NCIS Big Bang, Gen, The World of Hate and Fear
Title: The World of Hate and Fear: Getting the Band Together (IV/V)
Summary: When the US Government asks former employee Jamie Madrox, now head of a small detective agency, to recruit leaders for X-Factor teams to be based within NCIS (amongst others) he can think of only one man for the job: former Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~21,700 for GtBT
Pairing: N/A - Gen
Spoiler Warnings: Vague spoilers for Yankee White and Bete Noire.
Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine. Simple.
Notes: My thanks to hentzau for doing half of the spell checking. Any further mistakes are all down to me.
Getting the Band Together forms the first part of a much longer story that I will hopefully finish entirely over the next week or so. It can be read without the rest if you wish - but please come back and read the extra parts, there's some good stuff in there.
NCIS: X-Factor Volume 1 #4
Panel One: Autopsy. Night. Ducky turns the lights on.
Panel Two: Same. Body bag laid out on the table.
Panel Three: Same. Gerald follows Ducky.
Ducky: Where did our guest come from, Gerald?
Gerald: The British Embassy, Doctor Mallard.
Panel Four: Same. Foreground - Gerald bends over the body bag. Background - Ducky hangs his coat and hat on a stand.
Panel Five: Same. Ducky joins Gerald by the table.
Ducky: Let's see what we have then.
Panel Six: Same. Open bag with an Israeli man sitting upright and very much alive in it.
?: Good evening, Doctor Mallard.
Getting the Band Together (IV of V): Night Visitor
“How the hell did this happen?” Gibbs asked, storming out of the lift.
“We got a request from the Brits to autopsy a Royal Marine that died on their embassy grounds,” Tony said, jumping to his feet. “Somewhere between their place and ours their marine went missing and got replaced with this guy.”
Tony clicked a button and a blurry camera image appeared on the plasma screen. Shadows fell across the face and made it impossible to make out any details.
“Clearest image we could pull, boss,” Tony said. “He stayed out of sight of the cameras before he shut them down with some kind of interference.”
“Knew where they were,” Gibbs said, moving closer to the screen as if that would make the image better.
“I'd say so,” Tony said, his mind sour.
“Ducky and Gerald are in there?” Gibbs asked.
“Yeah,” Tony said, shifting nervously.
“What?” Gibbs asked, his suspicions already up and running.
“I tried to stop her,” Tony said in a rush. “But she was convinced she could handle it.”
“Kate's in there too,” Gibbs said and Tony nodded miserably. “Dammit.”
Gibbs kicked a desk, hard, and ran his hands through his hair. He closed his eyes and reached out, pushing towards autopsy, looking for Kate and Ducky and Gerald. For a brief moment he had them, warm and safe, but they disappeared just as quickly as he found them. A shield went up around autopsy, thick and wrong, and Gibbs winced as he was forced back.
No, Agent Gibbs, none of that, a voice echoed through Gibbs' mind. Gibbs felt his body sag as the backlash whipped across his mind. We will play this my way.
“Boss,” Tony said, and his arms went around Gibbs' torso to halt his fall. “Gibbs?”
“Son of a -” Gibbs swore, pushing himself back up and opening his eyes to find Tony staring at him with open concern. “He's a shielder - hides thoughts. I can't get through.”
“Any idea what he wants?” Tony asked, stepping back only when he was sure Gibbs wasn't going to go down again.
“He wants to play games,” Gibbs said, his voice cutting the air like a knife edge. “I'll give him games. You're going in, DiNozzo.”
“What?” Tony pulled away, hackles raised. “Going in how?”
“No-one knows about you - you can get in and one touch is all it will take,” Gibbs said, stepping into Tony's space.
“Look, boss,” Tony raised his hands. “We had this talk when I started - I don't do that anymore and you gave your word that you wouldn't ask.”
“You'll put their lives on the line to keep your anonymity, DiNozzo?” Gibbs barked. “You happy to pay that price?”
“Hey - I'm just as angry and worried as you are, Gibbs,” Tony said, stepping forward. “But I can't. I can't do that. Not even for Kate and the others. You have no right to ask me, either, you know how dangerous I am.”
Tony's eyes sparked with anger. Gibbs drew a breath to make the request an order but stopped at that look. Tony was right - Gibbs had no right to ask him to use his powers like this. He let the breath out slowly and turned away, pressing a hand to his face.
“We need to find out what he wants,” Gibbs said when he had his anger under control again.
“You should speak to him,” Tony said. “Let out that anger on him instead of me. We have armed response mobilising as quickly as they can - you just need to stall.”
“Stall,” Gibbs repeated to himself, taking another deep breath.
* * * *
The unknown man was a manipulative bastard. He shot Gerald when Kate and Ducky tried to engineer an escape, he somehow convinced Kate not to kill him when she had a chance and now he had manipulated Gibbs into autopsy. At least the others had been allowed to go free, evacuated quickly by the response teams.
“Just you and I, Agent Gibbs,” the Man said, lurking in the dark shadows draped over the autopsy room. “The end of a great game. I have enjoyed myself tonight, haven't you?”
“Would've preferred it if one of my people hadn't ended up shot,” Gibbs shrugged.
“A regrettable consequence,” the Man shrugged as well. “It would have been avoided if your people had co-operated from the start.”
“Americans don't co-operate with terrorists.”
“A terrorist, am I?”
“You came here for intel on a dead Hamas operative. You tell me.”
“Very good, Agent Gibbs. I believe I will miss your bluntness. It's quite refreshing.”
“That's going to be the least of your worries where you're going.”
The Man laughed and Gibbs barely prevented himself from shooting him then and there.
“I find your misguided faith amusing. I'm afraid that I won't be gifting your Gitmo with my presence any time soon,” the Man said. “You are welcome to try to apprehend me, Agent Gibbs. I understand you were once a great a sniper - I wonder how good you are when you've been robbed of your powers?”
Gibbs' hand moved quicker than the eye could follow as he raised his gun and fired. A tight grouping of wounding shots. The Man raised a hand and stopped the bullets inches from his person, the ricochets echoing around the room. He fired a shot that impacted hard on Gibbs' knee causing him to drop heavily to the floor.
“As you can see,” the Man said. “I have more than one type of shield at my disposal.”
Armed response chose that moment to storm the room emptying round after round into the Man's shield. The Man walked through the hail of fire with a nonchalant expression on his face that bordered on boredom. The men fell or ducked to avoid the bullets speeding around the room, clearing the Man's path.
“I hope we have the chance to meet again, Agent Gibbs,” the Man said as he left the room. “I like to think we would have a lot in common.”
And he was gone.
* * * *
“Why didn't you take the chance?” Gibbs asked Kate as the EMT tended to his knee.
“I know I should have,” Kate said, shaking her head. “But he confused me - he had such kind eyes. Something like reluctance under everything he did. I'm sorry Gibbs.”
“Next time you have a chance, Kate,” Gibbs ground out against the pain in his knee. “Take it. You might not get another.”
To Be Continued?
Prologue | Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 | Issue #5
Summary: When the US Government asks former employee Jamie Madrox, now head of a small detective agency, to recruit leaders for X-Factor teams to be based within NCIS (amongst others) he can think of only one man for the job: former Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~21,700 for GtBT
Pairing: N/A - Gen
Spoiler Warnings: Vague spoilers for Yankee White and Bete Noire.
Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine. Simple.
Notes: My thanks to hentzau for doing half of the spell checking. Any further mistakes are all down to me.
Getting the Band Together forms the first part of a much longer story that I will hopefully finish entirely over the next week or so. It can be read without the rest if you wish - but please come back and read the extra parts, there's some good stuff in there.
NCIS: X-Factor Volume 1 #4
Panel One: Autopsy. Night. Ducky turns the lights on.
Panel Two: Same. Body bag laid out on the table.
Panel Three: Same. Gerald follows Ducky.
Ducky: Where did our guest come from, Gerald?
Gerald: The British Embassy, Doctor Mallard.
Panel Four: Same. Foreground - Gerald bends over the body bag. Background - Ducky hangs his coat and hat on a stand.
Panel Five: Same. Ducky joins Gerald by the table.
Ducky: Let's see what we have then.
Panel Six: Same. Open bag with an Israeli man sitting upright and very much alive in it.
?: Good evening, Doctor Mallard.
Getting the Band Together (IV of V): Night Visitor
“How the hell did this happen?” Gibbs asked, storming out of the lift.
“We got a request from the Brits to autopsy a Royal Marine that died on their embassy grounds,” Tony said, jumping to his feet. “Somewhere between their place and ours their marine went missing and got replaced with this guy.”
Tony clicked a button and a blurry camera image appeared on the plasma screen. Shadows fell across the face and made it impossible to make out any details.
“Clearest image we could pull, boss,” Tony said. “He stayed out of sight of the cameras before he shut them down with some kind of interference.”
“Knew where they were,” Gibbs said, moving closer to the screen as if that would make the image better.
“I'd say so,” Tony said, his mind sour.
“Ducky and Gerald are in there?” Gibbs asked.
“Yeah,” Tony said, shifting nervously.
“What?” Gibbs asked, his suspicions already up and running.
“I tried to stop her,” Tony said in a rush. “But she was convinced she could handle it.”
“Kate's in there too,” Gibbs said and Tony nodded miserably. “Dammit.”
Gibbs kicked a desk, hard, and ran his hands through his hair. He closed his eyes and reached out, pushing towards autopsy, looking for Kate and Ducky and Gerald. For a brief moment he had them, warm and safe, but they disappeared just as quickly as he found them. A shield went up around autopsy, thick and wrong, and Gibbs winced as he was forced back.
No, Agent Gibbs, none of that, a voice echoed through Gibbs' mind. Gibbs felt his body sag as the backlash whipped across his mind. We will play this my way.
“Boss,” Tony said, and his arms went around Gibbs' torso to halt his fall. “Gibbs?”
“Son of a -” Gibbs swore, pushing himself back up and opening his eyes to find Tony staring at him with open concern. “He's a shielder - hides thoughts. I can't get through.”
“Any idea what he wants?” Tony asked, stepping back only when he was sure Gibbs wasn't going to go down again.
“He wants to play games,” Gibbs said, his voice cutting the air like a knife edge. “I'll give him games. You're going in, DiNozzo.”
“What?” Tony pulled away, hackles raised. “Going in how?”
“No-one knows about you - you can get in and one touch is all it will take,” Gibbs said, stepping into Tony's space.
“Look, boss,” Tony raised his hands. “We had this talk when I started - I don't do that anymore and you gave your word that you wouldn't ask.”
“You'll put their lives on the line to keep your anonymity, DiNozzo?” Gibbs barked. “You happy to pay that price?”
“Hey - I'm just as angry and worried as you are, Gibbs,” Tony said, stepping forward. “But I can't. I can't do that. Not even for Kate and the others. You have no right to ask me, either, you know how dangerous I am.”
Tony's eyes sparked with anger. Gibbs drew a breath to make the request an order but stopped at that look. Tony was right - Gibbs had no right to ask him to use his powers like this. He let the breath out slowly and turned away, pressing a hand to his face.
“We need to find out what he wants,” Gibbs said when he had his anger under control again.
“You should speak to him,” Tony said. “Let out that anger on him instead of me. We have armed response mobilising as quickly as they can - you just need to stall.”
“Stall,” Gibbs repeated to himself, taking another deep breath.
* * * *
The unknown man was a manipulative bastard. He shot Gerald when Kate and Ducky tried to engineer an escape, he somehow convinced Kate not to kill him when she had a chance and now he had manipulated Gibbs into autopsy. At least the others had been allowed to go free, evacuated quickly by the response teams.
“Just you and I, Agent Gibbs,” the Man said, lurking in the dark shadows draped over the autopsy room. “The end of a great game. I have enjoyed myself tonight, haven't you?”
“Would've preferred it if one of my people hadn't ended up shot,” Gibbs shrugged.
“A regrettable consequence,” the Man shrugged as well. “It would have been avoided if your people had co-operated from the start.”
“Americans don't co-operate with terrorists.”
“A terrorist, am I?”
“You came here for intel on a dead Hamas operative. You tell me.”
“Very good, Agent Gibbs. I believe I will miss your bluntness. It's quite refreshing.”
“That's going to be the least of your worries where you're going.”
The Man laughed and Gibbs barely prevented himself from shooting him then and there.
“I find your misguided faith amusing. I'm afraid that I won't be gifting your Gitmo with my presence any time soon,” the Man said. “You are welcome to try to apprehend me, Agent Gibbs. I understand you were once a great a sniper - I wonder how good you are when you've been robbed of your powers?”
Gibbs' hand moved quicker than the eye could follow as he raised his gun and fired. A tight grouping of wounding shots. The Man raised a hand and stopped the bullets inches from his person, the ricochets echoing around the room. He fired a shot that impacted hard on Gibbs' knee causing him to drop heavily to the floor.
“As you can see,” the Man said. “I have more than one type of shield at my disposal.”
Armed response chose that moment to storm the room emptying round after round into the Man's shield. The Man walked through the hail of fire with a nonchalant expression on his face that bordered on boredom. The men fell or ducked to avoid the bullets speeding around the room, clearing the Man's path.
“I hope we have the chance to meet again, Agent Gibbs,” the Man said as he left the room. “I like to think we would have a lot in common.”
And he was gone.
* * * *
“Why didn't you take the chance?” Gibbs asked Kate as the EMT tended to his knee.
“I know I should have,” Kate said, shaking her head. “But he confused me - he had such kind eyes. Something like reluctance under everything he did. I'm sorry Gibbs.”
“Next time you have a chance, Kate,” Gibbs ground out against the pain in his knee. “Take it. You might not get another.”
To Be Continued?
Prologue | Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 | Issue #5