NCIS Big Bang, Gen, The World of Hate and Fear
Title: The World of Hate and Fear: Getting the Band Together (I/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.
Panel One: Alleyway. Night. The falling arc of a knife.
Panel Two: Same. Dead man with silhouette standing over it.
Panel Three. Same. Fire consumes the dead man.
Panel Four. Alleyway. Another night. The falling arc of a knife.
Panel Five. Same. Fire consuming a second body.
Panel Six. Same. Silhouette.
?: Human scum.
Getting the Band Together (Part I of V): First Case
“'preciate the offer, gunny, but I'm already pulling triple duty on the X-teams - even I'm not that good that I can be in four places at once.”
“Well - if you ever want a paying job - you know who to call.”
Gibbs dropped the phone back on its cradle and rubbed a hand over his eyes before picking up a pen and striking another name off his list.
“Looks like your short-list is just that,” Jamie Madrox said from the doorway. Gibbs looked up and him and gave him a weary half-smile, resisting the urge to crumple the list and throw it in the bin.
“What have you got for me, Jamie?” Gibbs asked, rocking back in his chair.
“Your first case,” Jamie said, dropping the file on the desk.
“Shouldn't Morrow be bringing me that?” Gibbs asked, flipping the file open and scanning the contents.
“Probably,” Jamie shrugged as he cocked a hip against the desk, “but I was in the area, I knew you didn't have a team yet and I'm less disturbed by the prospect of you digging about in my brain. Which is permission, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Gibbs said and gratefully picked the case details out of Jamie's mind, which always proved quicker than reading them. He'd still look the case file over himself, of course, because Jamie's perception of the case would be different to his - but he could hit the ground running quicker this way.
It looked like an ugly case - two deaths, the first thought to be accidental, within two days with the same MO - out in Baltimore. There was a Marine Corps detachment on the Army proving ground in Aberdeen, Gibbs remembered, but these marines were killed off-base.
“Death by burning,” Gibbs murmured to himself.
“And no signs of accelerants,” Jamie nodded. “So you can understand why they want you. Well - why they would want you if you had a team. Instead they went to Val who came to me and now I'm coming to you.”
“Hate to put it bluntly, Jamie,” Gibbs said, spreading his hands to indicate the empty desks around him. “But I haven't managed to put a team together yet.”
“That's why I'm coming with you,” Jamie said, smiling. He tapped his foot against the ground and a second Jamie appeared beside him. “Who needs back-up when you have Multiple Man?”
The dupe winked out of existence before Gibbs could once again point out how uncomfortable they made him feel.
“Baltimore PD are already onto it, right?” Gibbs asked.
“Afraid so,” Jamie said, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “So there'll be the usual pissing contest over who gets jurisdiction. Not that I expect you to lose that fight.”
“Didn't plan to,” Gibbs said, standing up and pulling his gun and badge from his desk drawer. “Guess we better get to Baltimore before we have no crime scene to look at.”
“That's the spirit, Gibbs,” Jamie said, falling into step with Gibbs. “We'll make an X-Factor agent out of you yet.”
* * * *
Anthony DiNozzo was a handsome young detective with Baltimore Homicide and the first person Gibbs met when he stepped inside Baltimore PD. There was something about the young detective that stopped Gibbs from sending him away with a glare. A sense of the familiar, maybe, because Gibbs was certain DiNozzo wasn't wearing those gloves out of a sense of style. It wasn't his place to pry, though he knew that Jamie had noticed them as well, if DiNozzo wanted him to know he'd figure out a way of telling him.
Gibbs ordered the two bodies shipped over to Ducky as soon as he set foot in Baltimore, determined to get a decent autopsy as soon as possible, and stamped his authority on the case without sparing a thought for Baltimore homicide's feelings. DiNozzo was assigned to him as a liaison officer, though Gibbs was more certain of the Captain's motivations than he was of DiNozzo's without looking. Homicide wanted eyes on the NCIS investigation and Gibbs was just interested enough in DiNozzo, and whether he was a mutant or not, to keep the detective around.
“You don't think you're treating him kind of hard?” Jamie asked as Gibbs sent DiNozzo after coffee before they headed out to the crime scene.
“He knew what he was in for when his Captain assigned him,” Gibbs shrugged, leaning against his car.
“Not everyone's as much of a hardass as you,” Jamie pointed out, joining him.
“Hey - we all have to learn some time.”
“You would've made one hell of a X-Man. No wonder you always got along well with Wolverine.”
“Been reading my jacket, Madrox?”
“Read it before I made the phone call, Gibbs. Had to know what sort of man I was recommending to Val.”
“Never spent more time with Logan than I needed to,” Gibbs said, shaking his head.
“No-one ever does,” Jamie agreed. “Bet that didn't stop you from calling him up and inviting him onto your team, though.”
“He is the best at what he does,” Gibbs admitted with another shrug.
“Yeah, and a scary SOB to boot,” Jamie said, waving a hand through the air. “On second thoughts; that's probably why you two get along so well.”
“Want to see if we can get to the crime scene without our Homicide tail?” Gibbs asked, catching a grin from Jamie.
“Second 'B' is for bastard, eh?” Jamie asked in reply, walking around the car and pulling the passenger side door open as Gibbs slid into the car.
“I call it 'testing' their 'resourcefulness',” Gibbs replied, turning the ignition key.
“I'm glad that I don't have to work under you, Gibbs,” Jamie said as one of the back doors opened.
“Nice try, Agent Gibbs,” DiNozzo said as he slipped into the back seat. “But you won't lose me that easily.”
Gibbs looked over his shoulder to find DiNozzo grinning at him, offering a coffee cup and looking at home in Gibbs' car. Gibbs tilted a half smile at DiNozzo which broadened to a full smile when he raised the cup and tasted thick, bitter coffee.
“Do I pass the test?” DiNozzo asked, grin fading from a hundred watts to something more normal.
“You'll do,” Gibbs said, starting the car and pulling away from the building.
* * * *
“Saw something like this a few years ago,” DiNozzo said as Gibbs walked carefully over the scene. Baltimore Homicide had already tramped all over it before Gibbs got the call so there was barely anything to see but he felt he had to make an effort. It was nothing more than an alley covered in scorchmarks. Gibbs crouched to examine the patterns.
“Lover's spat,” DiNozzo continued. “The girl was hiding her mutant ability from her boyfriend, he decided that it was a good idea to get really drunk and sleep with a stripper, mutant girl finds out and boom! a couple of burnt corpses and a lot of mess.”
“You think these marines were involved in a lover's spat, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, letting what he thought of that bleed into his tone. Not that he cared personally - being a member of a minority even more vilified than the all the others put together gave him a pretty healthy perspective on life - but he knew that the Marine Corps had other ideas.
“Hey,” DiNozzo held up his hands. “I just said it was like this - wasn't saying it was exactly the same. Will it matter if it is?”
Was that DiNozzo testing Gibbs' tolerance? He had to give him points for trying, despite the clumsy effort, and it pointed towards Gibbs' theory being right.
“Where exactly did you see something like this before?” Gibbs asked instead of responding to DiNozzo's question. He had to learn, after all.
“Used to work in Philadelphia. We had a rash of mutant crime while I was there,” DiNozzo said. “Ended up having to call some of the big boys in. X-Factor, y'know.”
“Yeah, I know X-Factor,” Gibbs turned his head to give Jamie a sharp look. Jamie looked away and whistled nonchalantly in a completely unbelievable fashion.
You're getting as manipulative as Xavier, Madrox. Gibbs said and Jamie flinched.
You needed a team - I knew where you could start to build one. Jamie shrugged, turning a stone over with the toe of his boot.
Don't like being manipulated into things. Gibbs said, standing up.
Take a bit of help once in while, Gibbs, you might find you like it. Jamie turned away.
“Okay, okay,” DiNozzo said. “Can we keep the telepathic conversations to a minimum? They make me nervous.”
“You think this was a mutant too?” Gibbs asked, coming back to his initial thoughts.
“Someone must have, or they wouldn't have called you in,” DiNozzo said with a shrug.
“What do you think?” Gibbs pressed harder and was rewarded with a change in DiNozzo's focus. His mind sharpened and Gibbs began to get an inkling of why Jamie had put him and DiNozzo in the same room.
“Oh, there was a mutant involved,” DiNozzo said, indicating the scorchmarks with a gesture. “But it wasn't just the mutant.”
“You think our mystery mutant had an accomplice?” Jamie asked, suddenly interested.
“It's just instinct,” DiNozzo said, impressing Gibbs by not shrinking under the combined attention of himself and Jamie. “But I can't shake the feeling that there was someone else involved. There's just too much fire for such a focused attack.”
“Covering their tracks,” Gibbs said to himself, looking at the dark marks with fresh eyes. “Huh.”
“So,” DiNozzo said. “Have I passed another test?”
Gibbs smiled to himself where DiNozzo couldn't see. Jamie's smug satisfaction aside, Gibbs found himself liking the young Homicide detective.
* * * *
Gibbs, Jamie and DiNozzo all gathered around DiNozzo's desk and listened as Ducky held court over the speakerphone.
“I always find such autopsies fascinating,” Ducky said. “Though it never ceases to amaze me the variety of ways in which a mutant can kill another person.”
“What can you tell us, Duck?” Gibbs asked before Ducky could disappear along one of his tangents.
“Both men were burnt almost to a crisp - Abby surmises that the fire would have taken no longer than a minute to do such extensive work, she tells me that she cross-referenced to the bodies of men burnt alive by Pyro and found some similarities,” Ducky said.
“It's not Pyro,” DiNozzo interrupted, drawing looks from Gibbs and Jamie. “Uh, sorry, but Pyro's been dead for a while. He's actually stayed dead, which is, you know, unusual.”
“The important fact,” Ducky continued as if DiNozzo hadn't spoke, “is that neither of these men were alive when they were burnt.”
“They were killed first?” Gibbs asked, jigsaw pieces slotting together in his head.
“Oh, most definitely, Jethro,” Ducky said and Gibbs heard DiNozzo muffle a snort. “Both men had clear knife marks on their ribs. Without the flesh I can't be exactly certain but I would place cause of death as repeated stabbing to the chest.”
“Keep us informed, Duck,” Gibbs said, hanging the phone up. “DiNozzo.”
“Yes, Agent Gibbs?” DiNozzo straightened subtly at Gibbs' command tone.
“I need to know everywhere these men have been in the past week. Everywhere,” Gibbs said. DiNozzo nodded.
“On it,” DiNozzo nodded, sitting at his desk and shifting through pages of notes.
Gibbs? Jamie was looking at him curiously.
Hunch, he replied, turning over the case file in his head. There had been something at the beginning - about the lack of connection between the men outside of their work on the PG. A tiny mention about a bar that some of the marines frequented.
“Oh,” DiNozzo said suddenly and his tone made Gibbs focus on him instantly. “This bar - it's not - it's not a normal bar, Agent Gibbs.”
“What do you know about it?” Gibbs asked, finding the name of the bar. The Bull Ring.
“Well - word on the streets, as it were, is that it's a mutant bar,” DiNozzo said edgily. “But more than that - it's like mutant Fight Club.”
“What does that mean?” Gibbs asked, confused.
“It's a film - about,” DiNozzo stopped and looked like a man making a decision. “Look, it'll take too long to explain, can't you just - take it out of my head?”
“You sure about that?” Gibbs asked. Rule Number Five: Always Ask Permission When it Comes to People's Minds. DiNozzo nodded.
Gibbs looked into DiNozzo's mind and found himself seeing a film, almost like it was being fast forwarded, and receiving a commentary about what it all meant. When it was finished Gibbs had a greater understanding of Fight Club than he had ever needed.
“Got it?” DiNozzo asked.
“Your recall is pretty good,” Gibbs admitted. “Like watching the film itself.”
“Well - I've kinda seen it more than a few times,” DiNozzo ran a hand through his hair.
“So - there's some kind of mutant fight club running out of this bar,” Gibbs said, turning the jigsaw piece around and around in his mind. “Yeah - I can see why marines would like that.”
“Good hunch,” Jamie said suddenly. Gibbs nodded.
“You've lost me,” DiNozzo said looking between them.
“Was trying to think of reasons for a mutant to help kill a couple of marines,” Gibbs said. “What better reason than covering up something they weren't meant to know?”
“I should, ah, take you to the bar,” DiNozzo said, nerves wrapping around his voice. “Because - it's not like that.”
“How would you know, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, narrowing his eyes. DiNozzo flushed slightly.
“Been there once or twice, Agent Gibbs,” DiNozzo said quietly.
“Lead the way then,” Gibbs said. DiNozzo nodded.
* * * *
DiNozzo was right - the bar wasn't like that. The owner, a purple skinned mutant by the name of Ike, ran a clean establishment. Even had a permit for hosting amateur fights in the back of his bar. He did, however, have information on Gibbs' dead marines.
“They came down to watch the fights in a big group every few weeks,” Ike said. “Most of them were good, which I never expected, and kept out of any anti-mutant business. Couple of them even helped me out when a local gang busted up my bar. But those two - they made a mistake, I reckon.”
“What kind of mistake?” Gibbs asked, notebook in hand.
“We-ell,” Ike said, looking from side to side warily. “I've got a bargirl here, name of Harriet, human girl. Your marines took a mighty shine to her, kept on trading off on hitting on her, clean and quiet like. Problem is one of the mutants who comes in here is sweet on her as well and he didn't take kindly to this.”
“Are you giving me a motive?” Gibbs asked, wanting Ike to be sure of what he was doing in the face of what had happened to the marines.
“Look, Special Agent,” Ike said, standing tall. “I know you for what you are - and I know that you know there are plenty of our kind that are more trouble than they're worth. Frank is one of them - I would've thrown him out years ago if I wasn't afraid he'd torch the building down with me and my customers in it. I figure - you've got to have something up your sleeve that can take him down and put him on the Raft where he can't hurt anyone anymore.”
“This Frank,” Jamie interjected. “Has he got a last name?”
Gibbs handed the interview off to Jamie, having got what he wanted, and pulled DiNozzo to one side, noticing how he flinched when Gibbs caught a hold of his arm.
“Something on your mind?” DiNozzo asked, airy and bright. Gibbs could feel the nervousness under the bluster.
“First you acted like you didn't know much about the bar - then you admitted to visiting it,” Gibbs named the points one after another. “You're hiding something.”
“No, I'm not hiding something,” DiNozzo said. “But the Captain - he doesn't like us going down there, doesn't like us interacting with mutants much if we don't have to.”
“Thought you'd let his bigotry get in the way of our case?” Gibbs asked, though the anger in his voice was fake. He'd long since got over the way humanity treated mutants. Sometimes he wished his life had been simple and he'd just been born gay.
“No, sir,” DiNozzo shook his head. “I was trying to let you know without letting you know, is all. I thought -”
“Don't think you did,” Gibbs said, stepping into DiNozzo's space. “You hide anything that might help this case again - and you're off it, no matter what your Captain says. Understood?”
“Yes,” DiNozzo nodded tightly and Gibbs had to step away before the proximity of DiNozzo's thrashing emotions drowned him. He pressed his eyes shut for a moment and concentrated on breathing.
“Gibbs,” Jamie touched his shoulder to get his attention. “Got an address for Frank Germaine. Turns out he lives with a human buddy.”
“Accomplice,” Gibbs said and Jamie nodded.
“Ike says that the two are never seen apart - thinks that they did jail time together somewhere upstate,” Jamie added.
“You should ring one of your guys,” Gibbs said as he lead Jamie and DiNozzo to the door. “Run his name and see if he's ever used an alias.”
“Not to put a downer on things,” DiNozzo said as they climbed into the car, Jamie's phone glued to his ear. “But how do you intend to deal with them if they are the baddies?”
“Hopefully I'll be able to drop them without a fight,” Gibbs tapped his temple with a finger before starting the car. “If not - well, let's hope bullets will do the trick.”
* * * *
By the time they reached the apartment building Ike had directed them to word must have gone out - Gibbs picked up the scattered thoughts of two fleeing men, exiting the rear of the building. He swept the car around as fast as he could and entered the strip of wasteland behind the building as Germaine and his 'buddy', Holder, were running across it.
Jamie and DiNozzo were out of the car first and Gibbs issued a mental order for them to halt before he had even stepped out of the car. Germaine spun and his scattered thoughts focused on them. He raised his hand and Gibbs reacted out of instinct, dragging Jamie and DiNozzo to ground behind the car just before the great gout of flame reached the vehicle. Jamie winced as he hit the ground and a dupe popped into existence. The heat burned long and intense. Gibbs knew Germaine had afforded Holder time enough to escape. The dry grass was burning quickly. Gibbs swore.
Enough, he thought, reaching out a mental hand and squeezing it around Germaine's brain. The fire disappeared in a moment and Germaine collapsed to the ground. Gibbs and Jamie were on their feet first, crossing the ground quickly to Germaine's prone form, DiNozzo hot on their heels.
“DiNozzo, secure Germaine,” Gibbs said. “ Original Madrox, with me.”
“So much for the great Fire Starter,” DiNozzo scoffed as he bent and dragged Germaine's hands behind his back. The second Madrox helped him cheerfully.
Gibbs lead the chase across the wasteland and into a maze of alleys. Gibbs could barely feel Holder and that worried him. He ducked down alleys that lead in the same general direction but couldn't pinpoint him amongst a mess of muddled minds.
“You got him?” Jamie asked, running carefully alongside Gibbs.
“It's scrambled,” Gibbs said, trying to focus. “There's a lot of people and - damn! Someone's taught the son of a bitch to shield himself.”
“What kind of world do we live in,” Jamie shook his head though there was humour in his tone. “Where ordinary people have to protect their minds from prying telepaths.”
“Not funny, Jamie, not funny at -” Gibbs was cut off by the sharp retort of a gun and an impact somewhere in his shoulder. He hit the ground hard, figuring it was just his luck that Holder would have a gun, and his breath rushed out of him. A second retort rang out and Gibbs felt Jamie duck out of the way.
“Gibbs!” he shouted, his voice echoing. No. Multiplying.
Get after him! Gibbs ordered, though he was in no place to give it. His breath wheezed in his chest and he realised with a dull press of shock that the second bullet had hit him instead of Jamie.
“You're hurt,” Jamie insisted, hands grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to the side of the alley. Gibbs opened his eyes, not realising that he'd closed them, and saw Jamie's worried face above him. Correction - many copies of Jamie's worried face.
And it won't be for anything if you don't catch him. I can't see him and you can swarm this whole system, Jamie. Concentrate on that.
“Martyr,” Jamie muttered but Gibbs knew he couldn't fault Gibbs' reasoning. With the dupes becoming more and more autonomous by the year Jamie had to work harder to get them to do what he wanted.
Gibbs felt multiple reflections of Jamie's mind fanning out through the alleys, leaving him alone, and he breathed a sigh. Darkness swam over him and he welcomed it.
* * * *
Footsteps in the alley brought Gibbs back to himself with a snap. He couldn't have been out long, Jamie's dupes were still nearer than they needed to be. DiNozzo arrived at his side unceremoniously, dropping to the ground and hauling Gibbs' head onto his lap.
“Gibbs, are you all right in there?” DiNozzo asked, his voice strained tight with worry. Gibbs opened his eyes to look up at him. “Where's Madrox, Gibbs? And Holder? Which way did they go?”
Gibbs tried to speak but found the breath to make words was no longer there. He coughed and wheezed and tasted blood. Holder was damned good shot.
“Come on Gibbs,” DiNozzo pleaded, his mind flickering through a series of things Gibbs didn't understand. “Don't make me do this. You need to tell me where he's gone, where Madrox is.”
Gibbs wanted to tell him but the words were thick in his throat and it hurt so much to breathe and his concentration was shot to hell.
“Damn it, Gibbs,” DiNozzo said wearily. “I wasn't meant to do this any more.”
A press of warm fingers against Gibbs' cheek and fire - burning through his body, somebody holding him tightly as he convulsed. Blessed relief.
“Oh my God,” DiNozzo said in a voice full of wonder. “This is -”
DiNozzo's voice trailed away. Gibbs could feel him inside his mind and knew, dimly, that he shouldn't be there. Gibbs didn't know what was happening but he didn't like it.
“I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry,” DiNozzo squeezed Gibbs' shoulders. “But I have to - I have to know how to use it - how to find - Jesus. How do you keep everyone out?”
Gibbs laughed and coughed, not knowing what else to do, not understanding. Concentration.
“Obviously. But how - oh. Oh,” DiNozzo went quiet again and Gibbs was alone inside his own head. “I can't see him but - but Madrox is after him. No - lots of Madrox are after him. That's horribly confusing - how do I know which is the real Madrox?”
Gibbs almost laughed but it twisted into a cough. Even Madrox worried that he wasn't the real Madrox. He summoned up all his concentration.
Go, he said.
“I shouldn't leave you,” Gibbs felt DiNozzo shake his head.
Go. I've had worse. Madrox'll need your help.
“Yeah, I'm going to say that's pretty unlikely, Gibbs,” DiNozzo shook his head.
Madrox doesn't know the Rights. You need to be the one to arrest Holder. And stop any Madrox from doing something stupid.
DiNozzo sighed and Gibbs felt his mind changing on the spot. The telepathic bleed was almost painful.
“Don't die on me, Gibbs,” DiNozzo said shifting out from under Gibbs but pushing his jacket under Gibbs' head instead.
I won't.
Darkness.
* * * *
Gibbs woke to the sound of soft snores and two presences. A quick look told him that the snores belonged to DiNozzo and the other man was Jamie. Before opening his eyes Gibbs shifted through what memories he had.
“We got him,” Jamie said as Gibbs opened his eyes at last. Gibbs nodded, not trusting his voice yet. Jamie was leaning against the wall at the end of Gibbs' bed and he was watching DiNozzo. Gibbs turned his head carefully to look at the sleeping detective.
“He's a picture, isn't he?” Jamie asked softly. “He's barely moved from that chair since they shifted you out of ICU.”
Jamie moved forward to pat Gibbs on the leg before heading for the door.
“Strangest thing,” Jamie said offhandedly, pausing in the doorway. “That coma they found you in - it was awfully familiar.”
Jamie gave Gibbs a final, pointed look and left the room.
* * * *
The next time he woke Gibbs felt much better and the first thing he noticed was DiNozzo; awake and restless in the chair beside his bed.
“What happened?” Gibbs asked, voice rough as gravel.
“We caught him -” DiNozzo began but Gibbs cut him off with a raised hand.
“DiNozzo, what happened?” Gibbs asked with more emphasis. He turned his head and pinned DiNozzo with what Stan Burley had privately but loudly referred to as Gibbs Stare No. 3: You're Really In The Shit This Time.
“I, ah - ” DiNozzo tilted his head down as he pulled at one of his gloves.
“You've been inside my head, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said. “You know there's nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
“Change your - ” DiNozzo started then stopped. “You were - thinking about making me a job offer. I didn't mean to - but I can never control them when I first take them.”
“Can you control it?” Gibbs asked, pushing himself up on the hospital bed. DiNozzo made a face and held his gloved hands up.
“Just like Rogue,” he said, folding his hands in his lap. “Seems we're all cursed the same way.”
“You said that you weren't meant to do this anymore,” Gibbs said, watching DiNozzo closely. He'd been stripped bare of his bravado and was showing much less confidence.
“I used to use it in the early days,” DiNozzo said, closing his eyes. “With normal people it takes memories first and then life. Just touch a finger to the suspect and know if they did the crime - then build the evidence around them. Good theory that worked pretty well in practice - until people became suspicious. I've not spent more than two years in one place since I joined the force.”
“Took two years for people to figure out you were a mutant?” Gibbs asked and DiNozzo flinched at the word.
“Guess they didn't want to look too hard at why the station rookie was doing so well when their solve-rates were riding high,” DiNozzo shrugged. “But there was always one case, just one, that I couldn't break and I let it go too far each time.”
Gibbs had a flash of images in his mind, of suspects pale and broken by DiNozzo's touch, and realised that DiNozzo was reaching out to him.
“How long you been here?” Gibbs asked, waving a hand around to indicate Baltimore.
“22 months,” DiNozzo supplied instantly then blushed. “You get used to counting.”
“Want a job where you don't have to count?” Gibbs asked, making his mind up then and there.
“I - I don't want people to know, that I'm a mutant, that is,” DiNozzo said quickly but not quick enough to hide the quick flicker of hope in the air.
“Hiding doesn't do anyone any good,” Gibbs said.
“No, I know. But I don't want - I'm not ready for people to know,” DiNozzo said quickly and again Gibbs had a serious of flashes through his mind of a father that preached secrecy above anything else. Gibbs clenched his fists for a moment, twisting his blankets with his fingers, Gibbs knew that type of father all too well.
“No-one has to know if you don't want them to, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, breathing deep and unclenching his hands. “You've done enough on this case to earn a place on my team, mutant or not, and the make-up of the team is down to my discretion.”
“Thank you,” DiNozzo said, with real feeling. “I - I'd like to take the offer.”
DiNozzo grinned and Gibbs turned his head to hide his smile.
“Now - how about you prove useful and get me some coffee,” Gibbs barked and DiNozzo jumped instinctively.
“On it, Boss,” DiNozzo said, striding out of the room.
Yeah. DiNozzo would do.
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.
Panel One: Alleyway. Night. The falling arc of a knife.
Panel Two: Same. Dead man with silhouette standing over it.
Panel Three. Same. Fire consumes the dead man.
Panel Four. Alleyway. Another night. The falling arc of a knife.
Panel Five. Same. Fire consuming a second body.
Panel Six. Same. Silhouette.
?: Human scum.
Getting the Band Together (Part I of V): First Case
“'preciate the offer, gunny, but I'm already pulling triple duty on the X-teams - even I'm not that good that I can be in four places at once.”
“Well - if you ever want a paying job - you know who to call.”
Gibbs dropped the phone back on its cradle and rubbed a hand over his eyes before picking up a pen and striking another name off his list.
“Looks like your short-list is just that,” Jamie Madrox said from the doorway. Gibbs looked up and him and gave him a weary half-smile, resisting the urge to crumple the list and throw it in the bin.
“What have you got for me, Jamie?” Gibbs asked, rocking back in his chair.
“Your first case,” Jamie said, dropping the file on the desk.
“Shouldn't Morrow be bringing me that?” Gibbs asked, flipping the file open and scanning the contents.
“Probably,” Jamie shrugged as he cocked a hip against the desk, “but I was in the area, I knew you didn't have a team yet and I'm less disturbed by the prospect of you digging about in my brain. Which is permission, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Gibbs said and gratefully picked the case details out of Jamie's mind, which always proved quicker than reading them. He'd still look the case file over himself, of course, because Jamie's perception of the case would be different to his - but he could hit the ground running quicker this way.
It looked like an ugly case - two deaths, the first thought to be accidental, within two days with the same MO - out in Baltimore. There was a Marine Corps detachment on the Army proving ground in Aberdeen, Gibbs remembered, but these marines were killed off-base.
“Death by burning,” Gibbs murmured to himself.
“And no signs of accelerants,” Jamie nodded. “So you can understand why they want you. Well - why they would want you if you had a team. Instead they went to Val who came to me and now I'm coming to you.”
“Hate to put it bluntly, Jamie,” Gibbs said, spreading his hands to indicate the empty desks around him. “But I haven't managed to put a team together yet.”
“That's why I'm coming with you,” Jamie said, smiling. He tapped his foot against the ground and a second Jamie appeared beside him. “Who needs back-up when you have Multiple Man?”
The dupe winked out of existence before Gibbs could once again point out how uncomfortable they made him feel.
“Baltimore PD are already onto it, right?” Gibbs asked.
“Afraid so,” Jamie said, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “So there'll be the usual pissing contest over who gets jurisdiction. Not that I expect you to lose that fight.”
“Didn't plan to,” Gibbs said, standing up and pulling his gun and badge from his desk drawer. “Guess we better get to Baltimore before we have no crime scene to look at.”
“That's the spirit, Gibbs,” Jamie said, falling into step with Gibbs. “We'll make an X-Factor agent out of you yet.”
* * * *
Anthony DiNozzo was a handsome young detective with Baltimore Homicide and the first person Gibbs met when he stepped inside Baltimore PD. There was something about the young detective that stopped Gibbs from sending him away with a glare. A sense of the familiar, maybe, because Gibbs was certain DiNozzo wasn't wearing those gloves out of a sense of style. It wasn't his place to pry, though he knew that Jamie had noticed them as well, if DiNozzo wanted him to know he'd figure out a way of telling him.
Gibbs ordered the two bodies shipped over to Ducky as soon as he set foot in Baltimore, determined to get a decent autopsy as soon as possible, and stamped his authority on the case without sparing a thought for Baltimore homicide's feelings. DiNozzo was assigned to him as a liaison officer, though Gibbs was more certain of the Captain's motivations than he was of DiNozzo's without looking. Homicide wanted eyes on the NCIS investigation and Gibbs was just interested enough in DiNozzo, and whether he was a mutant or not, to keep the detective around.
“You don't think you're treating him kind of hard?” Jamie asked as Gibbs sent DiNozzo after coffee before they headed out to the crime scene.
“He knew what he was in for when his Captain assigned him,” Gibbs shrugged, leaning against his car.
“Not everyone's as much of a hardass as you,” Jamie pointed out, joining him.
“Hey - we all have to learn some time.”
“You would've made one hell of a X-Man. No wonder you always got along well with Wolverine.”
“Been reading my jacket, Madrox?”
“Read it before I made the phone call, Gibbs. Had to know what sort of man I was recommending to Val.”
“Never spent more time with Logan than I needed to,” Gibbs said, shaking his head.
“No-one ever does,” Jamie agreed. “Bet that didn't stop you from calling him up and inviting him onto your team, though.”
“He is the best at what he does,” Gibbs admitted with another shrug.
“Yeah, and a scary SOB to boot,” Jamie said, waving a hand through the air. “On second thoughts; that's probably why you two get along so well.”
“Want to see if we can get to the crime scene without our Homicide tail?” Gibbs asked, catching a grin from Jamie.
“Second 'B' is for bastard, eh?” Jamie asked in reply, walking around the car and pulling the passenger side door open as Gibbs slid into the car.
“I call it 'testing' their 'resourcefulness',” Gibbs replied, turning the ignition key.
“I'm glad that I don't have to work under you, Gibbs,” Jamie said as one of the back doors opened.
“Nice try, Agent Gibbs,” DiNozzo said as he slipped into the back seat. “But you won't lose me that easily.”
Gibbs looked over his shoulder to find DiNozzo grinning at him, offering a coffee cup and looking at home in Gibbs' car. Gibbs tilted a half smile at DiNozzo which broadened to a full smile when he raised the cup and tasted thick, bitter coffee.
“Do I pass the test?” DiNozzo asked, grin fading from a hundred watts to something more normal.
“You'll do,” Gibbs said, starting the car and pulling away from the building.
* * * *
“Saw something like this a few years ago,” DiNozzo said as Gibbs walked carefully over the scene. Baltimore Homicide had already tramped all over it before Gibbs got the call so there was barely anything to see but he felt he had to make an effort. It was nothing more than an alley covered in scorchmarks. Gibbs crouched to examine the patterns.
“Lover's spat,” DiNozzo continued. “The girl was hiding her mutant ability from her boyfriend, he decided that it was a good idea to get really drunk and sleep with a stripper, mutant girl finds out and boom! a couple of burnt corpses and a lot of mess.”
“You think these marines were involved in a lover's spat, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, letting what he thought of that bleed into his tone. Not that he cared personally - being a member of a minority even more vilified than the all the others put together gave him a pretty healthy perspective on life - but he knew that the Marine Corps had other ideas.
“Hey,” DiNozzo held up his hands. “I just said it was like this - wasn't saying it was exactly the same. Will it matter if it is?”
Was that DiNozzo testing Gibbs' tolerance? He had to give him points for trying, despite the clumsy effort, and it pointed towards Gibbs' theory being right.
“Where exactly did you see something like this before?” Gibbs asked instead of responding to DiNozzo's question. He had to learn, after all.
“Used to work in Philadelphia. We had a rash of mutant crime while I was there,” DiNozzo said. “Ended up having to call some of the big boys in. X-Factor, y'know.”
“Yeah, I know X-Factor,” Gibbs turned his head to give Jamie a sharp look. Jamie looked away and whistled nonchalantly in a completely unbelievable fashion.
You're getting as manipulative as Xavier, Madrox. Gibbs said and Jamie flinched.
You needed a team - I knew where you could start to build one. Jamie shrugged, turning a stone over with the toe of his boot.
Don't like being manipulated into things. Gibbs said, standing up.
Take a bit of help once in while, Gibbs, you might find you like it. Jamie turned away.
“Okay, okay,” DiNozzo said. “Can we keep the telepathic conversations to a minimum? They make me nervous.”
“You think this was a mutant too?” Gibbs asked, coming back to his initial thoughts.
“Someone must have, or they wouldn't have called you in,” DiNozzo said with a shrug.
“What do you think?” Gibbs pressed harder and was rewarded with a change in DiNozzo's focus. His mind sharpened and Gibbs began to get an inkling of why Jamie had put him and DiNozzo in the same room.
“Oh, there was a mutant involved,” DiNozzo said, indicating the scorchmarks with a gesture. “But it wasn't just the mutant.”
“You think our mystery mutant had an accomplice?” Jamie asked, suddenly interested.
“It's just instinct,” DiNozzo said, impressing Gibbs by not shrinking under the combined attention of himself and Jamie. “But I can't shake the feeling that there was someone else involved. There's just too much fire for such a focused attack.”
“Covering their tracks,” Gibbs said to himself, looking at the dark marks with fresh eyes. “Huh.”
“So,” DiNozzo said. “Have I passed another test?”
Gibbs smiled to himself where DiNozzo couldn't see. Jamie's smug satisfaction aside, Gibbs found himself liking the young Homicide detective.
* * * *
Gibbs, Jamie and DiNozzo all gathered around DiNozzo's desk and listened as Ducky held court over the speakerphone.
“I always find such autopsies fascinating,” Ducky said. “Though it never ceases to amaze me the variety of ways in which a mutant can kill another person.”
“What can you tell us, Duck?” Gibbs asked before Ducky could disappear along one of his tangents.
“Both men were burnt almost to a crisp - Abby surmises that the fire would have taken no longer than a minute to do such extensive work, she tells me that she cross-referenced to the bodies of men burnt alive by Pyro and found some similarities,” Ducky said.
“It's not Pyro,” DiNozzo interrupted, drawing looks from Gibbs and Jamie. “Uh, sorry, but Pyro's been dead for a while. He's actually stayed dead, which is, you know, unusual.”
“The important fact,” Ducky continued as if DiNozzo hadn't spoke, “is that neither of these men were alive when they were burnt.”
“They were killed first?” Gibbs asked, jigsaw pieces slotting together in his head.
“Oh, most definitely, Jethro,” Ducky said and Gibbs heard DiNozzo muffle a snort. “Both men had clear knife marks on their ribs. Without the flesh I can't be exactly certain but I would place cause of death as repeated stabbing to the chest.”
“Keep us informed, Duck,” Gibbs said, hanging the phone up. “DiNozzo.”
“Yes, Agent Gibbs?” DiNozzo straightened subtly at Gibbs' command tone.
“I need to know everywhere these men have been in the past week. Everywhere,” Gibbs said. DiNozzo nodded.
“On it,” DiNozzo nodded, sitting at his desk and shifting through pages of notes.
Gibbs? Jamie was looking at him curiously.
Hunch, he replied, turning over the case file in his head. There had been something at the beginning - about the lack of connection between the men outside of their work on the PG. A tiny mention about a bar that some of the marines frequented.
“Oh,” DiNozzo said suddenly and his tone made Gibbs focus on him instantly. “This bar - it's not - it's not a normal bar, Agent Gibbs.”
“What do you know about it?” Gibbs asked, finding the name of the bar. The Bull Ring.
“Well - word on the streets, as it were, is that it's a mutant bar,” DiNozzo said edgily. “But more than that - it's like mutant Fight Club.”
“What does that mean?” Gibbs asked, confused.
“It's a film - about,” DiNozzo stopped and looked like a man making a decision. “Look, it'll take too long to explain, can't you just - take it out of my head?”
“You sure about that?” Gibbs asked. Rule Number Five: Always Ask Permission When it Comes to People's Minds. DiNozzo nodded.
Gibbs looked into DiNozzo's mind and found himself seeing a film, almost like it was being fast forwarded, and receiving a commentary about what it all meant. When it was finished Gibbs had a greater understanding of Fight Club than he had ever needed.
“Got it?” DiNozzo asked.
“Your recall is pretty good,” Gibbs admitted. “Like watching the film itself.”
“Well - I've kinda seen it more than a few times,” DiNozzo ran a hand through his hair.
“So - there's some kind of mutant fight club running out of this bar,” Gibbs said, turning the jigsaw piece around and around in his mind. “Yeah - I can see why marines would like that.”
“Good hunch,” Jamie said suddenly. Gibbs nodded.
“You've lost me,” DiNozzo said looking between them.
“Was trying to think of reasons for a mutant to help kill a couple of marines,” Gibbs said. “What better reason than covering up something they weren't meant to know?”
“I should, ah, take you to the bar,” DiNozzo said, nerves wrapping around his voice. “Because - it's not like that.”
“How would you know, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, narrowing his eyes. DiNozzo flushed slightly.
“Been there once or twice, Agent Gibbs,” DiNozzo said quietly.
“Lead the way then,” Gibbs said. DiNozzo nodded.
* * * *
DiNozzo was right - the bar wasn't like that. The owner, a purple skinned mutant by the name of Ike, ran a clean establishment. Even had a permit for hosting amateur fights in the back of his bar. He did, however, have information on Gibbs' dead marines.
“They came down to watch the fights in a big group every few weeks,” Ike said. “Most of them were good, which I never expected, and kept out of any anti-mutant business. Couple of them even helped me out when a local gang busted up my bar. But those two - they made a mistake, I reckon.”
“What kind of mistake?” Gibbs asked, notebook in hand.
“We-ell,” Ike said, looking from side to side warily. “I've got a bargirl here, name of Harriet, human girl. Your marines took a mighty shine to her, kept on trading off on hitting on her, clean and quiet like. Problem is one of the mutants who comes in here is sweet on her as well and he didn't take kindly to this.”
“Are you giving me a motive?” Gibbs asked, wanting Ike to be sure of what he was doing in the face of what had happened to the marines.
“Look, Special Agent,” Ike said, standing tall. “I know you for what you are - and I know that you know there are plenty of our kind that are more trouble than they're worth. Frank is one of them - I would've thrown him out years ago if I wasn't afraid he'd torch the building down with me and my customers in it. I figure - you've got to have something up your sleeve that can take him down and put him on the Raft where he can't hurt anyone anymore.”
“This Frank,” Jamie interjected. “Has he got a last name?”
Gibbs handed the interview off to Jamie, having got what he wanted, and pulled DiNozzo to one side, noticing how he flinched when Gibbs caught a hold of his arm.
“Something on your mind?” DiNozzo asked, airy and bright. Gibbs could feel the nervousness under the bluster.
“First you acted like you didn't know much about the bar - then you admitted to visiting it,” Gibbs named the points one after another. “You're hiding something.”
“No, I'm not hiding something,” DiNozzo said. “But the Captain - he doesn't like us going down there, doesn't like us interacting with mutants much if we don't have to.”
“Thought you'd let his bigotry get in the way of our case?” Gibbs asked, though the anger in his voice was fake. He'd long since got over the way humanity treated mutants. Sometimes he wished his life had been simple and he'd just been born gay.
“No, sir,” DiNozzo shook his head. “I was trying to let you know without letting you know, is all. I thought -”
“Don't think you did,” Gibbs said, stepping into DiNozzo's space. “You hide anything that might help this case again - and you're off it, no matter what your Captain says. Understood?”
“Yes,” DiNozzo nodded tightly and Gibbs had to step away before the proximity of DiNozzo's thrashing emotions drowned him. He pressed his eyes shut for a moment and concentrated on breathing.
“Gibbs,” Jamie touched his shoulder to get his attention. “Got an address for Frank Germaine. Turns out he lives with a human buddy.”
“Accomplice,” Gibbs said and Jamie nodded.
“Ike says that the two are never seen apart - thinks that they did jail time together somewhere upstate,” Jamie added.
“You should ring one of your guys,” Gibbs said as he lead Jamie and DiNozzo to the door. “Run his name and see if he's ever used an alias.”
“Not to put a downer on things,” DiNozzo said as they climbed into the car, Jamie's phone glued to his ear. “But how do you intend to deal with them if they are the baddies?”
“Hopefully I'll be able to drop them without a fight,” Gibbs tapped his temple with a finger before starting the car. “If not - well, let's hope bullets will do the trick.”
* * * *
By the time they reached the apartment building Ike had directed them to word must have gone out - Gibbs picked up the scattered thoughts of two fleeing men, exiting the rear of the building. He swept the car around as fast as he could and entered the strip of wasteland behind the building as Germaine and his 'buddy', Holder, were running across it.
Jamie and DiNozzo were out of the car first and Gibbs issued a mental order for them to halt before he had even stepped out of the car. Germaine spun and his scattered thoughts focused on them. He raised his hand and Gibbs reacted out of instinct, dragging Jamie and DiNozzo to ground behind the car just before the great gout of flame reached the vehicle. Jamie winced as he hit the ground and a dupe popped into existence. The heat burned long and intense. Gibbs knew Germaine had afforded Holder time enough to escape. The dry grass was burning quickly. Gibbs swore.
Enough, he thought, reaching out a mental hand and squeezing it around Germaine's brain. The fire disappeared in a moment and Germaine collapsed to the ground. Gibbs and Jamie were on their feet first, crossing the ground quickly to Germaine's prone form, DiNozzo hot on their heels.
“DiNozzo, secure Germaine,” Gibbs said. “ Original Madrox, with me.”
“So much for the great Fire Starter,” DiNozzo scoffed as he bent and dragged Germaine's hands behind his back. The second Madrox helped him cheerfully.
Gibbs lead the chase across the wasteland and into a maze of alleys. Gibbs could barely feel Holder and that worried him. He ducked down alleys that lead in the same general direction but couldn't pinpoint him amongst a mess of muddled minds.
“You got him?” Jamie asked, running carefully alongside Gibbs.
“It's scrambled,” Gibbs said, trying to focus. “There's a lot of people and - damn! Someone's taught the son of a bitch to shield himself.”
“What kind of world do we live in,” Jamie shook his head though there was humour in his tone. “Where ordinary people have to protect their minds from prying telepaths.”
“Not funny, Jamie, not funny at -” Gibbs was cut off by the sharp retort of a gun and an impact somewhere in his shoulder. He hit the ground hard, figuring it was just his luck that Holder would have a gun, and his breath rushed out of him. A second retort rang out and Gibbs felt Jamie duck out of the way.
“Gibbs!” he shouted, his voice echoing. No. Multiplying.
Get after him! Gibbs ordered, though he was in no place to give it. His breath wheezed in his chest and he realised with a dull press of shock that the second bullet had hit him instead of Jamie.
“You're hurt,” Jamie insisted, hands grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to the side of the alley. Gibbs opened his eyes, not realising that he'd closed them, and saw Jamie's worried face above him. Correction - many copies of Jamie's worried face.
And it won't be for anything if you don't catch him. I can't see him and you can swarm this whole system, Jamie. Concentrate on that.
“Martyr,” Jamie muttered but Gibbs knew he couldn't fault Gibbs' reasoning. With the dupes becoming more and more autonomous by the year Jamie had to work harder to get them to do what he wanted.
Gibbs felt multiple reflections of Jamie's mind fanning out through the alleys, leaving him alone, and he breathed a sigh. Darkness swam over him and he welcomed it.
* * * *
Footsteps in the alley brought Gibbs back to himself with a snap. He couldn't have been out long, Jamie's dupes were still nearer than they needed to be. DiNozzo arrived at his side unceremoniously, dropping to the ground and hauling Gibbs' head onto his lap.
“Gibbs, are you all right in there?” DiNozzo asked, his voice strained tight with worry. Gibbs opened his eyes to look up at him. “Where's Madrox, Gibbs? And Holder? Which way did they go?”
Gibbs tried to speak but found the breath to make words was no longer there. He coughed and wheezed and tasted blood. Holder was damned good shot.
“Come on Gibbs,” DiNozzo pleaded, his mind flickering through a series of things Gibbs didn't understand. “Don't make me do this. You need to tell me where he's gone, where Madrox is.”
Gibbs wanted to tell him but the words were thick in his throat and it hurt so much to breathe and his concentration was shot to hell.
“Damn it, Gibbs,” DiNozzo said wearily. “I wasn't meant to do this any more.”
A press of warm fingers against Gibbs' cheek and fire - burning through his body, somebody holding him tightly as he convulsed. Blessed relief.
“Oh my God,” DiNozzo said in a voice full of wonder. “This is -”
DiNozzo's voice trailed away. Gibbs could feel him inside his mind and knew, dimly, that he shouldn't be there. Gibbs didn't know what was happening but he didn't like it.
“I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry,” DiNozzo squeezed Gibbs' shoulders. “But I have to - I have to know how to use it - how to find - Jesus. How do you keep everyone out?”
Gibbs laughed and coughed, not knowing what else to do, not understanding. Concentration.
“Obviously. But how - oh. Oh,” DiNozzo went quiet again and Gibbs was alone inside his own head. “I can't see him but - but Madrox is after him. No - lots of Madrox are after him. That's horribly confusing - how do I know which is the real Madrox?”
Gibbs almost laughed but it twisted into a cough. Even Madrox worried that he wasn't the real Madrox. He summoned up all his concentration.
Go, he said.
“I shouldn't leave you,” Gibbs felt DiNozzo shake his head.
Go. I've had worse. Madrox'll need your help.
“Yeah, I'm going to say that's pretty unlikely, Gibbs,” DiNozzo shook his head.
Madrox doesn't know the Rights. You need to be the one to arrest Holder. And stop any Madrox from doing something stupid.
DiNozzo sighed and Gibbs felt his mind changing on the spot. The telepathic bleed was almost painful.
“Don't die on me, Gibbs,” DiNozzo said shifting out from under Gibbs but pushing his jacket under Gibbs' head instead.
I won't.
Darkness.
* * * *
Gibbs woke to the sound of soft snores and two presences. A quick look told him that the snores belonged to DiNozzo and the other man was Jamie. Before opening his eyes Gibbs shifted through what memories he had.
“We got him,” Jamie said as Gibbs opened his eyes at last. Gibbs nodded, not trusting his voice yet. Jamie was leaning against the wall at the end of Gibbs' bed and he was watching DiNozzo. Gibbs turned his head carefully to look at the sleeping detective.
“He's a picture, isn't he?” Jamie asked softly. “He's barely moved from that chair since they shifted you out of ICU.”
Jamie moved forward to pat Gibbs on the leg before heading for the door.
“Strangest thing,” Jamie said offhandedly, pausing in the doorway. “That coma they found you in - it was awfully familiar.”
Jamie gave Gibbs a final, pointed look and left the room.
* * * *
The next time he woke Gibbs felt much better and the first thing he noticed was DiNozzo; awake and restless in the chair beside his bed.
“What happened?” Gibbs asked, voice rough as gravel.
“We caught him -” DiNozzo began but Gibbs cut him off with a raised hand.
“DiNozzo, what happened?” Gibbs asked with more emphasis. He turned his head and pinned DiNozzo with what Stan Burley had privately but loudly referred to as Gibbs Stare No. 3: You're Really In The Shit This Time.
“I, ah - ” DiNozzo tilted his head down as he pulled at one of his gloves.
“You've been inside my head, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said. “You know there's nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
“Change your - ” DiNozzo started then stopped. “You were - thinking about making me a job offer. I didn't mean to - but I can never control them when I first take them.”
“Can you control it?” Gibbs asked, pushing himself up on the hospital bed. DiNozzo made a face and held his gloved hands up.
“Just like Rogue,” he said, folding his hands in his lap. “Seems we're all cursed the same way.”
“You said that you weren't meant to do this anymore,” Gibbs said, watching DiNozzo closely. He'd been stripped bare of his bravado and was showing much less confidence.
“I used to use it in the early days,” DiNozzo said, closing his eyes. “With normal people it takes memories first and then life. Just touch a finger to the suspect and know if they did the crime - then build the evidence around them. Good theory that worked pretty well in practice - until people became suspicious. I've not spent more than two years in one place since I joined the force.”
“Took two years for people to figure out you were a mutant?” Gibbs asked and DiNozzo flinched at the word.
“Guess they didn't want to look too hard at why the station rookie was doing so well when their solve-rates were riding high,” DiNozzo shrugged. “But there was always one case, just one, that I couldn't break and I let it go too far each time.”
Gibbs had a flash of images in his mind, of suspects pale and broken by DiNozzo's touch, and realised that DiNozzo was reaching out to him.
“How long you been here?” Gibbs asked, waving a hand around to indicate Baltimore.
“22 months,” DiNozzo supplied instantly then blushed. “You get used to counting.”
“Want a job where you don't have to count?” Gibbs asked, making his mind up then and there.
“I - I don't want people to know, that I'm a mutant, that is,” DiNozzo said quickly but not quick enough to hide the quick flicker of hope in the air.
“Hiding doesn't do anyone any good,” Gibbs said.
“No, I know. But I don't want - I'm not ready for people to know,” DiNozzo said quickly and again Gibbs had a serious of flashes through his mind of a father that preached secrecy above anything else. Gibbs clenched his fists for a moment, twisting his blankets with his fingers, Gibbs knew that type of father all too well.
“No-one has to know if you don't want them to, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, breathing deep and unclenching his hands. “You've done enough on this case to earn a place on my team, mutant or not, and the make-up of the team is down to my discretion.”
“Thank you,” DiNozzo said, with real feeling. “I - I'd like to take the offer.”
DiNozzo grinned and Gibbs turned his head to hide his smile.
“Now - how about you prove useful and get me some coffee,” Gibbs barked and DiNozzo jumped instinctively.
“On it, Boss,” DiNozzo said, striding out of the room.
Yeah. DiNozzo would do.
Prologue | Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 | Issue #5