Wrapped Up in Death - NCIS Big Bang Fic - Part 1/3
Title: Wrapped Up in Death
Author:sunryder
Artist:
wintermute_lj
Pairing(s): Gibbs/Dinozzo, Xavier/Magneto (if you choose to see it)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 23,424
Disclaimer: No infringement is intended, really it's an act of love.
Summary: Jethro Gibbs and Tony DiNozzo were arch nemesis in training. That is, until Magneto sent his apprentice to protect Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and now the two boys can't stop looking at each other. (An NCIS/X-Men Fusion)
A/N: A thousand thanks to
wintermute_lj who made BRILLIANT art to go with this fic. I beg of you, go HERE and fuss over all the awesomeness that it is.
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Gibbs stepped into Xavier's office, saw who the Professor had called him in to talk to, and walked right back out again.
Xavier called him back in with a mildly irritated tone (the most displeasure Xavier ever let himself show in front of a student), and Gibbs poked his head back in the room, glaring at Xavier like he was asking Gibbs to do something terrible. Their guest just grinned at Jethro's attempt to get out of this meeting, knowing full well that the other mutant would rather be shot than make nice. Wolverine gave an 'I told you so' glare to Xavier and, as usual, Cyclops gave no hint of what he was thinking.
Jethro stayed in the doorway, but in the back of his mind he felt the Professor say, I would appreciate your cooperation, Jethro.
Gibbs stepped into the Professor's office and immediately demanded, "What in the hell is he doing here?"
Their guest was a Brotherhood mutant a few scarce years younger than Jethro at the age of nineteen. The Brotherhood called him Gabriel, and he had dark brown hair sticking up in a mess of badly behaved spikes, an impudent smile, and wide green eyes that could dupe the less well informed into believing he was innocent. He was sprawled back in the chair before Xavier's desk, watching Gibbs with a devious and infuriating grin that made Jethro want to turn his power on the younger mutant and send him flying across the room. "Why Luey, you asked me to come."
"No." Jethro gritted out, "We asked Magneto for information, not for you."
Gabriel snorted, "What, you thought Magneto was just gonna shoot you an e-mail? Last time I checked you didn't know how to work those."
Gibbs lunged forward to grab the boy by the scruff of his shirt and haul him from the room, but Xavier shouted, "Stop it!" Gabriel smirked at Jethro and Xavier scolded, "Both of you. All mutants who come in peace are safe in this house, and I will not have your squabble disrupt that."
The boys glowered at one another, but Jethro stilled his disagreement and dropped into the chair beside the interloper. Xavier maintained his stare at them both until a hint of the tension bled away, leaving them both less likely to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. "Since I doubt either one of you has dealt with one another in a civilized manner allow me to introduce you to one another. Jethro, this is Gabriel, and Gabriel this is Jethro, who you better know as the Lieutenant."
Gabriel snorted, "Jethro?"
"At least I have a real name." Gibbs shot back.
"Gabriel is the name I chose, not the name forced on me by your government you-"
"Forced on me? I chose to work for my government!"
Gabriel snorted, "No one chooses to work for the Feds!"
The slice of Wolverine's claws unsheathing was enough to silence them both and he declared, "I've got better things to do with my day then listen to the two of you whine. Shut it and listen."
Xavier stifled a sigh that they were forced to resort to threats and pressed on. "As you are aware Jethro, I contacted Magneto about the rumors we've been hearing to see if he had any information to add. Rather than reply through standard means, Magneto sent Gabriel as an offer of aide."
Mutants all over the Eastern seaboard had been reporting blackouts, followed by their powers going on the fritz; gifts either spontaneously weakening or cutting out completely. Despite enhancing the Professor enhancing his own powers by using Cerebro, he still couldn't detect anything to suggest what was causing these problems. Considering that the street mutants who refused to have anything to do with Xavier or the X-Men were easier targets, he assumed that Magneto and his Brotherhood would be better informed on the issue.
"We don't need aide." Jethro replied through gritted teeth. "We just needed to know whether or not your master had anything to do with this."
Disgust flicked across Gabriel's face and he replied, "First off, my master is out there getting his hands dirty and saving your master's ass, so let's keep comments about allegiance to ourselves, shall we? Second off, the thing doing this has been moving up the mutant scale for their targets, going after stronger and stronger mutants and this school is a feast of vulnerable mutants with untapped power. It's just a matter of time before they come here."
"And you think we can't protect ourselves?" Jethro asked.
Gabriel sneered, "I think you'd all try and reason with it instead of put it down."
"I do believe Erik said you'd come bearing information about the threat." Xavier interrupted.
Gabriel started in amazement and replied, "I didn't think there was anyone on the planet allowed to call Magneto Erik."
The Professor gave him a pained smile and replied, "Yes, well, arch nemesis are granted certain privileges."
The boy gave Xavier a genuine grin and said, "Kenobi and Vader?"
Xavier's smile grew less pained as he replied, "Exactly. Now, if I may ask, what precisely were Erik's instructions to you?"
"He wants me to tell you everything we know, yes everything," he continued when he saw the disbelieving look on Wolverine's face. "And then I'm supposed to stay and defend the school and call to him in case the mutant in question turns up."
Jethro wanted to snap back, but Xavier pressed on. "And that 'everything' would be?"
Gabriel briskly rattled off the facts, "The mutant is a psychic vampire. The power fluxuations in each victim happen when the victim tries to use their power at the same time that the vampire is tapping into them from the other end of the link."
Xavier steepled his fingers before him and leaned forward onto the desk replying, "The blackouts that precede all symptoms are the result of forming a psychic link between the attacker and the victim?"
Gabriel nodded, "That's what Magneto figured as well. To be able to drain this many people of power, at this constant a rate, and from those extreme distances..."
"That narrows down the field of potential attackers considerably." Xavier smiled.
"But why keep a connection to the victim and drain them like this?" Gibbs asked. "Why not just drain everything in one shot and be done with it?"
"There's a finite amount of life in a person at any given moment, so if the attacker kills the victim, that's all they're gonna get." Gabriel explained.
"But," Xavier added, "If you take only a portion and leave the victim alive, then the victim with regenerate that energy and the amount of energy you can drain from the victim is almost limitless."
"Are they using the power for something, or stockpiling?" Jethro asked.
"Stockpiling." Gabriel answered before he could stop himself.
"And how would you know that?" Wolverine asked.
Gabriel fidgeted a moment, trying to figure out a way to reply without giving the X-Men information they didn't need. "There's a member of The Brotherhood who can sense the powers and strengths of other mutants. She felt a psychic-type mutant shift up from a level three to a level four, but the mutant's shielding is too strong for her to track them down. As to why the attacker is hoarding other people's power, we don't know yet."
"So Erik would like me to track down the mutant in question using Cerebro?"
"If you can."
Xavier just smiled at Gabriel, effectively stopping whatever reply Gibbs wanted to make, and said, "Jethro, why don't you show Gabriel to his room and help him get settled. He'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future."
"Professor?" Gibbs questioned.
"Gabriel is to be given the same rights and privileges as any student while he's here. Please see to it that the rest of the population is informed." Xavier spoke out loud, but Gibbs could feel in the back of his mind Xavier's promise that he meant it. Jethro gave a tense nod in reply and Xavier turned his attention to the boy. "Now that I know what I'm looking for I will turn my attentions with Cerebro to a mutant with fluxuating levels of power and perhaps I can find the offender. When I do you shall be informed immediately."
Gabriel nodded his agreement with the plan and both of them turned their gazes to Jethro. The boy glowered in distaste while Xavier's eyes turned almost pleading. Jethro started for the door, not checking behind him to see if his charge was coming. Gabriel looked to Xavier like the man was about to declare it was all a joke and he didn't have to rely on the only mutant in the room who hated him, but when he didn't, the boy heaved a put upon sigh and followed after Gibbs.
Logan and Scott left the room, quieting trailing behind the boys, just to make sure that neither of them snapped and started fighting in the hallways, which left Charles alone to sink back in his chair and brood.
Charles Xavier was the most powerful telepath in the world, and he could sense nothing from the Gabriel; neither a trace of emotion nor a stray thought. It was a rare feat to block him out, and that sort of mental control was almost unheard of in so young a mutant. However, the truly disquieting thing was that Xavier had brushed up against Gabriel's mind, not enough to trigger any of the boy's mental defenses, but the same sort of touch he used to tell if a person was living, and Xavier had felt nothing there. Either this Gabriel had the most strict mental control Charles had ever encountered, or there was something at play here he wasn't sure he could contemplate.
Xavier had a bare moment to be frustrated with Erik for not revealing the whole truth to him, before Xavier felt Magneto's far distant mind open before him like petals to the summer sun. It had been decades since Erik had willingly made a hole in his mental shields so that Charles could feel the presence of his mind, and the effect of Erik's mental touch was almost haunting.
Xavier reached out to the mind he once knew as well as his own and asked, Erik?
Charles felt a rush of smugness before Magneto replied, I knew you'd sense me.
I assume from your glee that someone doubted my ability to find you? Or was it that they doubted your ability to lower your shields for long enough to let me in?
Xavier felt the mental equivalent of a 'humph' before Magneto said, Most of my Brotherhood haven't seen you in action, so they believe the reports of your powers are so extreme that Mystique must be making them up as a tool to frighten them away from ever thinking of joining your X-Men.
Charles smiled, both mentally and physically before he suggested, I could send a mental projection of myself to torment them if you'd like? Perhaps then Mystique could start telling them that I'm a ghost as well.
Charles could feel Erik restraining a grin and willed himself to ask, I assume you didn't take off that bloody helmet just to prove a point to your mutants?
Erik sighed, I need you to keep Gabriel at the school.
Charles waited a moment and replied, I'm sorry, could you repeat that, I'm positive I heard you wrong.
Magneto grumbled, Must you be so dramatic, Charles?
Says the man who couldn't just pick up a phone and say he wanted the boy here but instead had to send him on a secret mission?
Only temporarily.
Xavier waited a moment for Erik to elaborate, and when he didn't Charles heaved a sigh and said, You know something more about the psychic vampire than you've been telling.
... I have suspicions.
So you would have me endanger my school to protect the boy and you don't give me the information to do it properly?
Charles felt Magneto restrain himself from snapping back at Xavier before he replied, If I have my way the problem will never make it near your damn school and my presumption that you'd do whatever you could to protect any mutant youth will have been successfully dissuaded.
Charles mentally rolled his eyes and replied, And if the boy decides to stay here permanently?
Magneto didn't reply for several moments, letting the silence stretch out between them before he replied in a hushed tone, He'd be beyond my strength to stop.
#######
Much to Gabriel's irritation, the school was beautiful. For some reason he'd imagined the building as the sort of dark and foreboding you only saw in BBC productions of gothic novels, but it wasn't. The halls were made of pale marble floors, with dark wooden panels lining the walls and arching windows that cast long lines of gothic light across the rooms and hallways. Though the place might have been depressing if it weren't for the children running everywhere. There were young ones running amok in the giant British-style gardens of the backyard, teens trapped in the great hall for their first class of the day, and then young adults that he figured were in their own special version of Xavier University while they trained to join the X-Men that were sprawled under the trees taking in the warmth of a fading summer. The younger students shouted out their hellos to Jethro as he walked past while the older students would nod a hello then scurry away when Gibbs glared at them if they thought about coming forward to ask who the new kid was.
After the fourth person Gibbs scared off Gabriel laughed, "So, I take it you're a bastard to everybody and not just the people you're picking fights with?" Jethro replied with a grunt and Gabriel refrained from calling him Agent K.
Gabriel went back to observing every little thing he could find about the school, baffled by how peaceful it was. The whole school seemed... happy, and it was really tripping him out. Gabriel kept getting distracted by the other students who darted past with their bright smiles and backpacks, using their gifts in the hallways like there was nothing to hide from. He stalled at one of the windows and stared down at the students playing a game of basketball out in the yard. One boy was passing the ball back and forth between copies of himself, while another stretched like he was made of rubber and caught a ball in the air above the hoop while a girl ran circles around all of them.
Gabriel had spent his own childhood in fear of his father until his eleventh year when he'd come into his gifts and Magneto had saved him from the humans in his life. Eight years later and Magneto and Mystique were now the closest thing he had to a family, but life with Magneto's Brotherhood was never safe. They hopped from city to city, house to house, sometime tenements, sometimes mansions, with the members of the Brotherhood always rotating in and out before you could get attached. These students seemed stable, like they'd never been attacked here, never had a companion die their arms, never even been in a fight.
There was a part of him that hated them for that peace.
And another part still that never wanted to leave.
Jethro reached out and snagged Gabriel by the back of the neck and pulled him away from the window where he was watching the other students and hauled him down the hall. Gibbs didn't bother issuing threats (which, frankly, Gabriel had been expecting a lot more of) and just kept a grip on him as they plowed down the hall.
Gabriel wrenched himself free from Jethro's grip and complained, "Dude! I was just staring out the window!"
Gibbs grunted again and Gabriel found that seesawing between the joy of this place and the X-Men themselves treating him like he was the scum on the bottom of their shoe, Gabriel lost control of his temper. He unleashed his power and sent a burst of black fire up from his hand to the spot on his shoulder where Jethro had him gripped and with a yelp that Gabriel was positive the Lieutenant hadn't made since he was a kid, he released Gabriel's shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Jethro shouted.
"You're hauling me around like I did something wrong when I'm here to save your asses!"
Gibbs scoffed, "We don't need your help."
"And I'm fine with letting you and your damn ego get drained dry by this bastard, but Magneto asked me to stay and look after you so I'm gonna do my job!"
Gibbs stepped into Gabriel's space and hissed, "Magneto doesn't care about the X-Men, he cares about doing as much damage as he possibly can, so forgive me if I think you're here to mess with us."
Gabriel threw his hands in the air and shouted, "You've got to be kidding me! Are you so deluded that you think this is the best plan we could've come up with to get a spy in here? Seriously?"
Gibbs slammed into him with force and threw Gabriel backwards into the wall. Jethro dove after him, driving a fist into his stomach. Gabriel called fire to his hands and put up his arm to block the next punch, the flame leaping from his skin to Jethro's and the heat drove Gibbs to take a step back before it burned him. The moment they stopped touching the heat broke away from Jethro's skin and with an innate stubbornness amplified by his training and powers Gibbs threw himself back at Gabriel.
Gibbs' powers were subtle, the kind that the unaware could attribute to luck right up until the moment he took your legs out from under you. He jumped back to Gabriel, unleashing his speed and strength, hoping to deliver several devastating blows before Gabriel could fight with his fire, but in that split second while Jethro moved, Gabriel unleashed a ball of flame, sending his opponent flying across the hall to smash into the wall.
Gibbs pushed himself back to his feet, but stilled at the sight before him. Every time the X-Men tangled with the Brotherhood, Gabriel and Jethro always ended up squaring off against one another, and though Jethro had had Gabriel throw plenty of fireballs at him, he'd never seen this before.
Gabriel had black-green flames licking up his forearms, eating away at the sunlight surrounding him. "Lets dance, X-Man."
The two boys surged towards one another, only to be interrupted by a bright and amused giggle broke through what was about to be a fight that might take down half the house. The girl was younger than Gabriel by a few years, with black hair tied up in pig tails and a plaid skirt so short that he was positive she had to be violating the school's dress code. "This is so weird."
Gabriel just stared at her and her bright smile, unable to understand what the kid could possibly find funny about him at this moment. "You're a good man, and you'd never hurt anybody if you could help it."
Gabriel expected Gibbs to smirk at him for his rival being declared soft and squishy, but Gibbs just furrowed his brow like that was something he didn't expect. The girl's smile stiffened and she asked, "Oh crap, were you two actually fighting? Like, on purpose?"
"Maybe." Gabriel replied stiffly.
"Oh." The girl turned away to leave them to it, but only made it two steps down the hall before she turned around and announced, "Just so you know, that's not gonna work."
Gabriel lifted a hand still humming with black fire and raised an eyebrow, "Seems to be working."
The girl just laughed out, bright and absolutely sure and said, "You're not gonna hurt him. You never would."
Tony flushed under her scrutiny and stuck out his chin as though to defy her words, "What makes you so sure of that?"
She gave him a smile sad that no one had ever pointed this out to him before and replied, "Because you feel right."
She strode into Gabriel's space with no worry for the fire on his skin and he leaned back into the wall behind him to put some space in between them while he stuttered out, "I- I what?"
The girl lifted one hand and brushed it through the air around Gabriel's face, tracing the line of his temple down to his jaw and coming to rest in a hover over his heart. She looked up at him with a contented smile and affirmed. "You sound right." Her pronouncement made no sense to him so he gaped at her until she explained, "I do sound. Reverberations, waves, tone, music, that sort of thing. I'm not really any use in a fight, but I listen to people, to all the little vibrations that make them up, and you're beautiful."
"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't even know who I am."
"I don't need to. I know you're gentle, and that you never in a million years would've even thought of going after Gibbs until after he forced your hand. I know you feel happy and safe here, and you have no idea what to do with those emotions." She could see the panic flare through his eyes and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a hug, "But the important this is, you'd never hurt us. You're good for the school, and good for us, and I'm glad you're here."
Gabriel stood with his back pressed up against the wall, as though he could dissolve through it, free himself from the girl holding on to him like he was her new best friend, and get away from the crowd of people who'd gathered at the end of the hall to stare at him like he was some sort of specimen to be dissected.
The girl slipped her hand in Gabriel's, uncaring of the black flame that still licked around his arms. He reigned the fire back in so it flowed around her arm now as well. She looked down at their joined hands and grinned and the sight of the black flame dancing around her. "You're not freaked out." Gabriel whispered.
She snorted at him and waived at her Goth attire. "Seriously? This is like my dream come true."
Tony actually smiled at her for that one and when he looked over her shoulder to see Gibbs leaning against the wall with a speculative smirk on his face, something inside him unclenched.
"Well, it's nice to see that you're all getting along." Cyclops announced from the far end of the hall and, based off his gentle smile, he'd seen the whole thing. "I hate to interrupt, but Storm and Jean just got back from their assignment and they'd like to see you for themselves."
Gabriel smirked, the genuine grin he'd given the girl gone now that there was someone there to see it. "They think I've pulled something over on you and they'll be immune to it?"
"Something like that I'm sure." Cyclops replied and Gabriel just grinned and gave the girl a wink before he followed along after the X-Man. It wasn't until Gabriel had turned the corner that Gibbs realized the other boy hadn't let go of Abby's hand until the last possible second.
"The Professor can't honestly mean to let him stay here." Jethro heaved a sigh and turned to look the other direction from where Gabriel had walked away, finding Jenny and what he was certain was every student over the age of fourteen grouped behind her. Yelling and fights were rare outside of the Danger Room, and the sound of Gibbs and Gabriel going after each other had pulled everyone in to see what was going on.
Gibbs sighed to himself, wondering what ridiculous notion had made him think that for once Jen might keep her opinion to herself, even when Xavier had made his own so clear. "Let it go, Jen."
"Let it go!" she snapped, "Did you or did you not just say he was a member of the Brotherhood!"
"He's here to help with a problem."
"We don't need his help."
Abby snorted back at her, "Sure, like you've been doing such a great job with it."
Jenny glowered at Abby with the same fervent distaste the redhead had adopted for dealing with all of Jethro's friends since they'd broken up. As usual, Jen had assumed that the whole mess wasn't her responsibility and the fault lied with his friends driving them apart. With Jen being a snot about it, Abby hadn't even tried to handle the situation gracefully in reply. (Abs had nothing but the greatest respect for the X-Men, and she even planned on coming back to teach students and run the lab after she'd finished her own doctoral work. It was because she adored the X-Men that her stomach couldn't quite take the thought of Jen standing as one of them.)
"The trouble we've been having isn't the point, Abby. He's our enemy, and the Professor is letting him run around the house!"
"He's the Professor!" Abby shouted. "Do you honestly think that there's anyone on the planet better suited to say whether or not someone can be trusted to be here? You think he wasn't scanned before Xavier let him anywhere near students?"
Jen's expression turned smug as she asked, "Are you sure?"
Abby rolled her eyes at the unnecessary drama and replied, "Whatever, Jen. I know what I heard in him, and that's all I need." Abby walked away from all of them, ignoring the way Jen tried to call after her. Jethro followed Abby, and he took comfort from the way the crowd dispersed at their departure rather than stood there and listened to Jen keep ranting.
Abby darted around the corner at the end of the hall, and judging by the thump and grunt Gibbs could hear, she'd found Gabriel eavesdropping. Jethro followed her and found Abby hugging the life out of Gabriel, apologizing for all the things Jen had said about him, while Gabriel stood with his arms uncomfortably out to his sides and stage whispered to Gibbs, "She's hugging me."
Gibbs grinned back, "Yeah, Abs does that."
"Why?"
"She thinks you're to be trusted. But weren't you supposed to be getting interrogated by the rest of the Professors?"
"So did I, but we got to the office and there was some yelling going on on the other side of the door, so Cyclops told me we'd try again later."
Gibbs just grunted, and Abby ignored the stiff posture of them both to grab Gabriel by the hand and pull him off down the hall. "Come on, I've got people for you to meet!" She pulled him off toward the dormitories, and Gabriel turned a pleading look back at Gibbs, asking to not be dragged into making nice with the other students when he just wanted to do his job. Gibb's grin turned wicked as he just shrugged at the other boy, following behind as Abby kept rambling as she tugged.
Abby had declared that Gabriel could be trusted, and though Gibbs trusted Abby's gifts, he wasn't fool enough to let Gabriel roam through the school unchecked until his own gut agreed.
#######
Abby bounded around the school for the rest of the night with Gabriel at her side and Gibbs trailing along beyond like a silent, stoic shadow. Abby introduced Gabriel like he was her new best friend, and anyone who seemed to have a problem with that got a glare from Gibbs until they ran away. Eventually Abby finished her tour of the building and pulled Gabriel into one of the smaller reading rooms on the upper levels of the school, the place where Jethro's circle of close friends often spent their evenings, and there Abby introduced Gabriel to people she was sure would like him.
A shy boy named McGee looked torn between shock and terror when Abby stepped in with Gabriel, Ducky knew better than to be nervous. Ducky was an older student, just shy of twenty-five, with glasses perched on the end of his nose and a thick book tucked under his arm. He strode up to Gabriel with no fear and shook his hand. "Donald Mallard, my dear boy, but most people call me Ducky. I apologize for not being around earlier, but I doubt anyone could have given you a better tour than Abigail. However, I do wish I had been of some help during Jenny's witch-hunt but I'm afraid that when I'm downstairs in the lab everything else seems to fade away."
Gabriel focused on exactly the part of that sentence that Gibbs had expected. "Ducky... seriously? That's your real name?"
"No lad, Ducky is a nickname I have had since long before I gained my gifts My 'real name' is Donald, but since that's terribly stiff I doubt it will suit me until I'm closer in age to the Professor."
Gabriel dropped down cross-legged on one of the comfy reading chairs and asked, "But what's your name. The one you chose when you found out what you really are?"
"Lad, I don't have one." Gabriel stiffened in shock, so Ducky sat down on the coffee table before him and explained, "I have no intention of being an X-Man, lad. I'm studying to be a doctor, not a soldier."
"But, Beast's a doctor and he's got a real name." Gabriel replied, obviously confused by the concept of a mutant being anything other than a weapon.
Ducky just smiled and gently replied, "From time to time Dr. McCoy serves as an X-Man so he found it necessary to have a code name. Also, it's rather difficult to avoid getting named when you're blue and furry."
Abby laughed at the oddity of their conversation and turned to Tim to ask, "Are Ziva and Cait coming tonight?"
Tim flushed and flicked his eyes over at Gabriel, who just grinned at the shy boy and said, "That means they're with the angry redhead." Tim flushed in embarrassment, but nodded that it was true. Gabriel turned his bright and teasing grin over to Gibbs and said, "So does the redhead have a legitimate reason for hating me, or is she just pissed at everyone who has anything to do with you because you fumbled the breakup?"
Gibbs glowered at him, but Ducky's giggles stopped him from whatever complaints he might have had. "Oh Jethro, stop glaring at the lad, you know he's right."
Gibbs just grunted and dropped into what Gabriel guessed was his favorite chair (based off the fact it was a little battered, while the rest of the room was pristine, and tilted with a clear sight line to both the door and the windows). Ducky gave Gibbs an affectionate grin before turning back to Gabriel. "I suppose Abby dear has told you what all of us are capable of?"
"Actually Abs just told me about herself. Though I don't quite get the sound thing."
Ducky's eyes lit up in excitement at the chance to discuss, "It's fascinating actually. Every thing is made up of moving molecules, even the most solid or frozen of objects still has molecules that vibrate at a certain frequency, Abigail hears those vibrations."
"And she can tell from the sound of the vibration whether something is wrong?"
Abby grinned and nudged Gabriel with the toe of her black boot, "You mean, 'can I tell if you're evil or not'?"
"Something like that."
Abby hopped up from her spot on the table and snuggled in beside Gabriel. "I've been around enough bad people to know when their sound is off."
"So you listen to molecular vibrations?"
"Yup. Professor says I should be able to control those vibrations someday, but right now I don't have that level of control."
"And what do you do, Ducky?" Gabriel asked.
Ducky smiled and stretched out his hand to rest his palm gently on Gabriel's chest, holding there for a moment before he looked up at him with surprise. Gabriel raised an eyebrow and Ducky said, "You're perfect."
Gabriel gave him a teasing smirk, and Ducky rolled his eyes. "No lad, you're physically perfect. There's not a thing wrong with you. No cholesterol, no strained muscles."
"So, you're like a... scanner?"
Ducky grinned, "Basically. I'm similar to Abigail in my ability to sense, but while she can tell wrong and right in everything, I can tell you precisely what's wrong but only in people."
"Can you change things?"
"You mean heal?"
Gabriel flinched, "Or, ya know, other stuff."
Ducky ignored the implications of that question and answered, "I’ve never presented an ability to affect change in the bodies of those I scan, though my ability to sense the problems in the body has proven useful in surgery, and remarkable for autopsies."
Gabriel looked surprised, "Well that's... morbid."
Ducky just laughed, "My boy, well all make use of our gifts in whatever way we can. This just happens to be mine."
Gabriel nodded at Ducky's zen-like approach and turned to Tim with the same question. He started, "Oh, me? Well, I uh..."
"Come on, Tim!" Abby cajoled, "Show him!"
Tim blushed and reached out to touch a nearby lamp, the light flaring brighter before Tim turned out the bulb. Gabriel smiled appreciatively, "Electricity?"
Tim shook his head no and pulled back from the lamp and pulled his phone from his pocket, lifting it up for Gabriel to see, and without touching any buttons he started playing an app. "You talk to tech?"
Tim nodded and pocketed the phone, letting Abby do the rambling about his power. "It's awesome, isn't it? He's practically omnipotent when tech gets involved." Gabriel grinned at Tim's pleased flush and turned to Gibbs for his explanation. Gibbs just rolled his eyes and Abby took over for him. "He's a Jedi."
Gabriel snorted, "Seriously?"
"That's the best way any of us can think to describe it. He's fast, but not super fast, and strong, but not super strong. Just enough that it makes him a little better than most. Well, that and he's a pre-cog."
"What?" Gabriel demanded in shock, and this time Gibbs smirked at him. "You filthy little cheater." Abby seemed taken aback by the comment, but Gibbs just grinned that the Brotherhood hadn't figured out that element to his power after all the times they'd fought one another. "Seriously man, that's just cheap!"
"All's fair in love and war, Gabe."
Gabriel smirked, "Is that what Red thinks?"
"She didn't use to be this bad," Gibbs grumbled.
"Perhaps not, Ducky replied, "but she was precisely that bad when you decided to spend your... time with her."
Jethro grunted in a way that meant he was absolutely done having this conversation, and the rest of the room let him get away with it. Before Gabriel could keep poking at him, the door to the room swung open, then snicked shut, all without a person entering. Or so Gabriel had thought. The air before him rippled and Ziva appeared out of nothing.
He'd known Ziva and her gift for invisibility briefly in the few weeks she'd been with the Brotherhood before she had shifted her allegiance to the X-Men. She gave Gabriel a long stare, measuring the rumors she'd heard about one of Magneto's favorites against the kind words that Abby had spoken of him. "Why would he send you?"
Gabriel rose to his feet and met her nose to nose, determined not to face this sitting down. "Because the only other two people he actually trusts would never be allowed in this building again."
"And you?"
"I'm young enough that Xavier still thinks he can save me."
"Is he wrong?"
"I've learned that it's in bad taste to ridicule the guy whose house you're staying at."
"So you're happy being a hit man."
Gabriel's shoulders stiffened, "No denying what you're good at."
"The question is: is it what you do, or who you are?"
Gabriel snorted, "You guys seriously do have mediation with the Professor, don't you? That's the only place to pick crap like that up."
"Only those of us he feels could benefit from the practice." Ziva coolly replied.
Abby laughed, as though she didn't actually sense the tension between them. "Most of us think meditation is actually the Professor's preferred form of discipline. He thinks detentions don't work and he feels dirty about putting us on power restriction, so he makes us sit and listen to fake thunderstorms and think about being one with the universe. I think the only person who gets out of it is Tim."
Gabriel took it for the out it was and asked, "And why is that?"
Tim flushed and Abby nudged him until he replied, "Because I lose control of my powers."
"Do you roast the speakers or something?" Gabriel smirked.
"No, he tells me to focus on the sound and I always get distracted by the parts of the iPod he's using."
"And then?" Abby insisted.
Tim flushed again, "And then his iPod stars hoping from song to song to match wherever my thoughts go."
Abby leaned over to stage whisper at Gabriel, "Last time he was thinking about a girl and 'Sex Bomb' started to play." They both giggled and Abby finished, "It was hard to tell which one of them was more embarrassed."
"Yes, thank you Abby." Tim interrupted. "Can we move on to something else now?"
Abby grinned and turned all her attention to Gabriel. "So, I think that covers all of us, what can you do?"
Gabriel gave a nervous grin and said, "Didn't you catch the fire show earlier?"
"Oh come on, we all know one another's powers inside and out, we should get to learn all that about you too." Abby plopped her chin down on her upturned hands and gave him an expectant smile. Gabriel raised a hand and called out a small globe of green-black fire and extended his palm to Abby so she could see it properly. Abby reached out a finger and gently poked at the bulb, then when it didn't burn she ran her whole hand through it.
"I take it that it's not just pretty, you can change the temperature?" Gabriel nodded and did his best to ignore the spike of tension that came when Gibbs crossed the room to sample the fire as well.
"What kind of control do you have?" Gibbs asked.
"You mean more than being able to control the temperature of fire?" Gabriel asked cheekily.
"Yup," Gibbs grinned expectantly. Gabriel set his jaw and the perfect ball of black flame piqued up, shifting into the bulb of a flower. He let the bulb bloom, shedding it's fiery petals one by one. Soon Gabriel collapsed the flame in on itself and the fire dripped from his palm like water. He waited a moment until the fire was a steady stream down to the floor where it vanished into a pool of smoke and then pulled his hand away, pausing the drops of fire mid-drop. Abby actually gasped at that one, and then Gabriel flicked his wrist and the fire vanished.
"Wow," Abby breathed.
Ducky moved in for a closer look and an examination of Gabriel's hand with his own powers. "My dear boy, that was incredible."
Abby and Tim nodded their agreement while Ziva gave him a speculative look and Gabriel had to say, "See, not that bad."
"We're all as bad as we choose to be." Gibbs said, and left it at that.
#######
Gibbs put Gabriel up on a spare cot he had rolled into his room. Practically every student bunked with at least one roommate, though if your powers were volatile or especially dangerous you got a room to yourself. Jethro's room was exactly what Gabriel had expected, right down to the hospital corners on his sheets. Some of the furniture was the composed but durable sort that Gabriel had come to expect from a mansion filled with mutant students, but other pieces were too home grown to have come with the room. Jethro's bed frame was lovingly crafted to suit the room, but still look like it came from somewhere a little homier than the manor.
The part of Gabriel that had been forged by Magneto told him to be subtler in his snooping, but his natural curiosity (especially as pertained to all things Gibbs) wouldn't be subdued. Gabriel gave himself his own little tour of the room, noting that Jethro's desk seemed to be made with the same love and care as his bed frame. He had pictures scattered around, most of his friends (the ones in dramatic silver frames he knew Abby had been in charge of, while the ones in simple wooden frames were no doubt Ducky's doing), though some held the image of an older couple, the man with bright eyes the same white-blue as Jethro, while the woman looked unflinchingly gentle.
It wasn't until he face was nearly pressed up against the glass of the photo that Gabriel realized he was staring at photo of Jethro's parents, and despite all the good behavior today, he was likely to killed for the offense.
Gibbs stepped up behind him and Gabriel tensed, fighting the instinct to fight when he actually deserved to get thrashed for what he'd done. Jethro reached around his shoulder and tapped on the frame's edge, right beside the man, "Jackson," Gibbs tapped on the other side, "Eliza."
Gabriel gulped at the warm press of Gibbs along his back, even though the other boy was only there for a moment. "They look happy," he offered.
"They are," Gibbs paused, debating with himself the merits of saying more, but Gabriel turning to him with curious, but not invasive, eyes prodded him to continue. "Thanks to Duck."
Gabriel turned fully to face him and Gibbs took a moment to appreciate that he had Gabriel nearly pressed up against the wall with nowhere to go. "What? How?"
Gibbs got control of himself took a step back and waived Gabriel to a seat, "I came to the school when I was twelve and I met Duck on my first day. I'd manifested a few years before, but my parents were able to handle it until..."
"Until you turned into a precog?" Gabriel asked gently.
Jethro dropped down into a chair of his own and grunted, "Yeah. I came to the institute and he walked up to me the first day to tell me all about my synaptic pathways."
Gabriel laughed at the mental image of a pre-teen Ducky rambling like a medical professional and Jethro continued. "When it came time to go home for a visit, I brought Ducky with me. He didn't tell me about it then, but he felt something wrong with my mom. He came home and tried to explain to Beast what he'd felt, and the two of them ended up trying to figure out what Ducky had felt."
"I bet they had flow charts while they went from hospital to hospital just shaking people's hands."
Gibbs gave a small quirk of a smile and Gabriel counted that as a win. "They actually passed it off as a research project, trying to build up a knowledge base for him so there would be less research when he was trying to diagnose." Jethro smirked, "Word got out to doctors about Ducky's little project and there are still diagnosticians who call him out on consults, or to show him something new."
Gabriel settled back in his chair, letting Jethro veer off topic because he knew that Gibbs would get back there eventually. "There's this one diagnostician in New Jersey who I think tracks down strange cases just so he can poke at Ducky."
"You go with him on this hospital jaunts, don't you?" Gabriel grinned.
"I used to go on all of them, but now I only go when I'm not on assignment. He got himself abducted by a woman who thought he was to blame for her son getting sick, and after that the Professor stopped letting him go anywhere alone."
Jethro paused, and Gabriel let the silence stretch, knowing he was building up the momentum to talk about his mother. "Eventually Duck and Doc McCoy realized she had cancer."
"He'd never touched anyone with cancer before?"
"Duck says that each kind feels different, and then there's differences based on where in the body the mass is located. All that took them a while to figure out."
Jethro trailed off and Gabriel prodded, "Did Duck catch it in time?"
Gibbs smiled at that, "Yeah, he did. It was barely there, something that didn't show up on any of the scans, and that the doctors said they probably wouldn't have caught until it was too late."
"But Ducky did."
"He saved her."
Gabriel had the foreign urge to reach out and tell Jethro he was glad that Gibbs still had his mother, but that would have led to a reciprocal conversation that he wasn't quite ready to have. Gibbs watched Gabriel struggle with himself and let the moment pass. Jethro stood and pulled out spare sheets for Gabriel's cot, letting the other boy regroup instead of pressuring him into saying something he wasn't ready for. Somewhere in the course of the day Jethro decided that he trusted Gabriel, and even liked him a little, and that meant he could give Gabriel time.
Part 2
Author:sunryder
Artist:
wintermute_lj
Pairing(s): Gibbs/Dinozzo, Xavier/Magneto (if you choose to see it)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 23,424
Disclaimer: No infringement is intended, really it's an act of love.
Summary: Jethro Gibbs and Tony DiNozzo were arch nemesis in training. That is, until Magneto sent his apprentice to protect Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and now the two boys can't stop looking at each other. (An NCIS/X-Men Fusion)
A/N: A thousand thanks to
wintermute_lj who made BRILLIANT art to go with this fic. I beg of you, go HERE and fuss over all the awesomeness that it is.
1 | 2 | 3
Gibbs stepped into Xavier's office, saw who the Professor had called him in to talk to, and walked right back out again.
Xavier called him back in with a mildly irritated tone (the most displeasure Xavier ever let himself show in front of a student), and Gibbs poked his head back in the room, glaring at Xavier like he was asking Gibbs to do something terrible. Their guest just grinned at Jethro's attempt to get out of this meeting, knowing full well that the other mutant would rather be shot than make nice. Wolverine gave an 'I told you so' glare to Xavier and, as usual, Cyclops gave no hint of what he was thinking.
Jethro stayed in the doorway, but in the back of his mind he felt the Professor say, I would appreciate your cooperation, Jethro.
Gibbs stepped into the Professor's office and immediately demanded, "What in the hell is he doing here?"
Their guest was a Brotherhood mutant a few scarce years younger than Jethro at the age of nineteen. The Brotherhood called him Gabriel, and he had dark brown hair sticking up in a mess of badly behaved spikes, an impudent smile, and wide green eyes that could dupe the less well informed into believing he was innocent. He was sprawled back in the chair before Xavier's desk, watching Gibbs with a devious and infuriating grin that made Jethro want to turn his power on the younger mutant and send him flying across the room. "Why Luey, you asked me to come."
"No." Jethro gritted out, "We asked Magneto for information, not for you."
Gabriel snorted, "What, you thought Magneto was just gonna shoot you an e-mail? Last time I checked you didn't know how to work those."
Gibbs lunged forward to grab the boy by the scruff of his shirt and haul him from the room, but Xavier shouted, "Stop it!" Gabriel smirked at Jethro and Xavier scolded, "Both of you. All mutants who come in peace are safe in this house, and I will not have your squabble disrupt that."
The boys glowered at one another, but Jethro stilled his disagreement and dropped into the chair beside the interloper. Xavier maintained his stare at them both until a hint of the tension bled away, leaving them both less likely to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. "Since I doubt either one of you has dealt with one another in a civilized manner allow me to introduce you to one another. Jethro, this is Gabriel, and Gabriel this is Jethro, who you better know as the Lieutenant."
Gabriel snorted, "Jethro?"
"At least I have a real name." Gibbs shot back.
"Gabriel is the name I chose, not the name forced on me by your government you-"
"Forced on me? I chose to work for my government!"
Gabriel snorted, "No one chooses to work for the Feds!"
The slice of Wolverine's claws unsheathing was enough to silence them both and he declared, "I've got better things to do with my day then listen to the two of you whine. Shut it and listen."
Xavier stifled a sigh that they were forced to resort to threats and pressed on. "As you are aware Jethro, I contacted Magneto about the rumors we've been hearing to see if he had any information to add. Rather than reply through standard means, Magneto sent Gabriel as an offer of aide."
Mutants all over the Eastern seaboard had been reporting blackouts, followed by their powers going on the fritz; gifts either spontaneously weakening or cutting out completely. Despite enhancing the Professor enhancing his own powers by using Cerebro, he still couldn't detect anything to suggest what was causing these problems. Considering that the street mutants who refused to have anything to do with Xavier or the X-Men were easier targets, he assumed that Magneto and his Brotherhood would be better informed on the issue.
"We don't need aide." Jethro replied through gritted teeth. "We just needed to know whether or not your master had anything to do with this."
Disgust flicked across Gabriel's face and he replied, "First off, my master is out there getting his hands dirty and saving your master's ass, so let's keep comments about allegiance to ourselves, shall we? Second off, the thing doing this has been moving up the mutant scale for their targets, going after stronger and stronger mutants and this school is a feast of vulnerable mutants with untapped power. It's just a matter of time before they come here."
"And you think we can't protect ourselves?" Jethro asked.
Gabriel sneered, "I think you'd all try and reason with it instead of put it down."
"I do believe Erik said you'd come bearing information about the threat." Xavier interrupted.
Gabriel started in amazement and replied, "I didn't think there was anyone on the planet allowed to call Magneto Erik."
The Professor gave him a pained smile and replied, "Yes, well, arch nemesis are granted certain privileges."
The boy gave Xavier a genuine grin and said, "Kenobi and Vader?"
Xavier's smile grew less pained as he replied, "Exactly. Now, if I may ask, what precisely were Erik's instructions to you?"
"He wants me to tell you everything we know, yes everything," he continued when he saw the disbelieving look on Wolverine's face. "And then I'm supposed to stay and defend the school and call to him in case the mutant in question turns up."
Jethro wanted to snap back, but Xavier pressed on. "And that 'everything' would be?"
Gabriel briskly rattled off the facts, "The mutant is a psychic vampire. The power fluxuations in each victim happen when the victim tries to use their power at the same time that the vampire is tapping into them from the other end of the link."
Xavier steepled his fingers before him and leaned forward onto the desk replying, "The blackouts that precede all symptoms are the result of forming a psychic link between the attacker and the victim?"
Gabriel nodded, "That's what Magneto figured as well. To be able to drain this many people of power, at this constant a rate, and from those extreme distances..."
"That narrows down the field of potential attackers considerably." Xavier smiled.
"But why keep a connection to the victim and drain them like this?" Gibbs asked. "Why not just drain everything in one shot and be done with it?"
"There's a finite amount of life in a person at any given moment, so if the attacker kills the victim, that's all they're gonna get." Gabriel explained.
"But," Xavier added, "If you take only a portion and leave the victim alive, then the victim with regenerate that energy and the amount of energy you can drain from the victim is almost limitless."
"Are they using the power for something, or stockpiling?" Jethro asked.
"Stockpiling." Gabriel answered before he could stop himself.
"And how would you know that?" Wolverine asked.
Gabriel fidgeted a moment, trying to figure out a way to reply without giving the X-Men information they didn't need. "There's a member of The Brotherhood who can sense the powers and strengths of other mutants. She felt a psychic-type mutant shift up from a level three to a level four, but the mutant's shielding is too strong for her to track them down. As to why the attacker is hoarding other people's power, we don't know yet."
"So Erik would like me to track down the mutant in question using Cerebro?"
"If you can."
Xavier just smiled at Gabriel, effectively stopping whatever reply Gibbs wanted to make, and said, "Jethro, why don't you show Gabriel to his room and help him get settled. He'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future."
"Professor?" Gibbs questioned.
"Gabriel is to be given the same rights and privileges as any student while he's here. Please see to it that the rest of the population is informed." Xavier spoke out loud, but Gibbs could feel in the back of his mind Xavier's promise that he meant it. Jethro gave a tense nod in reply and Xavier turned his attention to the boy. "Now that I know what I'm looking for I will turn my attentions with Cerebro to a mutant with fluxuating levels of power and perhaps I can find the offender. When I do you shall be informed immediately."
Gabriel nodded his agreement with the plan and both of them turned their gazes to Jethro. The boy glowered in distaste while Xavier's eyes turned almost pleading. Jethro started for the door, not checking behind him to see if his charge was coming. Gabriel looked to Xavier like the man was about to declare it was all a joke and he didn't have to rely on the only mutant in the room who hated him, but when he didn't, the boy heaved a put upon sigh and followed after Gibbs.
Logan and Scott left the room, quieting trailing behind the boys, just to make sure that neither of them snapped and started fighting in the hallways, which left Charles alone to sink back in his chair and brood.
Charles Xavier was the most powerful telepath in the world, and he could sense nothing from the Gabriel; neither a trace of emotion nor a stray thought. It was a rare feat to block him out, and that sort of mental control was almost unheard of in so young a mutant. However, the truly disquieting thing was that Xavier had brushed up against Gabriel's mind, not enough to trigger any of the boy's mental defenses, but the same sort of touch he used to tell if a person was living, and Xavier had felt nothing there. Either this Gabriel had the most strict mental control Charles had ever encountered, or there was something at play here he wasn't sure he could contemplate.
Xavier had a bare moment to be frustrated with Erik for not revealing the whole truth to him, before Xavier felt Magneto's far distant mind open before him like petals to the summer sun. It had been decades since Erik had willingly made a hole in his mental shields so that Charles could feel the presence of his mind, and the effect of Erik's mental touch was almost haunting.
Xavier reached out to the mind he once knew as well as his own and asked, Erik?
Charles felt a rush of smugness before Magneto replied, I knew you'd sense me.
I assume from your glee that someone doubted my ability to find you? Or was it that they doubted your ability to lower your shields for long enough to let me in?
Xavier felt the mental equivalent of a 'humph' before Magneto said, Most of my Brotherhood haven't seen you in action, so they believe the reports of your powers are so extreme that Mystique must be making them up as a tool to frighten them away from ever thinking of joining your X-Men.
Charles smiled, both mentally and physically before he suggested, I could send a mental projection of myself to torment them if you'd like? Perhaps then Mystique could start telling them that I'm a ghost as well.
Charles could feel Erik restraining a grin and willed himself to ask, I assume you didn't take off that bloody helmet just to prove a point to your mutants?
Erik sighed, I need you to keep Gabriel at the school.
Charles waited a moment and replied, I'm sorry, could you repeat that, I'm positive I heard you wrong.
Magneto grumbled, Must you be so dramatic, Charles?
Says the man who couldn't just pick up a phone and say he wanted the boy here but instead had to send him on a secret mission?
Only temporarily.
Xavier waited a moment for Erik to elaborate, and when he didn't Charles heaved a sigh and said, You know something more about the psychic vampire than you've been telling.
... I have suspicions.
So you would have me endanger my school to protect the boy and you don't give me the information to do it properly?
Charles felt Magneto restrain himself from snapping back at Xavier before he replied, If I have my way the problem will never make it near your damn school and my presumption that you'd do whatever you could to protect any mutant youth will have been successfully dissuaded.
Charles mentally rolled his eyes and replied, And if the boy decides to stay here permanently?
Magneto didn't reply for several moments, letting the silence stretch out between them before he replied in a hushed tone, He'd be beyond my strength to stop.
#######
Much to Gabriel's irritation, the school was beautiful. For some reason he'd imagined the building as the sort of dark and foreboding you only saw in BBC productions of gothic novels, but it wasn't. The halls were made of pale marble floors, with dark wooden panels lining the walls and arching windows that cast long lines of gothic light across the rooms and hallways. Though the place might have been depressing if it weren't for the children running everywhere. There were young ones running amok in the giant British-style gardens of the backyard, teens trapped in the great hall for their first class of the day, and then young adults that he figured were in their own special version of Xavier University while they trained to join the X-Men that were sprawled under the trees taking in the warmth of a fading summer. The younger students shouted out their hellos to Jethro as he walked past while the older students would nod a hello then scurry away when Gibbs glared at them if they thought about coming forward to ask who the new kid was.
After the fourth person Gibbs scared off Gabriel laughed, "So, I take it you're a bastard to everybody and not just the people you're picking fights with?" Jethro replied with a grunt and Gabriel refrained from calling him Agent K.
Gabriel went back to observing every little thing he could find about the school, baffled by how peaceful it was. The whole school seemed... happy, and it was really tripping him out. Gabriel kept getting distracted by the other students who darted past with their bright smiles and backpacks, using their gifts in the hallways like there was nothing to hide from. He stalled at one of the windows and stared down at the students playing a game of basketball out in the yard. One boy was passing the ball back and forth between copies of himself, while another stretched like he was made of rubber and caught a ball in the air above the hoop while a girl ran circles around all of them.
Gabriel had spent his own childhood in fear of his father until his eleventh year when he'd come into his gifts and Magneto had saved him from the humans in his life. Eight years later and Magneto and Mystique were now the closest thing he had to a family, but life with Magneto's Brotherhood was never safe. They hopped from city to city, house to house, sometime tenements, sometimes mansions, with the members of the Brotherhood always rotating in and out before you could get attached. These students seemed stable, like they'd never been attacked here, never had a companion die their arms, never even been in a fight.
There was a part of him that hated them for that peace.
And another part still that never wanted to leave.
Jethro reached out and snagged Gabriel by the back of the neck and pulled him away from the window where he was watching the other students and hauled him down the hall. Gibbs didn't bother issuing threats (which, frankly, Gabriel had been expecting a lot more of) and just kept a grip on him as they plowed down the hall.
Gabriel wrenched himself free from Jethro's grip and complained, "Dude! I was just staring out the window!"
Gibbs grunted again and Gabriel found that seesawing between the joy of this place and the X-Men themselves treating him like he was the scum on the bottom of their shoe, Gabriel lost control of his temper. He unleashed his power and sent a burst of black fire up from his hand to the spot on his shoulder where Jethro had him gripped and with a yelp that Gabriel was positive the Lieutenant hadn't made since he was a kid, he released Gabriel's shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Jethro shouted.
"You're hauling me around like I did something wrong when I'm here to save your asses!"
Gibbs scoffed, "We don't need your help."
"And I'm fine with letting you and your damn ego get drained dry by this bastard, but Magneto asked me to stay and look after you so I'm gonna do my job!"
Gibbs stepped into Gabriel's space and hissed, "Magneto doesn't care about the X-Men, he cares about doing as much damage as he possibly can, so forgive me if I think you're here to mess with us."
Gabriel threw his hands in the air and shouted, "You've got to be kidding me! Are you so deluded that you think this is the best plan we could've come up with to get a spy in here? Seriously?"
Gibbs slammed into him with force and threw Gabriel backwards into the wall. Jethro dove after him, driving a fist into his stomach. Gabriel called fire to his hands and put up his arm to block the next punch, the flame leaping from his skin to Jethro's and the heat drove Gibbs to take a step back before it burned him. The moment they stopped touching the heat broke away from Jethro's skin and with an innate stubbornness amplified by his training and powers Gibbs threw himself back at Gabriel.
Gibbs' powers were subtle, the kind that the unaware could attribute to luck right up until the moment he took your legs out from under you. He jumped back to Gabriel, unleashing his speed and strength, hoping to deliver several devastating blows before Gabriel could fight with his fire, but in that split second while Jethro moved, Gabriel unleashed a ball of flame, sending his opponent flying across the hall to smash into the wall.
Gibbs pushed himself back to his feet, but stilled at the sight before him. Every time the X-Men tangled with the Brotherhood, Gabriel and Jethro always ended up squaring off against one another, and though Jethro had had Gabriel throw plenty of fireballs at him, he'd never seen this before.
Gabriel had black-green flames licking up his forearms, eating away at the sunlight surrounding him. "Lets dance, X-Man."
The two boys surged towards one another, only to be interrupted by a bright and amused giggle broke through what was about to be a fight that might take down half the house. The girl was younger than Gabriel by a few years, with black hair tied up in pig tails and a plaid skirt so short that he was positive she had to be violating the school's dress code. "This is so weird."
Gabriel just stared at her and her bright smile, unable to understand what the kid could possibly find funny about him at this moment. "You're a good man, and you'd never hurt anybody if you could help it."
Gabriel expected Gibbs to smirk at him for his rival being declared soft and squishy, but Gibbs just furrowed his brow like that was something he didn't expect. The girl's smile stiffened and she asked, "Oh crap, were you two actually fighting? Like, on purpose?"
"Maybe." Gabriel replied stiffly.
"Oh." The girl turned away to leave them to it, but only made it two steps down the hall before she turned around and announced, "Just so you know, that's not gonna work."
Gabriel lifted a hand still humming with black fire and raised an eyebrow, "Seems to be working."
The girl just laughed out, bright and absolutely sure and said, "You're not gonna hurt him. You never would."
Tony flushed under her scrutiny and stuck out his chin as though to defy her words, "What makes you so sure of that?"
She gave him a smile sad that no one had ever pointed this out to him before and replied, "Because you feel right."
She strode into Gabriel's space with no worry for the fire on his skin and he leaned back into the wall behind him to put some space in between them while he stuttered out, "I- I what?"
The girl lifted one hand and brushed it through the air around Gabriel's face, tracing the line of his temple down to his jaw and coming to rest in a hover over his heart. She looked up at him with a contented smile and affirmed. "You sound right." Her pronouncement made no sense to him so he gaped at her until she explained, "I do sound. Reverberations, waves, tone, music, that sort of thing. I'm not really any use in a fight, but I listen to people, to all the little vibrations that make them up, and you're beautiful."
"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't even know who I am."
"I don't need to. I know you're gentle, and that you never in a million years would've even thought of going after Gibbs until after he forced your hand. I know you feel happy and safe here, and you have no idea what to do with those emotions." She could see the panic flare through his eyes and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a hug, "But the important this is, you'd never hurt us. You're good for the school, and good for us, and I'm glad you're here."
Gabriel stood with his back pressed up against the wall, as though he could dissolve through it, free himself from the girl holding on to him like he was her new best friend, and get away from the crowd of people who'd gathered at the end of the hall to stare at him like he was some sort of specimen to be dissected.
The girl slipped her hand in Gabriel's, uncaring of the black flame that still licked around his arms. He reigned the fire back in so it flowed around her arm now as well. She looked down at their joined hands and grinned and the sight of the black flame dancing around her. "You're not freaked out." Gabriel whispered.
She snorted at him and waived at her Goth attire. "Seriously? This is like my dream come true."
Tony actually smiled at her for that one and when he looked over her shoulder to see Gibbs leaning against the wall with a speculative smirk on his face, something inside him unclenched.
"Well, it's nice to see that you're all getting along." Cyclops announced from the far end of the hall and, based off his gentle smile, he'd seen the whole thing. "I hate to interrupt, but Storm and Jean just got back from their assignment and they'd like to see you for themselves."
Gabriel smirked, the genuine grin he'd given the girl gone now that there was someone there to see it. "They think I've pulled something over on you and they'll be immune to it?"
"Something like that I'm sure." Cyclops replied and Gabriel just grinned and gave the girl a wink before he followed along after the X-Man. It wasn't until Gabriel had turned the corner that Gibbs realized the other boy hadn't let go of Abby's hand until the last possible second.
"The Professor can't honestly mean to let him stay here." Jethro heaved a sigh and turned to look the other direction from where Gabriel had walked away, finding Jenny and what he was certain was every student over the age of fourteen grouped behind her. Yelling and fights were rare outside of the Danger Room, and the sound of Gibbs and Gabriel going after each other had pulled everyone in to see what was going on.
Gibbs sighed to himself, wondering what ridiculous notion had made him think that for once Jen might keep her opinion to herself, even when Xavier had made his own so clear. "Let it go, Jen."
"Let it go!" she snapped, "Did you or did you not just say he was a member of the Brotherhood!"
"He's here to help with a problem."
"We don't need his help."
Abby snorted back at her, "Sure, like you've been doing such a great job with it."
Jenny glowered at Abby with the same fervent distaste the redhead had adopted for dealing with all of Jethro's friends since they'd broken up. As usual, Jen had assumed that the whole mess wasn't her responsibility and the fault lied with his friends driving them apart. With Jen being a snot about it, Abby hadn't even tried to handle the situation gracefully in reply. (Abs had nothing but the greatest respect for the X-Men, and she even planned on coming back to teach students and run the lab after she'd finished her own doctoral work. It was because she adored the X-Men that her stomach couldn't quite take the thought of Jen standing as one of them.)
"The trouble we've been having isn't the point, Abby. He's our enemy, and the Professor is letting him run around the house!"
"He's the Professor!" Abby shouted. "Do you honestly think that there's anyone on the planet better suited to say whether or not someone can be trusted to be here? You think he wasn't scanned before Xavier let him anywhere near students?"
Jen's expression turned smug as she asked, "Are you sure?"
Abby rolled her eyes at the unnecessary drama and replied, "Whatever, Jen. I know what I heard in him, and that's all I need." Abby walked away from all of them, ignoring the way Jen tried to call after her. Jethro followed Abby, and he took comfort from the way the crowd dispersed at their departure rather than stood there and listened to Jen keep ranting.
Abby darted around the corner at the end of the hall, and judging by the thump and grunt Gibbs could hear, she'd found Gabriel eavesdropping. Jethro followed her and found Abby hugging the life out of Gabriel, apologizing for all the things Jen had said about him, while Gabriel stood with his arms uncomfortably out to his sides and stage whispered to Gibbs, "She's hugging me."
Gibbs grinned back, "Yeah, Abs does that."
"Why?"
"She thinks you're to be trusted. But weren't you supposed to be getting interrogated by the rest of the Professors?"
"So did I, but we got to the office and there was some yelling going on on the other side of the door, so Cyclops told me we'd try again later."
Gibbs just grunted, and Abby ignored the stiff posture of them both to grab Gabriel by the hand and pull him off down the hall. "Come on, I've got people for you to meet!" She pulled him off toward the dormitories, and Gabriel turned a pleading look back at Gibbs, asking to not be dragged into making nice with the other students when he just wanted to do his job. Gibb's grin turned wicked as he just shrugged at the other boy, following behind as Abby kept rambling as she tugged.
Abby had declared that Gabriel could be trusted, and though Gibbs trusted Abby's gifts, he wasn't fool enough to let Gabriel roam through the school unchecked until his own gut agreed.
#######
Abby bounded around the school for the rest of the night with Gabriel at her side and Gibbs trailing along beyond like a silent, stoic shadow. Abby introduced Gabriel like he was her new best friend, and anyone who seemed to have a problem with that got a glare from Gibbs until they ran away. Eventually Abby finished her tour of the building and pulled Gabriel into one of the smaller reading rooms on the upper levels of the school, the place where Jethro's circle of close friends often spent their evenings, and there Abby introduced Gabriel to people she was sure would like him.
A shy boy named McGee looked torn between shock and terror when Abby stepped in with Gabriel, Ducky knew better than to be nervous. Ducky was an older student, just shy of twenty-five, with glasses perched on the end of his nose and a thick book tucked under his arm. He strode up to Gabriel with no fear and shook his hand. "Donald Mallard, my dear boy, but most people call me Ducky. I apologize for not being around earlier, but I doubt anyone could have given you a better tour than Abigail. However, I do wish I had been of some help during Jenny's witch-hunt but I'm afraid that when I'm downstairs in the lab everything else seems to fade away."
Gabriel focused on exactly the part of that sentence that Gibbs had expected. "Ducky... seriously? That's your real name?"
"No lad, Ducky is a nickname I have had since long before I gained my gifts My 'real name' is Donald, but since that's terribly stiff I doubt it will suit me until I'm closer in age to the Professor."
Gabriel dropped down cross-legged on one of the comfy reading chairs and asked, "But what's your name. The one you chose when you found out what you really are?"
"Lad, I don't have one." Gabriel stiffened in shock, so Ducky sat down on the coffee table before him and explained, "I have no intention of being an X-Man, lad. I'm studying to be a doctor, not a soldier."
"But, Beast's a doctor and he's got a real name." Gabriel replied, obviously confused by the concept of a mutant being anything other than a weapon.
Ducky just smiled and gently replied, "From time to time Dr. McCoy serves as an X-Man so he found it necessary to have a code name. Also, it's rather difficult to avoid getting named when you're blue and furry."
Abby laughed at the oddity of their conversation and turned to Tim to ask, "Are Ziva and Cait coming tonight?"
Tim flushed and flicked his eyes over at Gabriel, who just grinned at the shy boy and said, "That means they're with the angry redhead." Tim flushed in embarrassment, but nodded that it was true. Gabriel turned his bright and teasing grin over to Gibbs and said, "So does the redhead have a legitimate reason for hating me, or is she just pissed at everyone who has anything to do with you because you fumbled the breakup?"
Gibbs glowered at him, but Ducky's giggles stopped him from whatever complaints he might have had. "Oh Jethro, stop glaring at the lad, you know he's right."
Gibbs just grunted and dropped into what Gabriel guessed was his favorite chair (based off the fact it was a little battered, while the rest of the room was pristine, and tilted with a clear sight line to both the door and the windows). Ducky gave Gibbs an affectionate grin before turning back to Gabriel. "I suppose Abby dear has told you what all of us are capable of?"
"Actually Abs just told me about herself. Though I don't quite get the sound thing."
Ducky's eyes lit up in excitement at the chance to discuss, "It's fascinating actually. Every thing is made up of moving molecules, even the most solid or frozen of objects still has molecules that vibrate at a certain frequency, Abigail hears those vibrations."
"And she can tell from the sound of the vibration whether something is wrong?"
Abby grinned and nudged Gabriel with the toe of her black boot, "You mean, 'can I tell if you're evil or not'?"
"Something like that."
Abby hopped up from her spot on the table and snuggled in beside Gabriel. "I've been around enough bad people to know when their sound is off."
"So you listen to molecular vibrations?"
"Yup. Professor says I should be able to control those vibrations someday, but right now I don't have that level of control."
"And what do you do, Ducky?" Gabriel asked.
Ducky smiled and stretched out his hand to rest his palm gently on Gabriel's chest, holding there for a moment before he looked up at him with surprise. Gabriel raised an eyebrow and Ducky said, "You're perfect."
Gabriel gave him a teasing smirk, and Ducky rolled his eyes. "No lad, you're physically perfect. There's not a thing wrong with you. No cholesterol, no strained muscles."
"So, you're like a... scanner?"
Ducky grinned, "Basically. I'm similar to Abigail in my ability to sense, but while she can tell wrong and right in everything, I can tell you precisely what's wrong but only in people."
"Can you change things?"
"You mean heal?"
Gabriel flinched, "Or, ya know, other stuff."
Ducky ignored the implications of that question and answered, "I’ve never presented an ability to affect change in the bodies of those I scan, though my ability to sense the problems in the body has proven useful in surgery, and remarkable for autopsies."
Gabriel looked surprised, "Well that's... morbid."
Ducky just laughed, "My boy, well all make use of our gifts in whatever way we can. This just happens to be mine."
Gabriel nodded at Ducky's zen-like approach and turned to Tim with the same question. He started, "Oh, me? Well, I uh..."
"Come on, Tim!" Abby cajoled, "Show him!"
Tim blushed and reached out to touch a nearby lamp, the light flaring brighter before Tim turned out the bulb. Gabriel smiled appreciatively, "Electricity?"
Tim shook his head no and pulled back from the lamp and pulled his phone from his pocket, lifting it up for Gabriel to see, and without touching any buttons he started playing an app. "You talk to tech?"
Tim nodded and pocketed the phone, letting Abby do the rambling about his power. "It's awesome, isn't it? He's practically omnipotent when tech gets involved." Gabriel grinned at Tim's pleased flush and turned to Gibbs for his explanation. Gibbs just rolled his eyes and Abby took over for him. "He's a Jedi."
Gabriel snorted, "Seriously?"
"That's the best way any of us can think to describe it. He's fast, but not super fast, and strong, but not super strong. Just enough that it makes him a little better than most. Well, that and he's a pre-cog."
"What?" Gabriel demanded in shock, and this time Gibbs smirked at him. "You filthy little cheater." Abby seemed taken aback by the comment, but Gibbs just grinned that the Brotherhood hadn't figured out that element to his power after all the times they'd fought one another. "Seriously man, that's just cheap!"
"All's fair in love and war, Gabe."
Gabriel smirked, "Is that what Red thinks?"
"She didn't use to be this bad," Gibbs grumbled.
"Perhaps not, Ducky replied, "but she was precisely that bad when you decided to spend your... time with her."
Jethro grunted in a way that meant he was absolutely done having this conversation, and the rest of the room let him get away with it. Before Gabriel could keep poking at him, the door to the room swung open, then snicked shut, all without a person entering. Or so Gabriel had thought. The air before him rippled and Ziva appeared out of nothing.
He'd known Ziva and her gift for invisibility briefly in the few weeks she'd been with the Brotherhood before she had shifted her allegiance to the X-Men. She gave Gabriel a long stare, measuring the rumors she'd heard about one of Magneto's favorites against the kind words that Abby had spoken of him. "Why would he send you?"
Gabriel rose to his feet and met her nose to nose, determined not to face this sitting down. "Because the only other two people he actually trusts would never be allowed in this building again."
"And you?"
"I'm young enough that Xavier still thinks he can save me."
"Is he wrong?"
"I've learned that it's in bad taste to ridicule the guy whose house you're staying at."
"So you're happy being a hit man."
Gabriel's shoulders stiffened, "No denying what you're good at."
"The question is: is it what you do, or who you are?"
Gabriel snorted, "You guys seriously do have mediation with the Professor, don't you? That's the only place to pick crap like that up."
"Only those of us he feels could benefit from the practice." Ziva coolly replied.
Abby laughed, as though she didn't actually sense the tension between them. "Most of us think meditation is actually the Professor's preferred form of discipline. He thinks detentions don't work and he feels dirty about putting us on power restriction, so he makes us sit and listen to fake thunderstorms and think about being one with the universe. I think the only person who gets out of it is Tim."
Gabriel took it for the out it was and asked, "And why is that?"
Tim flushed and Abby nudged him until he replied, "Because I lose control of my powers."
"Do you roast the speakers or something?" Gabriel smirked.
"No, he tells me to focus on the sound and I always get distracted by the parts of the iPod he's using."
"And then?" Abby insisted.
Tim flushed again, "And then his iPod stars hoping from song to song to match wherever my thoughts go."
Abby leaned over to stage whisper at Gabriel, "Last time he was thinking about a girl and 'Sex Bomb' started to play." They both giggled and Abby finished, "It was hard to tell which one of them was more embarrassed."
"Yes, thank you Abby." Tim interrupted. "Can we move on to something else now?"
Abby grinned and turned all her attention to Gabriel. "So, I think that covers all of us, what can you do?"
Gabriel gave a nervous grin and said, "Didn't you catch the fire show earlier?"
"Oh come on, we all know one another's powers inside and out, we should get to learn all that about you too." Abby plopped her chin down on her upturned hands and gave him an expectant smile. Gabriel raised a hand and called out a small globe of green-black fire and extended his palm to Abby so she could see it properly. Abby reached out a finger and gently poked at the bulb, then when it didn't burn she ran her whole hand through it.
"I take it that it's not just pretty, you can change the temperature?" Gabriel nodded and did his best to ignore the spike of tension that came when Gibbs crossed the room to sample the fire as well.
"What kind of control do you have?" Gibbs asked.
"You mean more than being able to control the temperature of fire?" Gabriel asked cheekily.
"Yup," Gibbs grinned expectantly. Gabriel set his jaw and the perfect ball of black flame piqued up, shifting into the bulb of a flower. He let the bulb bloom, shedding it's fiery petals one by one. Soon Gabriel collapsed the flame in on itself and the fire dripped from his palm like water. He waited a moment until the fire was a steady stream down to the floor where it vanished into a pool of smoke and then pulled his hand away, pausing the drops of fire mid-drop. Abby actually gasped at that one, and then Gabriel flicked his wrist and the fire vanished.
"Wow," Abby breathed.
Ducky moved in for a closer look and an examination of Gabriel's hand with his own powers. "My dear boy, that was incredible."
Abby and Tim nodded their agreement while Ziva gave him a speculative look and Gabriel had to say, "See, not that bad."
"We're all as bad as we choose to be." Gibbs said, and left it at that.
#######
Gibbs put Gabriel up on a spare cot he had rolled into his room. Practically every student bunked with at least one roommate, though if your powers were volatile or especially dangerous you got a room to yourself. Jethro's room was exactly what Gabriel had expected, right down to the hospital corners on his sheets. Some of the furniture was the composed but durable sort that Gabriel had come to expect from a mansion filled with mutant students, but other pieces were too home grown to have come with the room. Jethro's bed frame was lovingly crafted to suit the room, but still look like it came from somewhere a little homier than the manor.
The part of Gabriel that had been forged by Magneto told him to be subtler in his snooping, but his natural curiosity (especially as pertained to all things Gibbs) wouldn't be subdued. Gabriel gave himself his own little tour of the room, noting that Jethro's desk seemed to be made with the same love and care as his bed frame. He had pictures scattered around, most of his friends (the ones in dramatic silver frames he knew Abby had been in charge of, while the ones in simple wooden frames were no doubt Ducky's doing), though some held the image of an older couple, the man with bright eyes the same white-blue as Jethro, while the woman looked unflinchingly gentle.
It wasn't until he face was nearly pressed up against the glass of the photo that Gabriel realized he was staring at photo of Jethro's parents, and despite all the good behavior today, he was likely to killed for the offense.
Gibbs stepped up behind him and Gabriel tensed, fighting the instinct to fight when he actually deserved to get thrashed for what he'd done. Jethro reached around his shoulder and tapped on the frame's edge, right beside the man, "Jackson," Gibbs tapped on the other side, "Eliza."
Gabriel gulped at the warm press of Gibbs along his back, even though the other boy was only there for a moment. "They look happy," he offered.
"They are," Gibbs paused, debating with himself the merits of saying more, but Gabriel turning to him with curious, but not invasive, eyes prodded him to continue. "Thanks to Duck."
Gabriel turned fully to face him and Gibbs took a moment to appreciate that he had Gabriel nearly pressed up against the wall with nowhere to go. "What? How?"
Gibbs got control of himself took a step back and waived Gabriel to a seat, "I came to the school when I was twelve and I met Duck on my first day. I'd manifested a few years before, but my parents were able to handle it until..."
"Until you turned into a precog?" Gabriel asked gently.
Jethro dropped down into a chair of his own and grunted, "Yeah. I came to the institute and he walked up to me the first day to tell me all about my synaptic pathways."
Gabriel laughed at the mental image of a pre-teen Ducky rambling like a medical professional and Jethro continued. "When it came time to go home for a visit, I brought Ducky with me. He didn't tell me about it then, but he felt something wrong with my mom. He came home and tried to explain to Beast what he'd felt, and the two of them ended up trying to figure out what Ducky had felt."
"I bet they had flow charts while they went from hospital to hospital just shaking people's hands."
Gibbs gave a small quirk of a smile and Gabriel counted that as a win. "They actually passed it off as a research project, trying to build up a knowledge base for him so there would be less research when he was trying to diagnose." Jethro smirked, "Word got out to doctors about Ducky's little project and there are still diagnosticians who call him out on consults, or to show him something new."
Gabriel settled back in his chair, letting Jethro veer off topic because he knew that Gibbs would get back there eventually. "There's this one diagnostician in New Jersey who I think tracks down strange cases just so he can poke at Ducky."
"You go with him on this hospital jaunts, don't you?" Gabriel grinned.
"I used to go on all of them, but now I only go when I'm not on assignment. He got himself abducted by a woman who thought he was to blame for her son getting sick, and after that the Professor stopped letting him go anywhere alone."
Jethro paused, and Gabriel let the silence stretch, knowing he was building up the momentum to talk about his mother. "Eventually Duck and Doc McCoy realized she had cancer."
"He'd never touched anyone with cancer before?"
"Duck says that each kind feels different, and then there's differences based on where in the body the mass is located. All that took them a while to figure out."
Jethro trailed off and Gabriel prodded, "Did Duck catch it in time?"
Gibbs smiled at that, "Yeah, he did. It was barely there, something that didn't show up on any of the scans, and that the doctors said they probably wouldn't have caught until it was too late."
"But Ducky did."
"He saved her."
Gabriel had the foreign urge to reach out and tell Jethro he was glad that Gibbs still had his mother, but that would have led to a reciprocal conversation that he wasn't quite ready to have. Gibbs watched Gabriel struggle with himself and let the moment pass. Jethro stood and pulled out spare sheets for Gabriel's cot, letting the other boy regroup instead of pressuring him into saying something he wasn't ready for. Somewhere in the course of the day Jethro decided that he trusted Gabriel, and even liked him a little, and that meant he could give Gabriel time.
Part 2