheezing for air.
Now it wouldn't be long until Tony could arrest him and bring him back to Gibbs. Not slowing down one bit Tony rounded a street corner and then grinned to himself. Luck seemed to be on his side today, because the Petty Officer had run into a dead end. The street narrowed down and the wall at the end was too high to climb over. In his haste to get away from Tony the young man had not noticed that until the point it was too late for him to escape his persuer anymore.
Now he came to a faltering stop in front of the high wall, breathing heavily from his run. The Petty Officer turned desperate eyes to the left and right, but couldn't see another exit than the way he had come from.
Tony had stopped as well, not nearly as tired as his prey and now slowly advanced, reaching for his handcuffs to arrest the suspect. "Petty Officer Laran, I put you under arrest for...", Tony started reading him his rights.
Then he stopped in mid-sentence and acted purely on instinct, when the other man turned around. It saved his life that he trusted the sudden feeling of looming danger in the air and dove for cover. The next second a fireball scorched the place where he had been standing before and would have surely burned him to an untimely death. Tony blinked in momentary surprise at the unexpected turn of events, but recovered fast. Crouching behind the garbage can he used for cover, the young agent grabbed his gun and cautiously peered around the edge in search of his prey-suddenly-turned-hunter. Only his quick reflexes saved him from a second fireball the size of a tennisball.
"Woah", Tony muttered to himself, still a bit shocked. He had expected to be attacked when he finally cornered the Petty Officer, ok - but not in form of thrown fireballs. Gunbullets, stones, even a desperate bodily attack, yes. But fireballs? Well, no. But seemingly that was what he got now.
Sighing deeply and preparing himself for breaking his cover and taking down his attacker with some well-placed gun shoots, Tony jumped a bit, when he suddenly felt and saw a warm glow around his neck. Blinking he opened his jacked and grabbed for the glowing object, which turned out to be a very ancient-looking amulet. It was silver and divided into several parts, which were decorated with elegant, foreign-looking symbols. One of these symbols was currently glowing slightly and giving off the warmth Tony could feel.
Greem eyes widening in sudden complete understanding what was happening and who - or better what - Petty Officer Laran was, Tony cursed lowly but viciously under his breath. If Gibbs, Kate or the rest of his team would have heard him right now, they would have been stunned by the temper the young agent suddenly expressed. It was partly in denial, partly in shock - but most of all angry acceptance at the unexpected turn in his life, that he felt the need to curse.
Tony snapped back to the present, when a volley of fireballs hit the garbage can he had found cover behind. One of the attacks set the garbage on fire and the NCIS agent knew he had to act fast now. The increasing heat prevented him from hiding any longer. It was simply too dangerous because the garbage can could explode one minute or the other. Closing his left hand around the amulet, Tony whispered a name he hadn't said for almost two decades : "Rethron...I could need your help, old friend."
Then he took a deep breath, clutched his gun tighter and then straightened slowly behind the flaming barrier. His whole body tensed in anticipation, the young agent tried to hear where his attacker was. He could distinguish foot steps coming nearer and then another attack of fireballs pounded against the burning garbage can.
Mentally counting to three, Tony left his cover. Diving into a sideway roll, he searched for the Petty Officer and fired two times when he saw him. That reaction was purely reflexive from his training, because when his green eyes centered on Laran, Tony felt like doused with ice-cold water. He had known that the young man he had thought to be a Naval Petty Officer wasn't human from the minute Laran started throwing fireballs - but knowing it and seeing it with his own eyes were two entirely different things, Tony realized. But who would blame him?
The formerly young, skinny and obviously not very brave man had changed into a creature from a nightmare. Dark red skin, murderous blood-red eyes and clad in tight leather as black as his now shoulder-length hair, Laran had a frighteningly similiarity with satan.
'Well, well, well...what do we have here - a devil in disguise', a sarcastic little voice in Tony's head commented. 'He just needs his trident and he would be the perfect image of Hell's master.'
That 'Laran' didn't need another weapon than his hands became clear the moment the bullets from Tony's gun went up in another fireball. A deeply unsettling feeling arose in the NCIS agent when the blood-coloured eyes centered on him and a malicious grin made an appearance on the demon's face. Tony knew he was in a very, very dangerous situation with limited options of survival for him. And as if to confirm his thoughts, 'Laran' conjured another, bigger fireball in his hands and made a motion to throw it directly at Tony.
But suddenly the silver amulet around Tony's neck glowed brighter and brighter in dual colours of red and gold until he had to shield his eyes against the light. Warmth surrounded him like a blanket and he could have sworn he heard voices whisper a promise of protection. Blinking his eyes open when the glow dimmed again, Tony could only watch in stunned silence what happened next.
At first the demon hadn't realized that his victim wasn't as helpless as he had seemed against his attacks, but when the light from the amulet surrounded Tony in a glowing shell of powerful magic, he stopped and stared. The fireball in his hands forgotten because of his surprise at the events, 'Laran' failed to react in time.
Thunder rumbled suddenly and the sky clouded in seconds to a threateningly dark colour. Lightning flashed in rapid succession and some of the bolts of light headed downwards, finding unerringly their goal. They struck 'Laran' and the demon screamed in pain at being ripped apart by the power of electricity. But it seemed as if Tony's protectors didn't think that enough, because the magical shell around him erupted in flames of angry power.
For the young agent kneeling inside the protective circle the fire felt pleasantly warm, but when the blazing threads of it lunged for the former Petty Officer, the demon felt anything but pleasure. He screamed once more in pure agony and then vanished in a column of fire.
Tony had only watched in shocked silence, but now he grimaced and whispered: "Ouch. That had to hurt." He straightened up from his kneeling position and lowered his gaze onto his medallion. "Thank you, Rethron. Thank you, Leyra, for protecting me", he expressed his gratitude towards his unseen helpers.
#Always.# Came the silent, reassuring answer.
For another five minutes Tony only stood there, calming himself and thinking about what had happened - and what it probably meant for him. He sighed deeply and clutched his amulet for a moment until his knuckles turned white.
He had always known what his destiny was, but after nearly twenty years without anything magical happening to him, he had almost forgotten about what fate had laid out for him. Memories flooded Tony and for a desperate moment he wished for the counsel of his beloved grandfather. But Lucas Anthony DiNozzo had died a long time ago and his namesake realized he had to find the answers for his questions somewhere else than getting them from the wise old man served on a silver platter. But Tony knew someonewho would be helpful in finding out what was happening - and these persons would need his help, too. Thinking about how abruptly his seemingly normal life had changed into unforseeable chaos, Tony sighed deeply once more, but then straightened to his full height. Determination settled onto his handsome features, when he silently vowed to fulfill his destiny.
With one last look towards the scorched place, where the disguised demon had perhaps found his end, Tony turned and headed back towards the place where he knew the rest of his team would be waiting for him. On the way he thought about how to explain the disappearance of 'Petty Officer Laran' and finally settled on telling Gibbs that he had lost the suspect in the maze of streets.
Tony hated lying, especially to his Boss. But what else could he do? There was no way he would tell him that Laran had in reality been a demon. A high-class demon no less. Not that Gibbs would believe him if he did, but Tony knew about the rules in regard to the exposion of magic towards 'normal' humans. It was strictly forbidden and could have a great range of repercussions the young man didn't even want to think about.
Half an hour later Tony arrived back at the house the chasing had started and like he had known, Gibbs, Kate and McGee were impatiently waiting for him. When they saw him coming down the street without the suspect, Kate and McGee looked surprised. Even Gibbs blinked for a moment and Tony winced internally at the flash of disappointment which crossed his superior's face. It hurt him almost physically to let the older man down, but there was no other option.
Steeling himself for a sarcastic remark from his boss because of coming back without the suspect, Tony was stunned when all Gibbs wanted to know was: "You alright, DiNozzo?" Blinking in surprise Tony didn't answer and saw a glint of concern appearing in the other man's ice-blue eyes.
Kate and McGee joined them and Tony's partner repeated the question for the state of his wellbeing. Only then Tony realized that his jacket was dirty and torn in some places. He scowled darkly at that, but reassured his colleagues that he was unhurt. Relief flashed in varying degrees over three faces and Gibbs started to question Tony in depth about what had happened.
But before he had even uttered half a question, Tony's cell ringed loudly. Hearing the melody, Tony's eyes widened a bit in startlement, but with a short apology towards Gibbs he unclipped the cell from his belt and stepped away a bit to have more privacy. Seeing the ID confirmed what he knew because of the melody he had programmed only for this caller.
Lifting the cell to his ear he hadn't even opened his mouth to say his name, when the caller on the other end of the line demanded to know: "Are you alright? I just had a vision and you were attacked... Tony, are you hurt? Do you need Leo to come and..."
"Phee!", Tony cut into the stream of anxious words. "Calm down and breathe, ok? I am alright, thanks for asking." "Really? The vision was so...so...", a shuddering breath came over the line and Tony tensed in reaction. It wasn't normal for her to be almost hysterical in fright after a vision.
Unconciously switching to Italian, Tony soothed her with warm words, blanketing her with his deep voice in reassurence and love until he could feel her smiling in his mind. They had always shared a special bond, even when they were small children. He was the only one allowed to call her Phee - and he would do almost everything to see her happy.
"You really alright, Tony?", came suddenly another voice over the line. This voice was a bit more controlled then the first, but also showed underlying fear.
"Yes, Piper. I am a bit shaken, because I really did not expect him to turn on me the way he did. But I am unhurt", Tony emphazised. A sigh reached his ear and he smiled.
"Thank Godness", Piper said with deep relief. "We were all worried about you, Tony. Especially after Phoebe nearly went into hysterics after her vision. Do you think you'll be able to visit soon? There are strange things happening here...and I mean even more so then normal. And because of Phoebe's vision I fear we'll need you and..." Piper stopped, but Tony knew what she was referring to. His destiny had finally arrived.
"I will see what I can do, Piper", he answered, mentally calculating how fast he could be on the way towards San Francisco. "I still have plenty of free days - and this is a family matter. I don't think my boss will prevent me from leaving. I think perhaps the day after tomorrow I can grab a flight and..."
"You don't need to fly, Tony", Piper intervened. She seemed to talk to someone else for some seconds, then she continued: "Leo agreed to take you, when you are ready. Just call for him, ok?"
"Oh, ok. Thank you. Give the boys a kiss from me and tell Phee not to worry so much about me. We will see each other soon", Tony responded. Piper promised to deliver his greetings and told him to be careful, before cancelling the call.
Tony closed his phone and sighed again. The chaos spread faster than he had anticipated. When Phoebe had a vision about him in danger, then the trouble was lurking nearer then he had hoped. There really was no time to waste. He had to go to San Francisco to discuss what he thought would happen with the sister's and Leo - and Piper's words about strange things worried him deeply. His life had gone from relatively normal to confusing and all around chaotic in mere hours.
When a hand fell onto his shoulder, Tony almost jumped a foot in surprise and just caught himself before lashing out in a reflexive reaction. He had been so deep in contemplation of the situation, that he had failed to notice Kate's arrvial next to him.
"Everything alright, Tony?", his partner wanted to know.
'That seems to be the question of the hour', Tony thought to himself and smiled at Kate. Clipping his cell back on his belt, Tony answered her question. "Yes and no. I am ok, but I will need some free time." The last words had been spoken towards Gibbs, who frowned and clearly wanted to get a very good reason to let Tony go inmidst a running case.
Tony straightened up to his full height and softly, but determinedly continued: "I can't tell you the reason, Boss, but it's very important. It's..."
"Your family?", the silver-haired agent cut into Tony's explanation. The younger man blinked and raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?", he asked. Gibbs' face didn't show any reaction, but his eyes were more understanding than he usually would have been.
"You were speaking Italian."
Tony blinked again. He hadn't realized that. But well, if it helped his case, he wouldn't argue. And Phoebe and her sisters were family, so he didn't lie when he confirmed Gibbs' question. "Yeah, it's a family matter", he nodded and Gibbs sighed. Then he nodded curtly, which gained him a relieved, brilliant smile form the younger agent.
Gibbs' gaze softened imperceptibly at that and he wanted to know: "How much time will you need?"
Tony shrugged. "I don't really know, Boss. One, maybe two weeks. I can't really say until I know what exactly happened."
Gibbs' didn't seem happy to loose his best agent for such a long time, but he nodded once more. The Senior Agent could feel, that whatever had happened which needed Tony's presence with his family, was of great importance. And troubled the younger agent a great deal, because Tony's usually cheerfully sparkling green eyes held a serious, thoughful look with a glint of trepidation.
Gibbs felt the urge to offer Tony his help with whatever troubled him, but squashed that thought promptly. Even if what he felt for the younger man went far beyond a superior/subordinate-relationship, now was obviously not the time to mention it. Tony seemed to have enough problems ahead.