Team Knight - Round 10- Unavoidable Insanity
Title: Unavoidable Insanity; Part One
Authors: junkiefornews
Rating: R
Prompt: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"
--from The Dark Knight
Disclaimer: This stories contains concepts and characters created and owned by, DPB, CBS, Paramount, DC Comics, Warner Bros. and others. I am in no way affiliated with these corporations, and i am not making any profit. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Word Count: 1,872
Pairing: minor, minor J/B. Can be read as gen.
Warnings: crossover. Sequel to Unavoidable Debriefing. Spoilers for NCIS episode 6x25 Aliyah. Director Vance may be slightly OOC. Violence, death, disturbing content
Author's Note: I'd like to thank huro and
lil_jei for beta-ing this at a moment's notice. Thanks, guys. :)
It was all Vance’s fault. Rather than listening to Gibbs on who should fill the void left by Officer Ziva David’s absence, the NCIS Director fished out a Fed, who didn’t know the meaning of the word teamwork, and assigned him to Gibbs’s team
About twenty minutes after meeting Agent Arthur Casey, Gibbs stormed into the Director’s office.
“Are you punishing me, Leon?” the silver-haired Agent demanded. To his credit, Vance barely looked up from his paperwork.
“Agent Gibbs, now that Ziva David is no longer with us. I felt it was time to start repairing relationships with other American agencies,” Leon replied in a flat tone of voice; however, Gibbs recognized the jab against his former Officer’s Israeli liaison status. Long ago, Ziva had proven herself trustworthy, and even though she had been a member of Mossad and her anthem wasn’t the Star-Spangled Banner, he’d trust her with his life before he’d trust Vance with the remote for the TV. What little respect Gibbs did have for the Director was fading fast. Gibbs thought he and Vance had recently reached somewhat common ground, but now, with this G-d awful appointment, it seemed the Director was reverting back to his old scheming ways. Well, Leroy Jethro Gibbs wasn’t going to go down without a fight
“I’m telling you now, Leon. I want Casey off my team,” Gibbs said.
“Can you give me a reason, Gibbs?” Vance said.
“The man’s not a team player. He’s going to put my people in danger,” Gibbs replied without hesitation.
“You’ve only known him for twenty minutes,” Vance said.
“Yeah, six minutes longer than I needed to make my judgment,” Gibbs snapped.
“Look, Gibbs,” Vance said, “Give it six months. If your opinion of him hasn’t changed, I’ll let you pick the next person, okay?”
Gibbs had his retort ready but bit his tongue and trudged out the door.
He ended up calling his FBI ally Tobias Fornell. Although sometimes they had their trust issues (after all, Fornell did steal and marry Gibbs’s third wife, but Gibbs forgave the man, especially after she divorced Tobias too), Gibbs almost always trusted Fornell when he needed a favor.
“Casey’s a good enough agent, but in his own mind, he’s a legend,” Tobias told.
“Well, the question is: can you get me the info?
“I’ll see what I can do, Jethro,” Tobias said, “but I don’t think it will tell you much. Oh, and the guy’s a real schmoozer. He likes doing anything that gets him credit, glory, or face time with the bosses. I’d be careful. He could cause you some real trouble.
Gibbs closed his eyes and pinched the sides of his nose.
“Thanks, Tobias,” Gibbs said.
“Good luck, Jethro. With him, you’re going to need it.”
******************
Gibbs first tried correcting Casey’s mistaken impression that he would be leading the team,
“Casey, conference room,” Gibbs said and lead the way to the elevators
Gibbs normally chose the elevators for privacy, but on this day, he had an ulterior motive.
Intimidation.
“Something wrong, Agent Gibbs?” Casey asked after Gibbs had switched on the emergency stop.
“Yeah, Casey,” Gibbs said, “there’s something wrong. I need a team player. Someone who plays the game and doesn’t try to hog the spotlight for the sponsors.”
“Sir?”
Gibbs winced. He hated being called ‘Sir’.
“Agent Gibbs,” Gibbs repeated, “and drop the prima Donna act, or you’re out of the team.”
Casey reported the whole incident to Vance.
“Gibbs, do I have to put a formal reprimand in your file, saying you abuse your subordinates, or are you going to behave yourself?” Vance said.
“I don’t care if you tell them I’m the damn tooth fairy. I want that man off my team,” Gibbs growled.
“Like I said, Gibbs, give it six months. As for now, try to at least pretend to let bygones be bygones.”
Soon, it became obvious Vance chose Casey to infiltrate rather than serve on Gibbs’s team. Gibbs had never met a more worthless Agent. Knowing his letters didn’t faze Gibbs; Casey started targeting the other members of his team. “DiNozzo made an inappropriate comment….Sciuto is wearing inappropriate attire and her actions on this case…McGee is acting in an unprofessional manner…” Every week Gibbs had to defend his crew. Sure, he didn’t care about his own file, but he’d be damned if let that little prick mess with his team’s careers. Still, Vance wouldn’t cut Casey loose.
Gibbs ended up refusing to acknowledge the man’s existence. Unless it dealt with a case, Gibbs wouldn’t even look at the man’s shadow. DiNozzo dubbed the man Special Agent “Crazy” and started to spread rumors about the man. From a mob plant to a spy for Kraft’s Hamburger Helper, Casey’s back-story seemed to be on everyone’s lips. Oh, and DiNozzo wasn’t the only one to participate in this. Timothy McGee, his other Agent and a technology wiz, sent e-mails displaying funny pictures of Casey (“I photoshopped them, Boss!).
“Crazy” had tried ferreting out his ridiculers, but he had absolutely no help. Most people just acted as if they were completely clueless of the incidents. Except Abby, who posted the pictures throughout her lab and would blow raspberries at the man every time he entered.
********************************************
“You know,” Abby said, “I could kill him and leave no evidence behind.”
Tony laughed.
“Go ahead and leave the evidence, Abs,” Tony said, “I’m sure the FBI would consider it a justifiable homicide. Probably the reason they sent him over here in the first place.”
“Too much paperwork, Abby,” McGee said. “Knowing Gibbs and Tony, I’d be stuck filling it out.”
“Come on, Probie,” Tony said, “it’d totally be worth it. The man’s like Frank Burns, only with blond hair.”
Both Abby and McGee gave him blank looks. Tony saw this and sighed, “You don’t even know who Frank Burns is? I think we’re going to have a TV show marathon this weekend.”
“Not this weekend,” Gibbs said, as he purposefully strolled in carrying a file, “
“Dead marine,” Gibbs said.
McGee took the file from him, opened it up, and looked up at his boss, “We’re going to Gotham City.”
“Ooooh,” Abby said, cheerfully, “say hi to Batman for me and tell him thanks for saving my life.”
‘Oh hell,’ Gibbs thought, ‘It was going to be one of those weeks.’
***************************8
“Wow, he was found in a dumpster. That’s cold,” Tony said.
Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, and ugh….Casey, stood in the squad room of a very drab Police Headquarters.
“It looks cheap,” Commissioner Gordon had told them, “because we’ve had to spend our money on making this building secure. We’ve already had to rebuild about three times, because The Joker decided this place was a good target.”
“Three times?” Tony said.
“We’ve decided that it’s just not worth it to paint the place,” Gordon said.
Gordon was a man who had quickly grown old. For instance, he was younger than Gibbs, but his hair was much grayer. The lines on Gordon’s face spoke of someone much more experienced than the birth date on his personnel file.
Gibbs had tremendous respect for the man. Gordon had some how managed to keep Gotham together without a police state, and yet, still had time to personally work on an individual case.
“I wish I could say why they dumped Corporal Armstrong,” Gordon said, “but this Riddler character’s been keeping us busy. We’ve also had to deal with a serial rapist, who targets young blond girls and dresses them up like Alice in Wonderland.”
The men all frowned.
“Well,” Gibbs said, “thanks for your time. I know how precious few minutes you have.”
“Thanks,” Gordon said, “unfortunately, they’re not even my worst problems. The Joker’s out on the loose again.”
The team had heard that on the radio out there. Apparently, Joker escapes happened often. No one knew how he did it, but no amount of protections trapped the crazed clown.
“You don’t think he could be responsible for my dead Marine?” Gibbs asked.
Gordon shook his head and answered, “Not his style. If The Joker had killed a Marine, he’d be bragging it to every news source in sight. Plus, we have reports that at the time of the incident, the Joker was fighting Batman,”
“Oh, so they were having sex again,” Tony said.
Every single person in the station fell silent. Even the criminals being booked stopped talking.
Tony felt the warmth emanate from his gawking audience, and sheepishly replied, “I had a friend, who told me that was the way they…
“No,” McGee said, smiling and eager to rub in a little vinegar, “Abby said watching them fight was better than sex. You said that maybe it was their way of having sex.”
Tony smiled, “But she did agree with me…so I stand by what I said.”
“So do you have any idea who did kill my Marine?” Gibbs asked Gordon.
“My sources tell me that if your team keeps the boat “Celandine” under surveillance until midnight, you’ll find your answers,” Gordon said.
Gibbs frowned. What kind of answer was that?
“Uh, okay, then. DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, “you and McGee go stakeout..”
“A-hem,” Casey interrupted.
“What is it, Casey?” Gibbs had no patience to deal with the man.
“I’d say this is a perfect time to send me into the field, considering McGee is more suited to technologically watching our backs,” Casey said.
If anyone else had made this statement, it could have been considered a compliment….
“You’re crazy, Casey,” McGee said, “you’ll get Tony killed before you help the team.”
‘Wrong thing to say, McGee,’ Gibbs thought.
“It’s okay, Boss. Officer Casey and I, we’ll have a jolly good time,” DiNozzo said, saving McGee’s hide from another meeting with Vance.
But, it ended up being one of the worst mistakes Gibbs would ever make…
This is stupid. Casey said over the communications link. He and DiNozzo had been observing “The Celandine” for several hours, Why the hell are we waiting when we can storm the place now? We’ve been watching for hours and there are only a few guards to take care of, Casey said, in fact, I can take them myself.
“Casey,” Gordon said, “it may seem like there’s not anyone out there, but according to my sources, it’d be disastrous to go in before the designated time.”
Too late.
Boss..boss..Tony said, over the comm link, Casey’s moved in. I repeat Casey’s moved in.
“What the hell?” Gibbs said, “Casey, you dumb prick, pull back. I repeat pull back.”
Unsurprisingly, Casey ignored him and proceeded forward.
“DiNozzo, get yourself out of there,” Gibbs ordered.
A long silence filled the airwaves
Uh, Boss, I think we might be in trouble, DiNozzo said, and as if on cue…
RAT-A-TAT-TAT...A-TAT-TAT
“Tony!” Gibbs yelled, but he couldn’t hear
“Converge on Dixon Docks,” Gordon barked to his men over the radio. Gibbs got up from his chair. He had to get down there. His man was in danger.
Before he had even left the room, Gibbs heard a non-Tony male voice speak through the comm link.
“Say goodbye to your friends, police man.”
“Boss,” Tony cried out.
A loud shot exploded through the phone.
Dial tone.
Fucking dial tone.
End Notes: So what do ya think? Don't worry. I'll have the second (and last) part up tomorrow.