NCIS Reverse Bang Entry: The Coming Storm
Title: The Coming Storm
Author: WaterSoter
Summary: In a world where a small percentage of the population manifest special elemental powers, Tony was an outsider even among his own people. NCIS Reverse Bang. Canon AU. Gen.
Main Characters: Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo, Cassie Yates, Jethro Gibbs, Timothy “Tim” McGee, Tom Morrow, Abby Sciuto.
Genre: Action-Adventure, Alternative Universe, Angst, Drama, Episode Related, GEN, Hurt/Comfort, Urban Fantasy.
Rating: R for violence and past character death
Author’s Notes: This story is my entry for the NCIS Reverse Big Bang though the Elemental AU is my own creation. In this story a small percentage of the population have elemental powers called alters. There are three levels: Manipulators (Manips): Are people that can move their elements, at very limited levels; Shifters (Shifts): Are people that can change the composition of their element or use an aspect of the element; Elementals: Are people that can control and manipulate their elements to significant levels. They have a deep connection with their elements and are affected by them when they manifest in large and powerful ways such as natural disasters. They are extremely rare and there are currently about only 8-12 worldwide.
Feedback: Yes, please. Give it to me all: the good, the bad and the ugly!! :p
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters in this fandom, I just love to torture them. I do own my OCs though so please don’t use them without my permission.
Word Count: 3,109
Warnings: Dark themes, death - major character (past), death - minor character (past), discussion - murder, discussion - other trigger topics, disturbing imagery, violence - canon-level.
Art by: SexyCazzy, thank you so much for all your hard work!!! :D
Written for the NCIS Reverse Bang!!
*O*O*O*
The elevator doors dinged open and Cassie took a deep breath before going into the belly of the beast. The orange was, as usually, eye searing and made her feel like she had just stepped inside a pumpkin. Even the metallic tint of the walkway and the gentle hues of yellows and whites scattered about did nothing do dispel that impression.
Right.
Bracing herself, Cassie made her way to the cubicles. Past pointed looks, waves of muttering. She always forgot, having her own little niche over at Norfolk, that in most places, she wasn’t welcomed. Not even a month after saving one of their own and she was already the enemy.
Cass went straight to where the MCTR was housed. Usually brimming with activity. With the kind of energy someone like Gibbs tended to bring out. Only today it was mostly empty. Three out of the four desks without anyone manning them. Which seemed about right, from what she’d heard. From what anyone had heard.
The team had had a hell of a three months, first with DiNozzo and the plague, then with Kate and Ari, supposedly, anyway. Though Cass would bet Redskin box seats on it being more than supposedly. To her, it wasn’t surprising that Gibbs was hunkered down, with Morrow more than likely, probably at MTAC. Or that DiNozzo was off somewhere, hopefully Bethesda but she wouldn’t hedge her bets. What was surprising, was seeing Tim, hunched over his computer, typing a hundred miles a minute, and looking for all the world like something out of the Living Dead.
She made her way carefully to his desk, ignored the many eyes on her. Protective eyes, those were, which made Cassie better about being there at the Navy Yard instead of Norfolk. Or about turning her back on what was an essential job at NCIS. For their agency, for her own people.
“Well, look who’s hard at work!” She exclaimed brightly, making poor Tim jump about a foot in the air. Cassie bit back her initial grin at the reaction. It wouldn’t be well received by Tim or the agents watching them. Mostly it was a perfectly normal reaction after the hell he and his team had been through these past two months.
“Cassie!” Tim said once he regained what little color he’d had and stopped looking like Casper’s second cousin. Interestingly enough, though, was the aborted glance at DiNozzo’s desk. He sat back in his chair, straightened and stared at his screen like it had personally cussed him out. Jaw tense and color high on his cheeks.
Right.
Fragile male egos.
“Sorry, Tim. Didn’t mean to startled you.” She leaned over a little and got an even better look at the raccoon eyes. The pallor that didn’t just make him seem like the walking dead, but three steps in the coffin. She didn’t say any of that. Before the joke might actually be funny. If they hadn’t lost Kate a bare month ago. If DiNozzo hadn’t tried for his own swan dive, not once, but twice. “Though hard at work is probably not the right word. You look like you’re about to drop.”
Tim blinked at her, once, twice, eyes too blank for a guy whose brain tended to go a thousand miles an hour. Then something penetrated because he slumped in his chair. Hands turning arthritic, curled on the keyboard. Cassie could almost imagine the want of using them to smash things and stopping himself at the last moment.
Getting tech to surrender stuff was like getting wine out of stone. And that was when they were owed the equipment. Delivery breaking government property, well, Gibbs got away with it only because DiNozzo had everyone and their mother wrapped around his hot little fingers. McGee could crawl from up and down staircases in a sacred vow and they would even give him a used AA battery much less a brand new keyboard.
“It’s been a hard few weeks.” McGee muttered, lowly enough that no one else could had heard. Ran a tired hand over his face. Then seeming to realize that Cassie shouldn’t be there, he stared up at her. “What are you doing here anyway?” Of course once the words were out, McGee probably got how bad that had sounded.
“I mean, you’re usually at Norfolk.” He finished lamely. Cassie didn’t mind. Most people tended to get edgy around her. Someone with divided loyalties tended to be seen that way with few exceptions. Though McGee had been one at Norfolk, and not just because they shared an elemental affinity.
Cassie glanced around at the perked ears and noisy, wondering eyes. Closing ranks, she knew, against an unknown threat even if it stung to be seen that way. She wore she badge, she was not one of their own. How DiNozzo escaped that kind of sentiment Cassie would love to know. Maybe she could take advantage of her current assignment and twist his ear.
“I’ve actually been transferred over.” She said and watched as incomprehension chased confusion chased suspicion. Saw a man two cubicles away pick up a phone and do some fast dialing. She could be paranoid but she doubted the coincidental timing. Not even a full five minutes in and already people were checking up on her.
She sighed internally. McGee was still staring at her and it was probably exhaustion that was making him slow on the uptake. He was a bright guy. Then again, brains didn’t always equate sharp-minded or quick-witted. She knew McGee but had never worked with him as a field investigator. With computers he could do things that were so over her head they landed somewhere in Saturn. Everything else was a mystery.
“I’ve been assigned to the MCTR.” She decided to spare him, and herself a headache. Gibbs was probably being told if he hadn’t already. She was already going to have to deal with two unpredictable reactions, she didn’t need to add a third.
McGee’s face froze for a moment, then twisted into a collage of expressions: grief, anger, helplessness. Cassie had them all engraved in her brain from years and years of dealing with both victims and criminals.
“Oh,” was all he said before returning to doing magic with his keyboard. Hunched over and staring at his screen like his life depended on it. Cassie bit back a sigh and glanced around the small enclave in the bullpen. Well, small was really relative.
The MCRT had the largest section of the bullpen. Mostly to themselves from what she’d seen but with the occasional transitional agent or temp taking one of the blocked off desks at the sides. Cassie had had one of those way back in the day when she was under Pacci. Pacci had played musical desks since he tended to move between offices because of his position in NCIS.
Cassie eyed the old desk with some bittersweet fondness. Pacci had been a good mentor. And his skill at manipulating his own element had pushed Cassie to really get proficient with her own. She glanced at Todd’s desk. Completely devoid of any personal nicknacks. She wondered who had done that. She couldn’t imagine Gibbs or McGee going through her things. Not with Gibbs doing a good impression of Ahab with Ari Haswari and McGee still
Cassie looked at the last desk, DiNozzo’s. There were a bunch of files piled high on his out box, which had her eyebrows climbing over her forehead and wanting to make a dive for her neck. She had assumed that he was out on medical leave but those looked recent. Unless the internal mail system was falling down on the job. Something she doubted, not with Morrow still running things.
With a muffled sigh and half the eyes of the bullpen on her, Cassie choose a desk to the side of Gibbs. It wasn’t an ideal place, for a number of reasons, but she wasn’t going near either of the empty desks with a ten foot poll and a whip. Placing the box with her things on top, she got to work on making it at least look less gloomy. She had too much to do and even more to catch up on. More than that, with a quick look at DiNozzo’s desk, she had the US’s third elemental to get in shape before someone else did it with or without anyone’s consent.
*O*O*O*
“Nothing to see here, McNosey!” DiNozzo snapped, sharp and loud enough to be heard in the entire crime scene. Cassie glanced around and took note of who was paying a little too much attention. She spotted a marine with a phone in hand and a couple of civvies with black glasses but nothing too bad.
Cassie turned back to the evidence she was collecting and caught the edge of one of Gibbs’ questioning glares. She shook her head but Gibbs didn’t relax. Not that she blamed him. Since DiNozzo emerged there had been no end of people wanting to stick their oar into his situation. Everyone from SecDef to the director of the CIA. The head of the NSA to the White House to the Pentagon and people with more candy on their chest than Cassie had seen in her life.
So far between Morrow, SecNav, the NSAA (national alters security agency), and FBAI (federal bureau of Alter affairs), they were keeping the wolves at bay. So far. But Cassie knew that didn’t mean much. Eyes were being kept on DiNozzo, Tony, and not all were friendly. McGee had already found a gaggle of wiretaps in his apartment, not to mention the amount of spyware on his cel and computers.
Morrow had gone as far as to order an agency wide audit of their systems and their offices. With the amount of wires and microphones and camera they had found, the entire agency was wound up tight. They didn’t talk about Tony or did anything in relation to him or the MCRT on computers. Meetings were held in the director’s office or MTAC after the room had been swept, twice. And Cassie wasn’t even considering the team or Tony’s own reactions.
Honestly about the only good thing about this whole mess was how tight the whole agency had become. They had closed ranks around Tony and the MCRT and hunkered down against every fed agency and police force in the US and beyond. Even they military had gotten into the act.
Balboa had had a case where a Marine had actually punched a feebie named Sacks in the face for something the man had said about Tony. Last she heard Cmdr. Rabb had gotten the kid off with a slap on the wrist.
Cassie shrugged at Gibbs, at the sudden static in the air that was making her hair stand up. At the tingle under her skin. Tony wasn’t sparkling yet, but it was just a matter of time. Their case was getting to everyone but DiNozzo had been especially snappish.
“I’m just asking, Tony.” McGee muttered. Too low for anyone outside their immediate group to catch. He looked around before lowering his voice even more, “I’m phone is starting to fizz out.”
Tony took a deep breath, making a visible effort to calm himself. Cassie could feel the static in the air dissipate a little. She sent a gentle wave into the ground. Her own version of sonar. Didn’t pick up anything worth noting.
“Anything?” Gibbs motioned to the ground.
Cassie did a more in-depth search but still nothing. “Just some old junk and some petrified animal remains.” And poop. Lots and lots of dog poop. The amount of dog chips made Cassie think twice about sitting in the grass, or going on picnics, or touching the grass ever again. She stood up and wiped at her pants. She really wanted some hand sanitizer. She would ever settle for boiling water and anti-bacteria soap.
Tony and McGee had moved a bit further away. McGee taking a few shots of the ground with DiNozzo muttering a few things she couldn’t make out. “I don’t think there’s anything here for us to find.”
“Looks like it.” But Cassie knew Gibbs wasn’t going to let them leave until they’ll scoured the entire scene and then some. “Keep looking. Not leaving ‘till we check every damn nook and cranny.”
And Gibbs went away to do whatever it was he did when he wasn’t hovering over them. It was a relief if she was honest. Being the focus of that level of intensity was like having a lion ready of pounce at the slightest provocation. Yet another reason she was never going to be insane enough to go on one of those open car safaris.
“Did you find anything?” Cassie glanced up at Tony, who was doing a great impersonation of an extra for the Living Dead. Pale, frazzled and eyes so sucked they looked like two black holes on his face. She didn’t mention any of that as she got up from her new spot.
“About as much as I did the first seven times Gibbs asked me.” She added a grin to take the sting out of her words. DiNozzo could be surprisingly sensitive at the worst of times. Most people probably didn’t notice. Cassie hadn’t noticed those first few weeks but then Cassie was a shift and very much in harmony with her element. It meant that she could feel the vibrations of people’s emotions through the ground. At least most of the time. It was unpredictable and not admissible in court. But if Cassie knew the people, then yes, she could know more than they expected. Right now Tony felt like a tight band about to snap.
She stood and motioned at Tony towards a more reclusive area. They were at one of the national parks. The three line was close enough that Gibbs wouldn’t throw a fit about them disappearing and it gave them enough distance from nosy people wanting to get their dibs of the day.
Under some shade, Cassie watched as Tony leaned back against a tree, sigh in a way he probably wouldn’t do in front of just anyone else. The tension melting somewhat from his shoulders. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and Cassie winced in sympathetic feeling, “Thanks.”
A few fluffy clouds skimmed over the sun. Summer wasn’t full blown yet but Cassie was already feeling it. “You looked like you were one wrong word away from doing a live replay of Deliverance.”
That made Tony actually snort. A tired grin on his face for a second or two, before he went back to that doom and gloom vibe he had been carrying around like a death shroud. It had been like a dark cloud over his head since he emerged. Almost literally considering his element.
Tony ran a hand over his hair, staring at the crowd that kept doubling since they had arrived. Cassie saw the exchanged looks between the Marines, how they locked their arms and multiplied the looming by a manner of ten. “Looks like the dog and pony show is about to start.”
Cassie spotted the news vans and hid a wince. Dammit. “You know,” She started when a particularly persistent, and annoying reported tried to march away through the crime scene tape. The blond hair was bottled, she’d bet her entire collection of Nina Simone and BB King records on it. “if you learn how to use your element more, you could probably fry those camera.”
She purposely didn’t look at Tony as two burly marines body checked the reported. The reported squawked like an angry duck as she was forcefully led away. Waving her mic and whining the whole way back to her news van.
Cassie hid her smirk. From the other side of the field, she saw as McGee held his phone out, probably recording the whole thing. If a video of the whole thing didn’t find itself online before the day was out, she’d eat her hat. And her jacket. With a six pack in fridge.
“More training,” Tony responded bitterly. Ran a hand over his arm, a strange habit he had recently developed. And Cassie got it, she really did. Tony’s uniqueness worked against him. Not only because he was an elemental, which meant that he was one of three in the US and one of seventeen worldwide, but because lightning elementals were unheard of. Until now. Everyone and their mother wanted to have their say, their fingers in the pulse of the situation.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it right now,” She turned to Tony, made sure to have his attention before she continued, “but doing what you can do is special. It’s a miracle. It’s going to change everything in ways we don’t know how.”
Tony held her gaze, green eyes deep and a hint of blue coming out from them. Then he turned away, a sharp sting of electricity bouncing across the grass and onto the crowd who scattered with squeals and shouts. As if a mouse had been let loose among a group of socialites at a garden party.
This time Cassie didn’t try to hide her smirk. “Nice,” she saw a few people turn sharp glances over at them but Cassie didn’t care much. Tony wasn’t hurting anyone and at this point, with all the crap they kept pilling on his shoulders, he deserved to let off some steam.
Gibbs caught her eye from over the police tape. He didn’t look angry, in fact if Cassie had to guess he seemed amused. Maybe. She honestly couldn’t tell most of the time and they didn’t have yards between them.
For the first time there seemed to be a lightness in the air among them. That ever present weight, lifted. It wouldn’t last. For one the case was already looking like it was a serial and that meant they might have to bring in the feebies. For another, the shadow of Ari and Kate’s death loomed over them and everything they did and it would, until they brought Haswari to justice.
A breeze curled around them and brought the fading floral, fresh scent of spring. A few leaves fell on them and the burly Marines retook their positions with a nod, first a Gibbs then at Tony. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think she mattered to them at all. The sun was bright, those clouds moving away into the horizon and Cassie let herself enjoy the moment for the first time since joining the MCTR.
E/N: Lightning Elementals are considered a myth since none have emerged in recorded times. Any references of them are vague in ancient texts, tablets and other artifacts.
Author: WaterSoter
Summary: In a world where a small percentage of the population manifest special elemental powers, Tony was an outsider even among his own people. NCIS Reverse Bang. Canon AU. Gen.
Main Characters: Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo, Cassie Yates, Jethro Gibbs, Timothy “Tim” McGee, Tom Morrow, Abby Sciuto.
Genre: Action-Adventure, Alternative Universe, Angst, Drama, Episode Related, GEN, Hurt/Comfort, Urban Fantasy.
Rating: R for violence and past character death
Author’s Notes: This story is my entry for the NCIS Reverse Big Bang though the Elemental AU is my own creation. In this story a small percentage of the population have elemental powers called alters. There are three levels: Manipulators (Manips): Are people that can move their elements, at very limited levels; Shifters (Shifts): Are people that can change the composition of their element or use an aspect of the element; Elementals: Are people that can control and manipulate their elements to significant levels. They have a deep connection with their elements and are affected by them when they manifest in large and powerful ways such as natural disasters. They are extremely rare and there are currently about only 8-12 worldwide.
Feedback: Yes, please. Give it to me all: the good, the bad and the ugly!! :p
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters in this fandom, I just love to torture them. I do own my OCs though so please don’t use them without my permission.
Word Count: 3,109
Warnings: Dark themes, death - major character (past), death - minor character (past), discussion - murder, discussion - other trigger topics, disturbing imagery, violence - canon-level.
Art by: SexyCazzy, thank you so much for all your hard work!!! :D
Written for the NCIS Reverse Bang!!
*O*O*O*
The elevator doors dinged open and Cassie took a deep breath before going into the belly of the beast. The orange was, as usually, eye searing and made her feel like she had just stepped inside a pumpkin. Even the metallic tint of the walkway and the gentle hues of yellows and whites scattered about did nothing do dispel that impression.
Right.
Bracing herself, Cassie made her way to the cubicles. Past pointed looks, waves of muttering. She always forgot, having her own little niche over at Norfolk, that in most places, she wasn’t welcomed. Not even a month after saving one of their own and she was already the enemy.
Cass went straight to where the MCTR was housed. Usually brimming with activity. With the kind of energy someone like Gibbs tended to bring out. Only today it was mostly empty. Three out of the four desks without anyone manning them. Which seemed about right, from what she’d heard. From what anyone had heard.
The team had had a hell of a three months, first with DiNozzo and the plague, then with Kate and Ari, supposedly, anyway. Though Cass would bet Redskin box seats on it being more than supposedly. To her, it wasn’t surprising that Gibbs was hunkered down, with Morrow more than likely, probably at MTAC. Or that DiNozzo was off somewhere, hopefully Bethesda but she wouldn’t hedge her bets. What was surprising, was seeing Tim, hunched over his computer, typing a hundred miles a minute, and looking for all the world like something out of the Living Dead.
She made her way carefully to his desk, ignored the many eyes on her. Protective eyes, those were, which made Cassie better about being there at the Navy Yard instead of Norfolk. Or about turning her back on what was an essential job at NCIS. For their agency, for her own people.
“Well, look who’s hard at work!” She exclaimed brightly, making poor Tim jump about a foot in the air. Cassie bit back her initial grin at the reaction. It wouldn’t be well received by Tim or the agents watching them. Mostly it was a perfectly normal reaction after the hell he and his team had been through these past two months.
“Cassie!” Tim said once he regained what little color he’d had and stopped looking like Casper’s second cousin. Interestingly enough, though, was the aborted glance at DiNozzo’s desk. He sat back in his chair, straightened and stared at his screen like it had personally cussed him out. Jaw tense and color high on his cheeks.
Right.
Fragile male egos.
“Sorry, Tim. Didn’t mean to startled you.” She leaned over a little and got an even better look at the raccoon eyes. The pallor that didn’t just make him seem like the walking dead, but three steps in the coffin. She didn’t say any of that. Before the joke might actually be funny. If they hadn’t lost Kate a bare month ago. If DiNozzo hadn’t tried for his own swan dive, not once, but twice. “Though hard at work is probably not the right word. You look like you’re about to drop.”
Tim blinked at her, once, twice, eyes too blank for a guy whose brain tended to go a thousand miles an hour. Then something penetrated because he slumped in his chair. Hands turning arthritic, curled on the keyboard. Cassie could almost imagine the want of using them to smash things and stopping himself at the last moment.
Getting tech to surrender stuff was like getting wine out of stone. And that was when they were owed the equipment. Delivery breaking government property, well, Gibbs got away with it only because DiNozzo had everyone and their mother wrapped around his hot little fingers. McGee could crawl from up and down staircases in a sacred vow and they would even give him a used AA battery much less a brand new keyboard.
“It’s been a hard few weeks.” McGee muttered, lowly enough that no one else could had heard. Ran a tired hand over his face. Then seeming to realize that Cassie shouldn’t be there, he stared up at her. “What are you doing here anyway?” Of course once the words were out, McGee probably got how bad that had sounded.
“I mean, you’re usually at Norfolk.” He finished lamely. Cassie didn’t mind. Most people tended to get edgy around her. Someone with divided loyalties tended to be seen that way with few exceptions. Though McGee had been one at Norfolk, and not just because they shared an elemental affinity.
Cassie glanced around at the perked ears and noisy, wondering eyes. Closing ranks, she knew, against an unknown threat even if it stung to be seen that way. She wore she badge, she was not one of their own. How DiNozzo escaped that kind of sentiment Cassie would love to know. Maybe she could take advantage of her current assignment and twist his ear.
“I’ve actually been transferred over.” She said and watched as incomprehension chased confusion chased suspicion. Saw a man two cubicles away pick up a phone and do some fast dialing. She could be paranoid but she doubted the coincidental timing. Not even a full five minutes in and already people were checking up on her.
She sighed internally. McGee was still staring at her and it was probably exhaustion that was making him slow on the uptake. He was a bright guy. Then again, brains didn’t always equate sharp-minded or quick-witted. She knew McGee but had never worked with him as a field investigator. With computers he could do things that were so over her head they landed somewhere in Saturn. Everything else was a mystery.
“I’ve been assigned to the MCTR.” She decided to spare him, and herself a headache. Gibbs was probably being told if he hadn’t already. She was already going to have to deal with two unpredictable reactions, she didn’t need to add a third.
McGee’s face froze for a moment, then twisted into a collage of expressions: grief, anger, helplessness. Cassie had them all engraved in her brain from years and years of dealing with both victims and criminals.
“Oh,” was all he said before returning to doing magic with his keyboard. Hunched over and staring at his screen like his life depended on it. Cassie bit back a sigh and glanced around the small enclave in the bullpen. Well, small was really relative.
The MCRT had the largest section of the bullpen. Mostly to themselves from what she’d seen but with the occasional transitional agent or temp taking one of the blocked off desks at the sides. Cassie had had one of those way back in the day when she was under Pacci. Pacci had played musical desks since he tended to move between offices because of his position in NCIS.
Cassie eyed the old desk with some bittersweet fondness. Pacci had been a good mentor. And his skill at manipulating his own element had pushed Cassie to really get proficient with her own. She glanced at Todd’s desk. Completely devoid of any personal nicknacks. She wondered who had done that. She couldn’t imagine Gibbs or McGee going through her things. Not with Gibbs doing a good impression of Ahab with Ari Haswari and McGee still
Cassie looked at the last desk, DiNozzo’s. There were a bunch of files piled high on his out box, which had her eyebrows climbing over her forehead and wanting to make a dive for her neck. She had assumed that he was out on medical leave but those looked recent. Unless the internal mail system was falling down on the job. Something she doubted, not with Morrow still running things.
With a muffled sigh and half the eyes of the bullpen on her, Cassie choose a desk to the side of Gibbs. It wasn’t an ideal place, for a number of reasons, but she wasn’t going near either of the empty desks with a ten foot poll and a whip. Placing the box with her things on top, she got to work on making it at least look less gloomy. She had too much to do and even more to catch up on. More than that, with a quick look at DiNozzo’s desk, she had the US’s third elemental to get in shape before someone else did it with or without anyone’s consent.
*O*O*O*
“Nothing to see here, McNosey!” DiNozzo snapped, sharp and loud enough to be heard in the entire crime scene. Cassie glanced around and took note of who was paying a little too much attention. She spotted a marine with a phone in hand and a couple of civvies with black glasses but nothing too bad.
Cassie turned back to the evidence she was collecting and caught the edge of one of Gibbs’ questioning glares. She shook her head but Gibbs didn’t relax. Not that she blamed him. Since DiNozzo emerged there had been no end of people wanting to stick their oar into his situation. Everyone from SecDef to the director of the CIA. The head of the NSA to the White House to the Pentagon and people with more candy on their chest than Cassie had seen in her life.
So far between Morrow, SecNav, the NSAA (national alters security agency), and FBAI (federal bureau of Alter affairs), they were keeping the wolves at bay. So far. But Cassie knew that didn’t mean much. Eyes were being kept on DiNozzo, Tony, and not all were friendly. McGee had already found a gaggle of wiretaps in his apartment, not to mention the amount of spyware on his cel and computers.
Morrow had gone as far as to order an agency wide audit of their systems and their offices. With the amount of wires and microphones and camera they had found, the entire agency was wound up tight. They didn’t talk about Tony or did anything in relation to him or the MCRT on computers. Meetings were held in the director’s office or MTAC after the room had been swept, twice. And Cassie wasn’t even considering the team or Tony’s own reactions.
Honestly about the only good thing about this whole mess was how tight the whole agency had become. They had closed ranks around Tony and the MCRT and hunkered down against every fed agency and police force in the US and beyond. Even they military had gotten into the act.
Balboa had had a case where a Marine had actually punched a feebie named Sacks in the face for something the man had said about Tony. Last she heard Cmdr. Rabb had gotten the kid off with a slap on the wrist.
Cassie shrugged at Gibbs, at the sudden static in the air that was making her hair stand up. At the tingle under her skin. Tony wasn’t sparkling yet, but it was just a matter of time. Their case was getting to everyone but DiNozzo had been especially snappish.
“I’m just asking, Tony.” McGee muttered. Too low for anyone outside their immediate group to catch. He looked around before lowering his voice even more, “I’m phone is starting to fizz out.”
Tony took a deep breath, making a visible effort to calm himself. Cassie could feel the static in the air dissipate a little. She sent a gentle wave into the ground. Her own version of sonar. Didn’t pick up anything worth noting.
“Anything?” Gibbs motioned to the ground.
Cassie did a more in-depth search but still nothing. “Just some old junk and some petrified animal remains.” And poop. Lots and lots of dog poop. The amount of dog chips made Cassie think twice about sitting in the grass, or going on picnics, or touching the grass ever again. She stood up and wiped at her pants. She really wanted some hand sanitizer. She would ever settle for boiling water and anti-bacteria soap.
Tony and McGee had moved a bit further away. McGee taking a few shots of the ground with DiNozzo muttering a few things she couldn’t make out. “I don’t think there’s anything here for us to find.”
“Looks like it.” But Cassie knew Gibbs wasn’t going to let them leave until they’ll scoured the entire scene and then some. “Keep looking. Not leaving ‘till we check every damn nook and cranny.”
And Gibbs went away to do whatever it was he did when he wasn’t hovering over them. It was a relief if she was honest. Being the focus of that level of intensity was like having a lion ready of pounce at the slightest provocation. Yet another reason she was never going to be insane enough to go on one of those open car safaris.
“Did you find anything?” Cassie glanced up at Tony, who was doing a great impersonation of an extra for the Living Dead. Pale, frazzled and eyes so sucked they looked like two black holes on his face. She didn’t mention any of that as she got up from her new spot.
“About as much as I did the first seven times Gibbs asked me.” She added a grin to take the sting out of her words. DiNozzo could be surprisingly sensitive at the worst of times. Most people probably didn’t notice. Cassie hadn’t noticed those first few weeks but then Cassie was a shift and very much in harmony with her element. It meant that she could feel the vibrations of people’s emotions through the ground. At least most of the time. It was unpredictable and not admissible in court. But if Cassie knew the people, then yes, she could know more than they expected. Right now Tony felt like a tight band about to snap.
She stood and motioned at Tony towards a more reclusive area. They were at one of the national parks. The three line was close enough that Gibbs wouldn’t throw a fit about them disappearing and it gave them enough distance from nosy people wanting to get their dibs of the day.
Under some shade, Cassie watched as Tony leaned back against a tree, sigh in a way he probably wouldn’t do in front of just anyone else. The tension melting somewhat from his shoulders. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and Cassie winced in sympathetic feeling, “Thanks.”
A few fluffy clouds skimmed over the sun. Summer wasn’t full blown yet but Cassie was already feeling it. “You looked like you were one wrong word away from doing a live replay of Deliverance.”
That made Tony actually snort. A tired grin on his face for a second or two, before he went back to that doom and gloom vibe he had been carrying around like a death shroud. It had been like a dark cloud over his head since he emerged. Almost literally considering his element.
Tony ran a hand over his hair, staring at the crowd that kept doubling since they had arrived. Cassie saw the exchanged looks between the Marines, how they locked their arms and multiplied the looming by a manner of ten. “Looks like the dog and pony show is about to start.”
Cassie spotted the news vans and hid a wince. Dammit. “You know,” She started when a particularly persistent, and annoying reported tried to march away through the crime scene tape. The blond hair was bottled, she’d bet her entire collection of Nina Simone and BB King records on it. “if you learn how to use your element more, you could probably fry those camera.”
She purposely didn’t look at Tony as two burly marines body checked the reported. The reported squawked like an angry duck as she was forcefully led away. Waving her mic and whining the whole way back to her news van.
Cassie hid her smirk. From the other side of the field, she saw as McGee held his phone out, probably recording the whole thing. If a video of the whole thing didn’t find itself online before the day was out, she’d eat her hat. And her jacket. With a six pack in fridge.
“More training,” Tony responded bitterly. Ran a hand over his arm, a strange habit he had recently developed. And Cassie got it, she really did. Tony’s uniqueness worked against him. Not only because he was an elemental, which meant that he was one of three in the US and one of seventeen worldwide, but because lightning elementals were unheard of. Until now. Everyone and their mother wanted to have their say, their fingers in the pulse of the situation.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it right now,” She turned to Tony, made sure to have his attention before she continued, “but doing what you can do is special. It’s a miracle. It’s going to change everything in ways we don’t know how.”
Tony held her gaze, green eyes deep and a hint of blue coming out from them. Then he turned away, a sharp sting of electricity bouncing across the grass and onto the crowd who scattered with squeals and shouts. As if a mouse had been let loose among a group of socialites at a garden party.
This time Cassie didn’t try to hide her smirk. “Nice,” she saw a few people turn sharp glances over at them but Cassie didn’t care much. Tony wasn’t hurting anyone and at this point, with all the crap they kept pilling on his shoulders, he deserved to let off some steam.
Gibbs caught her eye from over the police tape. He didn’t look angry, in fact if Cassie had to guess he seemed amused. Maybe. She honestly couldn’t tell most of the time and they didn’t have yards between them.
For the first time there seemed to be a lightness in the air among them. That ever present weight, lifted. It wouldn’t last. For one the case was already looking like it was a serial and that meant they might have to bring in the feebies. For another, the shadow of Ari and Kate’s death loomed over them and everything they did and it would, until they brought Haswari to justice.
A breeze curled around them and brought the fading floral, fresh scent of spring. A few leaves fell on them and the burly Marines retook their positions with a nod, first a Gibbs then at Tony. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think she mattered to them at all. The sun was bright, those clouds moving away into the horizon and Cassie let herself enjoy the moment for the first time since joining the MCTR.
E/N: Lightning Elementals are considered a myth since none have emerged in recorded times. Any references of them are vague in ancient texts, tablets and other artifacts.