Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My
Title: Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1
Characters: Gibbs, Tony, Jack
Rating: SAFE (hints of coming Tony/Gibbs/other)
Summary: Tony had never heard of goa'uld or tok'ra or igigi, and he sure as hell didn't know Gibbs had a passenger riding around in his head, but if Gibbs thinks one little alien parasite is going to make him go running, he has another thought coming. He's Gibbs' second, and that means he doesn't give up on his boss.
Parts One and Two
Part Three
“We have a problem,” O’Neill said when he turned his phone off. No one had answered, and Tony suspected he knew what sort of problem O’Neill might be talking about.
“Ningishzida rarely acted alone,” Gibbs said. “And I know he wouldn’t come after me if he didn’t have help.”
Either Gibbs’ reputation had gotten around to distant parts of the galaxy or Gibbs’ passenger was just as scary as Gibbs. Tony figured it made a strange sort of sense that Gibbs would get a bad-ass alien for a co-pilot.
“So…” O’Neill looked at Gibbs expectantly.
Seconds ticked by, but eventually Gibbs made a face like he’d bit a rotten egg. He turned toward the back of the basement under the stairs and started doing something that looked a lot like trying to wave down a passing car. The wall rumbled, and then it pulled back and started sliding into the side of the basement, leaving a large doorway into a secret lab.
“Holy, Batman,” Tony muttered.
O’Neill grinned at him. “I was going to say exactly that. So, what do your gadgets say?”
Gibbs sat at a desk and started turning on monitors. “I only have earth-level technology here, and I can’t scan for all alien energy signatures.” Gibbs’ hands were sure on the controls, flying across keyboards as he watched data readouts.
“Boss, you hate computers. Morrow had to threaten you to get you to use a computer instead of a typewriter for your reports.”
Gibbs kept working, but Tony could figure it out on his own. Gibbs didn’t want to get outted. If he suddenly knew how to work technology after some mission in Columbia, someone would have suspected something, although Tony doubted that anyone’s guess would have come close to the truth. “So all the times that you sent Probie scurrying back to the computer after he told you that some piece of information couldn’t be found?”
Gibbs snapped, “I shouldn’t have to do his work for him.” That was pure Gibbs
“But you could,” Tony said. “You could do Probie’s work, maybe better than McGee himself. You just wouldn’t be able to explain how you could do it.” Tony’s worldview had taken entirely too many hits in the past few hours.
“Goa’uld are scavengers of technology,” O’Neill said. “They don’t create much, but they’re damn good at figuring it all out.”
“But Gibbs isn’t goa’uld,” Tony pointed out.
Now O’Neill made a disgusted face.
Gibbs hit a button and a large projection of the city flashed up onto the ceiling. “Someone used something big. It could have been a ship cloak or a transporter… my equipment isn’t sensitive enough to tell.” A section of the city near the edge started to glow. That was a bad area.
“Well crap,” O’Neill said. “That’s where the team was.” He pulled out his phone and stalked out of the room, his body so tight that Tony could almost taste his need to kill someone.
With a sigh, Gibbs stood and turned off the projection. As Tony watched, his body slid into the less familiar angles of Samas. It was an easing of the shoulders, and a slightly different in the way he held his head. And Samas had the smallest curve at the edge of his mouth, as if he was contemplating smiling.
“Samas?” Tony asked.
That made Samas pulled back a step in shock. “Can you tell the difference between us so easily?” This time the voice was normal, none of the reverberation that had made him sound so alien earlier.
“You hold yourself different than Gibbs does. What happened to the voice?”
Samas smiled. “The alien tones are largely an affectation. The goa’uld use them to frighten those they would control. I use it because O’Neill needs a way to distinguish me from Gibbs. He is uncomfortable with this situation.”
“That’s an understatement,” Tony muttered. “Look, I don’t want to step on any decades’ old friendship here, but I’m not sure you’re safe with him.”
Samas pulled sank down into the office chair and looked up at Tony, that same expression of amusement on his face. This was doing very odd things to Tony’s head because Gibbs never looked at him with that sort of fondness. “O’Neill would much prefer it if I were dead, but Gibbs is adamant that I cannot give my life up, not even to ensure that he lives. He has even offered to fight me if I try to extricate myself from him.”
“That sounds like Gibbs,” Tony agreed. “And after talking to you about Gibbs while you’re sitting in Gibbs’ head, I’m really going to need therapy.”
“Gibbs did worry that this would be too much for you.” Samas nodded sadly.
“No, it’s not too much, and I’m not leaving Gibbs’ side no matter what he says. I just would have preferred dealing with one life-changing set of facts at a time.”
Samas tilted his head to the side. “Gibbs has never understood why he inspires such loyalty in others.”
“That’s easy. We know he’ll never give up on us,” Tony answered. No matter how fucked up the situation, he always trusted that Gibbs was coming, that Gibbs wouldn’t give up, even if everyone else did. Locked in an underground room with a dying Marine, chained to Jeffery, taken hostage any number of times-he believed that Gibbs would come for him, and Gibbs always had. Tony’s reality might have shifted, but that hadn’t changed. Samas stood and reached for him, resting his hand on Tony’s shoulder.
“And we must be here for Gibbs now.”
“What? Why?” Tony never would have dared to use that tone of voice on Gibbs, but this wasn’t Gibbs.
“O’Neill allowed us to continue because he trusts his instincts enough to believe some part of our story. His wish to avoid doing Gibbs damage has led him to violate his own standing orders. However, he watches. Every place I go, every purchase I make and dollar I spend, he scrutinizes for evidence that I am something other than what I claim.”
Tony sucked in a breath, disliking the idea that some big-wig colonel had been stalking his boss and he hadn’t even known it. “And why does Gibbs need us now?”
“Because his superiors are likely to be less tolerant,” Samas told him. “I will be taken into custody and interrogated. If I can convince Gibbs that separation is the best option, it would ease tensions. However, we are too integrated, and leaving against his wishes may damage one or both of us.” Samas gripped his shoulder. “Tony, I have stood with Gibbs for many years. In his worst of times, he has not been alone. Even when I could not give him back his memories until I had healed his shattered body, some part of him knew I was there.”
“But if they take you out of him...” Tony swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise up his throat. Samas had been there ever since Gibbs had lost Shannon-that’s what he was saying. “I won’t leave him.”
The shift back to Gibbs was so sudden that it startled Tony. The hand that had been gripping his shoulder quickly cuffed him upside the back of the head. “DiNozzo, this is not a spy movie or a game. You need to get clear of this mess,” Gibbs ordered.
Normally Tony considered Gibbs’ orders sacred, but being Gibbs’ second meant that he had to be able to stand up against his boss. When the orders included Gibbs trying to martyr himself to save everyone else, it was Tony’s job to ring the bullshit bell.
“No,” Tony said firmly.
“No?” Gibbs narrowed his eyes, and Tony could feel the sweat gather along his spine.
“No,” Tony repeated, staring right back at Gibbs.
Tony didn’t know how long they stood there before O’Neill cleared his throat. “So, are you two finished eyefucking, or should I come back later?”
Gibbs immediately transferred his glare to O’Neill. “What’s the situation?” he demanded. At the same time, he all but shoved Tony out of his hidden batcave.
“We have troops meeting us there, but right now, we don’t have any information. We need to get moving. We can take your car.”
O’Neill gestured toward the stairs. He didn’t want either of them behind him, and he wanted Gibbs driving, which would put him at a disadvantage in a fight. Tony looked over to see how Gibbs would handle this. Gibbs calmly rested his palm against a cinderblock and waited as the door to the hidden room closed.
“Let’s go,” Gibbs said as he headed for the stairs.
“On your six, boss,” Tony said, quickly putting himself in a position to cover Gibbs. Unfortunately that meant that if O’Neill started shooting that he was between the two men, but hopefully Samas was just being a little paranoid and pessimistic. Hopefully.
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1
Characters: Gibbs, Tony, Jack
Rating: SAFE (hints of coming Tony/Gibbs/other)
Summary: Tony had never heard of goa'uld or tok'ra or igigi, and he sure as hell didn't know Gibbs had a passenger riding around in his head, but if Gibbs thinks one little alien parasite is going to make him go running, he has another thought coming. He's Gibbs' second, and that means he doesn't give up on his boss.
Parts One and Two
Part Three
“We have a problem,” O’Neill said when he turned his phone off. No one had answered, and Tony suspected he knew what sort of problem O’Neill might be talking about.
“Ningishzida rarely acted alone,” Gibbs said. “And I know he wouldn’t come after me if he didn’t have help.”
Either Gibbs’ reputation had gotten around to distant parts of the galaxy or Gibbs’ passenger was just as scary as Gibbs. Tony figured it made a strange sort of sense that Gibbs would get a bad-ass alien for a co-pilot.
“So…” O’Neill looked at Gibbs expectantly.
Seconds ticked by, but eventually Gibbs made a face like he’d bit a rotten egg. He turned toward the back of the basement under the stairs and started doing something that looked a lot like trying to wave down a passing car. The wall rumbled, and then it pulled back and started sliding into the side of the basement, leaving a large doorway into a secret lab.
“Holy, Batman,” Tony muttered.
O’Neill grinned at him. “I was going to say exactly that. So, what do your gadgets say?”
Gibbs sat at a desk and started turning on monitors. “I only have earth-level technology here, and I can’t scan for all alien energy signatures.” Gibbs’ hands were sure on the controls, flying across keyboards as he watched data readouts.
“Boss, you hate computers. Morrow had to threaten you to get you to use a computer instead of a typewriter for your reports.”
Gibbs kept working, but Tony could figure it out on his own. Gibbs didn’t want to get outted. If he suddenly knew how to work technology after some mission in Columbia, someone would have suspected something, although Tony doubted that anyone’s guess would have come close to the truth. “So all the times that you sent Probie scurrying back to the computer after he told you that some piece of information couldn’t be found?”
Gibbs snapped, “I shouldn’t have to do his work for him.” That was pure Gibbs
“But you could,” Tony said. “You could do Probie’s work, maybe better than McGee himself. You just wouldn’t be able to explain how you could do it.” Tony’s worldview had taken entirely too many hits in the past few hours.
“Goa’uld are scavengers of technology,” O’Neill said. “They don’t create much, but they’re damn good at figuring it all out.”
“But Gibbs isn’t goa’uld,” Tony pointed out.
Now O’Neill made a disgusted face.
Gibbs hit a button and a large projection of the city flashed up onto the ceiling. “Someone used something big. It could have been a ship cloak or a transporter… my equipment isn’t sensitive enough to tell.” A section of the city near the edge started to glow. That was a bad area.
“Well crap,” O’Neill said. “That’s where the team was.” He pulled out his phone and stalked out of the room, his body so tight that Tony could almost taste his need to kill someone.
With a sigh, Gibbs stood and turned off the projection. As Tony watched, his body slid into the less familiar angles of Samas. It was an easing of the shoulders, and a slightly different in the way he held his head. And Samas had the smallest curve at the edge of his mouth, as if he was contemplating smiling.
“Samas?” Tony asked.
That made Samas pulled back a step in shock. “Can you tell the difference between us so easily?” This time the voice was normal, none of the reverberation that had made him sound so alien earlier.
“You hold yourself different than Gibbs does. What happened to the voice?”
Samas smiled. “The alien tones are largely an affectation. The goa’uld use them to frighten those they would control. I use it because O’Neill needs a way to distinguish me from Gibbs. He is uncomfortable with this situation.”
“That’s an understatement,” Tony muttered. “Look, I don’t want to step on any decades’ old friendship here, but I’m not sure you’re safe with him.”
Samas pulled sank down into the office chair and looked up at Tony, that same expression of amusement on his face. This was doing very odd things to Tony’s head because Gibbs never looked at him with that sort of fondness. “O’Neill would much prefer it if I were dead, but Gibbs is adamant that I cannot give my life up, not even to ensure that he lives. He has even offered to fight me if I try to extricate myself from him.”
“That sounds like Gibbs,” Tony agreed. “And after talking to you about Gibbs while you’re sitting in Gibbs’ head, I’m really going to need therapy.”
“Gibbs did worry that this would be too much for you.” Samas nodded sadly.
“No, it’s not too much, and I’m not leaving Gibbs’ side no matter what he says. I just would have preferred dealing with one life-changing set of facts at a time.”
Samas tilted his head to the side. “Gibbs has never understood why he inspires such loyalty in others.”
“That’s easy. We know he’ll never give up on us,” Tony answered. No matter how fucked up the situation, he always trusted that Gibbs was coming, that Gibbs wouldn’t give up, even if everyone else did. Locked in an underground room with a dying Marine, chained to Jeffery, taken hostage any number of times-he believed that Gibbs would come for him, and Gibbs always had. Tony’s reality might have shifted, but that hadn’t changed. Samas stood and reached for him, resting his hand on Tony’s shoulder.
“And we must be here for Gibbs now.”
“What? Why?” Tony never would have dared to use that tone of voice on Gibbs, but this wasn’t Gibbs.
“O’Neill allowed us to continue because he trusts his instincts enough to believe some part of our story. His wish to avoid doing Gibbs damage has led him to violate his own standing orders. However, he watches. Every place I go, every purchase I make and dollar I spend, he scrutinizes for evidence that I am something other than what I claim.”
Tony sucked in a breath, disliking the idea that some big-wig colonel had been stalking his boss and he hadn’t even known it. “And why does Gibbs need us now?”
“Because his superiors are likely to be less tolerant,” Samas told him. “I will be taken into custody and interrogated. If I can convince Gibbs that separation is the best option, it would ease tensions. However, we are too integrated, and leaving against his wishes may damage one or both of us.” Samas gripped his shoulder. “Tony, I have stood with Gibbs for many years. In his worst of times, he has not been alone. Even when I could not give him back his memories until I had healed his shattered body, some part of him knew I was there.”
“But if they take you out of him...” Tony swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise up his throat. Samas had been there ever since Gibbs had lost Shannon-that’s what he was saying. “I won’t leave him.”
The shift back to Gibbs was so sudden that it startled Tony. The hand that had been gripping his shoulder quickly cuffed him upside the back of the head. “DiNozzo, this is not a spy movie or a game. You need to get clear of this mess,” Gibbs ordered.
Normally Tony considered Gibbs’ orders sacred, but being Gibbs’ second meant that he had to be able to stand up against his boss. When the orders included Gibbs trying to martyr himself to save everyone else, it was Tony’s job to ring the bullshit bell.
“No,” Tony said firmly.
“No?” Gibbs narrowed his eyes, and Tony could feel the sweat gather along his spine.
“No,” Tony repeated, staring right back at Gibbs.
Tony didn’t know how long they stood there before O’Neill cleared his throat. “So, are you two finished eyefucking, or should I come back later?”
Gibbs immediately transferred his glare to O’Neill. “What’s the situation?” he demanded. At the same time, he all but shoved Tony out of his hidden batcave.
“We have troops meeting us there, but right now, we don’t have any information. We need to get moving. We can take your car.”
O’Neill gestured toward the stairs. He didn’t want either of them behind him, and he wanted Gibbs driving, which would put him at a disadvantage in a fight. Tony looked over to see how Gibbs would handle this. Gibbs calmly rested his palm against a cinderblock and waited as the door to the hidden room closed.
“Let’s go,” Gibbs said as he headed for the stairs.
“On your six, boss,” Tony said, quickly putting himself in a position to cover Gibbs. Unfortunately that meant that if O’Neill started shooting that he was between the two men, but hopefully Samas was just being a little paranoid and pessimistic. Hopefully.