Jace and Ziva cornered the Marines in the security room, they stood at opposite sides of the door frame. Ziva had fashioned a suppressor out of a water bottle, she entered taking out the Marine sitting by the monitor. Jace grabbed the other one from behind, placing him in a chokehold. He struggled against Julian's grip, in response, the Sailor forced him to the ground and snapped his neck.

They took their weapons and gear, Ziva got a hold of the radio and dialed the NCIS emergency frequency.

"This is Special Agent Ziva David, calling out."

"Ziva, this is Tony. Where are you?"

"Jace and I are safe. We took out two of the gunmen."

"We're coming in."

"There's a chance Green and Hodgkins were listening in," informed Jace.

"Then we should move quickly," replied Ziva.

. . .

The agents cleared through the entrance, and Sam defused a series of traps, all of which were part of DEVGRU defensive procedures. Tim had set the security feed on a loop in case the fugitives were looking in. Ziva and Jace had gone dark. State troopers were searching for and evacuating civilians.

They came under fire from the left, the OSPs covered the other three agents as they went forward.

The shooter was Hodgkins.

"Hodgkins! This is Sam Hanna from NCIS!" shouted the former SEAL. "STAND DOWN!"

The six cornered their target.

"Don't do anything stupid, sailor," warned Amato.

"We didn't mean to kill him," said Hodgkins. "We just wanted him to lay off."

"Tell us the truth and we can work something out," said Sam.

"Green had him in a chokehold and we all grabbed him. We saw that he wasn't breathing and we tried to revive him, I swear to God, we did everything we could to save him."

Hodgkins reached for his vest, the agents could make out what seemed like the pin and spoon of a grenade.

"HANDS IN THE AIR!" shouted Kensi

"I'm not going to Leavenworth." said the fugitive grabbing the item.

The agents opened fire, the SEAL slumped against the wall. McGee and Raya inspected the body, the latter secured the weapon and the object.

It was a flashbang.

. . .

Jace and Ziva followed the last gunman to the basement, he was expecting them. Ziva breached first but was thrown back by a flashbang grenade rigged to the door. Jace called out to her but was cut off by gunfire. He threw in another crash grenade he took from the Marines.

Julian rushed in, grabbing Green before he could ready his weapon. They grappled trying to control each other. Neither had slings attached to their rifles enabling Jace to force Green's weapon out of his hands and slammed him against the wall. However, the rogue sailor clocked Jace and disarmed him.

They continued to brawl before Jace kicked Green to the floor.

"You've should've stayed out of this, you're as dumb as Watson," spat the UA SEAL, trying to get up. "You're dead and so is your old man."

In response, Jace grabbed his opponent by the neck and began to beat him. He lost every sense of control he had. This man betrayed the brotherhood and stained its integrity and murdered his friend. All Jace could think of was how this man violated everything they believed in and fought for. He hadn't been this enraged since dealing with Niels and Swarek, back then NCIS and the agents from the Sword and Shield taskforce had intervened.

This time it was just them.

He never let Green go, never let him fight back, Jace just kept pounding on his opponent. He kept Green's arms pinned under his knees as he continued his attack. He saw red, he couldn't think.

All of a sudden, two sets of arms were prying him off of Green. Julian tried to stay on his target and struggled against them.

"Jace, calm down!" called out Raya, standing between the two sailors as Tony and Tim tried to get control of him.

He looked around and saw two agents help Ziva get up; a brunette woman and a man with shaggy blonde hair. Another two were checking on Green, Jace recognized one of them from a photo at Dam Neck.

Retired Senior Chief Sam Hanna of DEVGRU. Now with NCIS.

The other agent checked Green's pulse.

"He's gone."

. . .

Three weeks after his friend's funeral, Jace was standing in front of Blake's headstone in Arlington, Whitney and Blake's parents had granted him a moment alone with his friend. NCIS had ruled that Jace had killed the fugitive operators in self-defense and discovered that the four had stolen $50,000 from SOCOM. Watson discovered their plans and confronted them. Army CID got a hold of an elderly villager the four got a hold of, they planned on forcing Blake into taking explicit pictures with the local villager in his quarters. They intended to blackmail him but wound up killing him.

Blake had sent his father a flash drive of the theft hidden inside a vase he had purchased at a local market near the French Embassy.

With the rogue four dead the Navy and Marine Corps opted to reduce their ranks and pull their status as special operators.

As Jace left the Watsons stopped him.

"Blake always spoke highly of you," said Whitney. "Said that your courage and willpower made you an example of what an American should strive to be."

"I always thought the same of him," responded Julian, he wasn't in uniform, and he didn't want to draw any attention. While he was in his Dress Blues at the actual ceremony everyone recognized him as the Navy SEAL Blake credited with leading the escape in Afghanistan. Members of Watson's ISA team and ODA offered their respects, they knew what it was like to see a bad seed embedded in their ranks. "He gave me hope that we'd survive against the odds together."

"Thank you for saving our boy," said Blake's father, Henry. "And for stopping the people who wronged him."

Julian shook everyone's hands. He was relieved that the circumstance was finally over, but he would never stop missing his friend.

He met with the Agents at the Navy Yard before the LA team left. He thanked everyone, Agent Hanna asked for a moment alone. They had a classic Navy Yard elevator meeting.

"I owe you an explanation," Started Sam. "I let them go the first time because I saw the gray saw area of what they did, told myself that their intentions were in honor of the Trident. I was wrong."

Jace simply stood there, listening to what the other sailor had to say.

"I wanted to believe that a SEAL could do no wrong and I looked the other way. You and Watson paid the price, I'm sorry."

"Never say 'sorry'," responded Julian. "Just do better and acknowledge the issue. Do better and be better. That's what we do."

The two shook hands and returned to the others, everyone bid farewell.

Jace stood beside Ziva and grasped her hand, smiling at her. She returned the gesture.

She stood by him and he would always stand by her.