Cousin Jethro
(An NCIS - X-Men Crossover)
None of the Characters used in the work are mine. The cast of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles belong to Donald Balisario. The characters from the various X-Men titles belong to Marvels Comics and their - over the years - various editors, artists, and writers! I am just borrowing them to play with.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is what happens when you read too many fan-fictions! Other writers start giving you ideas! I'd like to thank DimensionalLover for helping to put this idea into my head! This will be the first of (what I hope)
is a four-story crossover-series, featued around NCIS! (This is a slight this cjapter, since I'm working off the 2014-2916 - Season of NCIS and Shadowcat as she first appeared - 13 1/2 years old in 1980) in the
Uncanny X-Men! Yes, I'm old enough to remember that.)
Cousin Jethro
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Gibbs strands if front of a Front-Porch door, looking gaurdedly over the head of a young woman crying into his chest.
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Director Leon Vance had gotten good, over the years, at reading the mood of his teams. All the way from the superior of his superiors - those "way above his pay-grade" - to his senior field-agents to the lab-assistants downstairs. It was a skill he honed over the years. It was a skill that had come in handy from saving his money at card-games to saving his patience and sanity with NCIS-cases and dealing, especially, with his most-senior field agent:
Gunnery Seargant Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Not many things bothered Director Vance in this job, nor anymore, but Gibbs could! Particularlly, when he appeared in his office without a word and with nothing to read but a dark, sullen look on his face.
"I need some time off, Leon."
On hearing those six words, even when quietly spoken, every red-flag Director Vance could imagine went off in his head! Leon Vance had figured Hell would freeze over long before Leroy Jethro Gibbs asked for time-off! Gibbs refused to take a leave even after his father, Leroy Jackson Gibbs, had died of a stroke! Something seemed to be wrong, here. But, what?
"Alright," the Director said, "You've got it! But - just out of formality and curiosity - why do you need the time off, Jethro?"
"Family-business, Leon." Gibbs replied.
"Ah!" Vance nodded. "Heading to Stillwater?"
"No. Not this time, Leon!" Gibbs sighed. "Heading to New York, a place called Salem Center. Have a cousin that attends school there. A second-cousin. Her name's Kathryn Pryde."
Director Vance' eyes shot up at Gibbs' words:
"'Kathryn Pryde'? Goes to school in Selem Center? In Westchester County, New York?"
"Yeah, Leon?" Gibbs asked.
"The School's called 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters'?" Vance asked as he pulled a folder from inside his desk.
"It is, Leon." Gibbs answered smoothlly. "The school in trouble with any agencies I should be aware of?"
"Not that I've been told of, Gibbs! Not yet, anyway. But? The FBI sent a dossier on the school to Sec-Nav about two weeks ago. The school was put on a Watch-List, and, I was told to keep this just in case anything happened!" Vance then pulled a photo of a brown-haired girl from the file with a tiny Star-of-David around her neck. "Is this Kathryn?"
"That's Kate, alright!" Gibbs smiled. "I remember the FBI taking that picture! Last time the X-Men were summoned to Washington, about 3 years ago."
"So? What's the problem, Gibbs?" Vance asked.
"I'll let you read it, yourself, Leon!" Gibbs pulled a letter from his suite-pocket. "I figured I might have to explain my need to leave."
Director Vance quickly read the letter. "She sounds alot like you, Gibbs!" Leon smirked.
"Nah.." Gibbs grinned. "I wouldn't have written the letter."
"That may be the case." Vance chuckled, taking four more pictures out of the dossier. "The redhead is Jean Grey-Summers. The black woman is Ororo Monroe, The gentleman is Piotr Rasputin, and the blonde is Emma Frost. Grey's a telepath and telekenetic, Monroe is some kind of weather-witch, ansd Rasputin is able to turn into some sort of living metal. Frost is a wildcard, relative newcomer to the X-Men, but rumoured to be another telepath! Also, it's said she has ties to the New York Hellfire Club!"
"I heard of the place, Leon!" Gibbs replied. "Scuttlebutt was the Hellfire Club was mentioned the last time the X-Men came up before Congress. Also? Kate told me of the place and Frost' connection to it. Their 'White Queen'."
"She's yoour mole in the school, Jethro?" Director Vance asked.
"Only with what she's involved in, Leon!" Gibbs sighed and ran a hand through his greying hair. "Ever since her parents divorced, I've been her guardian. Unoffivially. Hell, I think I've been her unofficial-guardian even when I was married to Shannon! Shannon watched over Kate like a hawk when she was with us!"
"Well, be that as it may!" Vance told his Senior Field-Agent, "Here! I'm giving you the whole dossier on the school as a loaner. I want that back! Never know who you may have run-ins with up there. But, I want that back!"
"Thanks, Leon", Gibs said at he opened the door.
"And, Gibbs?" Leon added.
"Yeah, Director?" Gibbs asked.
"If you need to, bring Ms. Pryde back to DC with you!"
"I aleady planned to, Leon." Gibbs answered Vance, then turned to call down to the Bullpen:
"TONY! Grab your gear! We're heading to New York! Westchester County! Hopefully, we'll be back by dinnertime!"
"Westchester, Boss?!" Tony DiNozzo looked up to the second-floor balcony. "Is Kathryn in trouble?" He asked as he started stowing his gear.
"'Kathryn'?" Probationary-Agent Eleanore "Ellie" Bishop asked Junior Field-Agent Timothy McGee.
"The boss' second-cousin," McGee answered. "Met her, once, about three years ago. Nice kid. Hope she's not in trouble."
"Might be, Tony!" Gibbs answered Tony. "She wrote me that she wanted to kill four of her team-mates! Asked me to intervene before she did!"
"Kill.. her team-mates?" McGee mamaged to gasp out. "But, they're her family!"
"Have we always gotten along with our families, Timmy?" Tony asked as he slung his stuff over his shoulder.
"Point taken." Tim deadpanned as he checked his gun.
"Agent McGee! Agent Bishop!" Director Vance called down from the walkway. "Go with Gibbs and DiNozzo! DiNozzo! See that Gibbs doesn't do anything stupid! McGee! See that Dinozzo doesn't do anything stupid! Bishop! See that McGee doesn't do anything stupid! Last thing we need is NCIS shooting up a school. No matter how much they deserve to be."
"A SCHOOL?!" Eleanor Bishop gulped as she entered the elevator.
"I'll explain on the road." Gibbs said tirely as the elevator closed.
When they exited the building, The group was met in the parking lot.
"Gibbs! Just the man I was asked to see!" FBI Agent Tobias Fornell spoke up holding a package.
"FBI?" Tony whispered to McGee. "This can't be good!"
"I wonder what's he got in the box?" Tim mused.
"He's wanting Gibbs." Tony rubbed his chin. "I wonder who called him? Director couldn't have called him. Lamgley's not close enough for him to get here that fast."
"'Was asked to see', Tobias?" Gibbs responded. "By who?"
"Your cousin wrote me a letter, begging me to see what kind of toys R-and-D was working on, and letting you have them to play with!"
"And, you agreed, Tobias?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes, Jethro, I agreed." Tobias Farnell answered. "You have a couple of modified Flash-Bangs and a VERY-modified TASER! Hopefully that will help keep the body-count low. I also asked the boys in New York to keep an eye on the Institute until you get up there!"
"Thanks, Tobias!" Gibbs said with grim smile. "You coming with us?"
"No." The FBI Agent said. "Seeing NCIS at their front door will be enough of a scare for most of them! They don't need to see FBI accompany you! Just tell Kitty Kat I said hello. I'll help Leon hold the fort down until you get back."
"Okay, Tobias. I will." Jethro replied. "Just don't tell Abbie where I've gone. Okay? She'll figure out why I left on short-notice, and will probably want ro kill anyone who follows us home!"
"You got it, Gibbs!" Farnell turned around and lightly chuckled, visions of dead X-Men flashing in his head. "If anyone could do it? Ms. Sciutto probably could! And? Make it look like an accident!"
"An Instutute? A SCHOOL?" Eleanore Bishop asked Gibbs after the two NCIS cars turned north onto the Baltimore Turnpike, "Why are we going after a school, Gibbs?!"
"To get my cousin's daughter and bring her home so she can have some much-nedded R-and-R!" Gibbs answered his Probatiobary-Officer. "You ever heard about Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngers up in Westchester County, New York, in your time with the NSA, Bishop?" He asked.
Eleanor's eyes almost popped out of her head as she jolted in such a way that would have stopped the car had she been driving it! She then turned toward Gibbs:
"Your cousin's one of the X-MEN?"
"Second-cousin," Gibbs corrected the Probie, "and, yes, she is! Was a student at Xavier's before she turned 15! Except for the month that her parents put her in the Massachusetts Academy. Here!" He pulled the letter out from his coat-jacket. "Read this. A letter I received from Kate, yesterday. Spent all last night reacting to it."
Bishop grew paler with every line she read:
"She's made a HIT-LIST?"
"It appears that way." Jethro sighed. "I don't know how it happened, but Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters has robbed my cousin of every drop of patience she had. And, if the hit-list is any indication, most of her sanity! And? My second-cousin had more patience and sanity than my first-cousin EVER had! Kate had as much patience as my dad, and more patience than Theresa and her grandpa put together! I - kinda grew up watching over Theresa - like dad watched over his older-brother, until Theresa left for Chicago! And? I tried to warn Carman Peyde about what he was marrying into! Kathryn was the only good thing to come out of that marriage, and I decided, long ago, to be there if anything happened to her! So? I'm off to Salem Center, now."
After hearing her boss' speech, Ellie Bishop just sat back and stared at the road, lost in thought.
The two NCIS-cars changed position morth of Baltimore heading toward Philadephia and New Jersey.
"How do you think Ellie reacted to the Boss' story?" Tim asked Tony. "I'm sure he told her!"
"Yeah. That's Gibbs. Tight-lipped, until you have to go in a fight with him." Tony grinned. Then that grin disappeared. "If Ellie's the kind of mom I think she is, once she heard the Boss' story? She probably substituted Kathryn for her little boy.. and wanted to throttle Theresa Pryde. I know I wanted to after hearing the Boss' story! Part of me already wanted to after I had just met the Kitty Kat! I can't imagine a mom disappearing on her child like she did."
"Yeah!" Tim agreed. "A few months before he died, I asked Jackson about it. Kate's story was eating at me. So? I called him about it, one evening. While Jackson Gibbs didn't say anything bad about Theresa Pryde outright, I could tell he was biting his cheek about what he did say! He did say that the Boss was the best thing is Kat's life, though! What do you think happened at the schoool, Tony?"
"I don't know, McGee! I just know it sent Gibbs into protection-mode! Trying to follow the Boss to Baltimore was like trying to follow the David-Limited!"
"I'd be careful about who I was talking about. Tony!" Timothy cautioned. "You're driving just as fast as Ziva!"
"I know, Tim." Tony stared down the road. "I'm just worried about Kat!"
A little under 3 hours later, the cars were parking into the driveway of Professor Xavier's school.
"Sounds quiet. I wonder if nobody's home?" Ellie said.
"There IS that possibility!" Tim said, checking his gun.
"Holster your weapon, Tim." Gibbs sighed. "We don't need anyone here more scared then they'd be, otherwise, seeing Federal Agents."
"Yes, boss!" Tim holstered his side-arm as Gibbs grabbed the package from the FBI.
Gibbs knocked at the door:
NOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Leroy Jethro Gibbs waited all of five seconds before he banged on the front door, again:
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"FEDERAL OFFICERS!" Gibbs shouted. "OPEN UP!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Oh, the Boss is not happy!" Tim whispered.
"The Boss is pissed." Tony nodded.
"What do we do?" Eleamore asked.
"Probably, best to wait and survey the damage, Probie." Tony whispered.
"What about what Director Vance ordered?" Ellie hissed.
"The Director isn't here." Tim mumbled.
"As long as nobody named Summers answers the door," Tony cautioned, "We should be Okay."
"Summers?" Ellie asked.
"A couple of the X-Men." Tim sighed. "Ones we'd rather not deal with at the door."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"I said..", Gibbs began.
"I heard what you said, Gibbs!" A slightly-accented voice came from in back of the door. The door then opened to show a short, barrel-chested man in western-cut jacket and jeans in the hallway. "Hello, Gunnery-Sargeant!" The man smiled slightly.
"Hello, Logan." Ginns replied. "You know why I'm here?"
"Not the particulars, no, but I can guess? I see ya brought bacK-up! Expectin' trouble, eh?"
"Only from Rasputin and Monroe." Gibbs said matter-of-factly.
"Their names high on Kate's list?" Logan asked.
"know about the list?" Gibbs asked.
"Watched her write it." Logan said.
"You didn't stop her from mailing it?" Gibbs asked the Canadian.
"Why should I?" Logan replied.
"This guy and Gibbs seem to get along okay?" Ellie Bishop pondered.
"Logan and the boss seem to understand each other!" Tony answered.
Suddenly, sounds of a fight came through the foyer:
"Don't you come CLOSE TO ME, Monroe!" A young woman screamed. "You put ONE HAND ON ME? And I SWEAR that will be the LAST TIME you touch ANYTHING! And tell that red-headed LAP-DOG of yours to keep a safe-distance from me! Preferably the other send of the STATE! I may be a MOUSE, here, but I'M NOT BLIND!"
"Now, Katya..", a masculine Russian-accent started to speak.
"Don't you 'Now, Katya' me, you philandering BASTARD!" The woman's voice was in tears. "You come within touching-distance of me,
Piotr Nikolaevich Rasputin, and I WILL cut off your manhood and shove it down your damned THROAT and watch you CHOKE on it!"
"What in the...?" Ellie breathed out.
"Not 'what', Probie." Tony sighed. "Who. Kathryn Pryde."
"You think the Boss heard that?" McGee asked rhetorically.
"KAT?" Gibbs shouted into the mansion. "KATHRYN!"
"He heard." Tony answered.
"Jethro?" A teary-voice seemed to call from inside the mansion, quickly followed by feet running through a hallway:
"JETHRO!"
A brown-haired woman, somewhere in her forties, burst through the door and callapsed into Gibbs' chest, crying out the last reserves of strength she had.
"Don't worry, Kat. I'm here. everything'll be fine." Jethro repeated, letting the Shadowcat cry into his chest.
'Charles Xavier?' Gibbs thought as he held his crying cousin, 'What in the hell have you let happen here?'