Since the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone, here is the story of Phoenix in New Orleans! For this one, this is after Gregorio has joined the team. Enjoy, don't forget to review! :)
Dwayne Pride walked into his squad room. He loved that old building, and hung on to it, even if he could have been in a sleek and new place. Sleek and new, well that wasn't him at all, anyway. And his team were still one of the best, even if they did go off script once in a while. Hell, he did too, so who was he kidding? "Mornin' everybody," he cheerfully said. Christopher LaSalle looked up and grinned, "King." Percy yawned and gripper her coffee, "Good morning. At least I think it is." Gregorio raised an eyebrow, "What's the matter there, Sonya? Wrong side of the bed this morning?" Percy shot her a look, "No, only an idiot who played a saxophone underneath my bedroom window." Pride laughed. Only in New Orleans.
"Morning, King." Patton wheeled into the squad room. "I hate to break up such a beautiful day, but there's something you gotta see." Pride saw the very concerned expression, and hurried after him to Patton's office. LaSalle followed too, leaving the ladies to do their "girl talk", something he never quite grasped. Patton parked himself in front of the computer and started off, "I got a facial recognition of the shooter we were tracking." LaSalle confirmed, "Yuh mean the one who knock'd off the ensign on Canal." Patton nodded, "Yeah, him. Now here he is in a bar on Bourbon Street." He showed them the pictures that the camera pulled of him. "But that's not really what I called you in for. We have a bigger problem." Pride asked, "Like what?" Patton zoomed in on another area of the same shot. "Facial recognition picked up someone else." He pointed at a tall woman, with unmistakable grey eyes. Pride squinted at the grainy image. "Am I supposed to be a magician and just guess who that blob of pixels is?" Patton rolled his eyes, but became serious, "That is Phoenix." LaSalle turned, surprised, "Wait...Ah only know of one Phoenix, no last name, an'..." Patton deliberately nodded. "The same one who took Agent Gibbs? Twice, act'ully?" Patton affirmed, "Facial recognition isn't usually wrong, so... She's here in New Orleans, Pride." Agent Pride stood up with a sigh, "So...what's she doing here?"
Patton played forward the tape and it seemed she was actually watching the shooter. When he got up and left, she seemed to follow his movement, then was seen talking into her cell phone. Chris mused, "Do yuh think she is interested in our shooter? Mebby fixin' to do something with him?" Pride frowned, "I don't know, Lasalle. Play the tape one more time, Patton." He complied and waited to see what Pride had to say. Pride pointed at the screen, "There. The bartender does not look comfortable at all. Maybe he knows something. Chris, why don't you take Percy and have a look?" LaSalle nodded, "On it, King." He jumped up and to the squad room. Agent Pride sighed, "Looks like I'm going to have to make a call."
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Soon, the two agents found their way to the counter at The Swamp and quietly showed their badges to the nearest bartender. The handsome brown haired man leaned over the counter and asked, "How can I help you folks?" Agent LaSalle started things off, "We just have a few quest'ons. This here guy was seen in this club a few nights ago. Think you can recognize 'im?" The bartender scrutinized the photograph and shook his head. "You do realize the number of people who come through here, yeah? Sorry, I can't place him." Percy held up another photo. "How 'bout her?" The man took one look and tossed his hands up, "No, sorry, not touching that one." Surprised, the agents looked at each other. Chris queried, "How's that?" The man shook his head, "If you're looking for her, I'm not involved." Sonya tried to get him to say more, "So, she was here." He glared at her, "Okay, yes she was here. But stay far away from her. She's dangerous. Look, if anyone asks, I didn't tell you anything." He spun on his heel and walked away quickly. "Huh, he seemed pretty terrified of her." Percy shrugged. It was probably the best for him if he had nothing to do with Phoenix.
They went ahead and asked some of the waitresses about their shooter, but neither brought up Phoenix again. It seemed the safest thing to do.
Meanwhile, Agent Pride made a video call to Leon Vance. Soon the NCIS director was on his screen. "Good morning Agent Pride. How's the weather in New Orleans?" Pride smiled, "Sunny as usual." He frowned, "I'll cut to the chase. We have had a Phoenix sighting." Vance leaned forward in his chair, "She's there? Where?" Pride sighed, "She was seen in a bar on Bourbon Street. Might be following someone we're tracking." Vance rubbed the bridge of his nose before saying, "I don't need to tell you to proceed with the utmost caution. Do not engage with her if you can. You heard about our agreement?" The New Orleans agent nodded, "Yeah, I did. Your hands are tied. Doesn't necessarily mean ours are." Vance snapped, "You have your orders. Do. Not. Engage. Stay away from her. I don't need to mop up more messes after the last one." Pride paused before replying, "Okay, I'll do my best. Obviously we know Phoenix is a bit of a wild card, but we'll do what we can. Just letting you know where things are at." Vance nodded, "Thank you Agent Pride." He closed the connection, leaving Pride staring thoughtfully at a blank screen.
When Chris and Sonya returned and had shared what they found, Pride also forwarded Vance's warning to the team. "I can't stress enough how we can't go off book for this one. Our job is one, identify the shooter and two, find him. Case closed. Any questions?" LaSalle piped up, "What if she's lookin' for the same thang we are?" Pride answered, "Then we find him before she does."
*DING!* The team turned around and answered Loretta's video call. "Good morning everyone!" She smiled at the team. "Morning Loretta!" they chorused in unison, then laughed. "What's up, Loretta?" Pride smiled. She replied, "I have just finished the autopsy on Ensign LaRose." She explained that he had been shot by a 9 millimetre bullet, the most common kind of bullet, but she did find some hairs on him that didn't belong to LaRose. There were also cells under his fingernails. Sebastien was running tests as they spoke. "Thanks, Loretta," Pride said as he turned off the connection. "So until we get results from Sebastien, let's keep digging. Go learn things." The team broke up to their tasks. Percy and Gregorio were going to question family and friends of the victim, while Patton was going to keep seeing what he could find on the Web. LaSalle decided to go over the witness accounts again, to see if they had perhaps missed something. Pride sat down to catch up on much needed paperwork.
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The next day, the team were not that much further ahead. The unknown shooter was eluding their efforts of finding him. They also had no sign of Phoenix, but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen.
Pride's phone rang. He answered, made a few exclamations, then hung up to see his whole team watching him. "The Canal shooter has struck again, this time a woman." The team jumped up and got ready to go to the crime scene. Soon they were there, and Loretta was one jump ahead of them. Gregorio took one look at the woman who had been shot in the forehead and exclaimed, "That's Ensign Larose's sister, Violet!" Percy shook her head, "He obviously wanted something from them if he went after his sister." She looked up and asked, "Witnesses?" The crime scene had already been cordoned off by NOLA police and there was only two witnesses. LaSalle went over to the officer who had spoken to the witnesses, and soon returned. He said, "They're a couple, an' they saw a man with a gun. They said he jus' shot her and ran off into crowd. She didn't stand a chance. Also said that she had looked nervous and lookin' over her shoulder a lot." Pride acknowledged what his agent said and bent to hear what Loretta was saying.
LaSalle scanned the crowd, the way he usually did at a crime scene. Sometimes someone came forward with more information. Suddenly he focused on one woman, who turned grey eyes on him and smiled. He stood there, eyes locked with hers for a good minute before she melted back into the crowd. "King…" he said without turning his head. Pride straightened up and stood beside him, "What is it, Chris?" LaSalle stared hard at the spot where she had disappeared, but it was no use. She was gone. He whispered, "She was here." Pride startled, then confirmed, "Are we talking about Phoenix?" He frowned at LaSalle's nod and looked the direction he did. "Are you sure?" Chris softly replied, "Sure as ah'm standin' here."
Later on, the team went over what they knew. Cells and hair had come back from Sebastien, identifying the shooter as a male Caucasian. Interestingly enough, he had also discovered a powder on the Ensign's jacket, which was cocaine. Gregorio wondered, "Think he crossed one of the dealers the wrong way?" It was interesting. They'd have to look into it more. LaSalle also shared with the team about seeing Phoenix in the crowd. "Ah don't know why she'd be around a crime scene, unless our suspicions were correct. She is followin' our shooter. So the question is: why?" No one could come up with a good answer. They decided to break up for the day and hopefully the morrow would bring some semblance of answers.
LaSalle sat in his usual spot at the pub. Pride had of course invited him to his own place, but tonight he felt more like hanging out on his own. He'd had a few drinks, and a few nice looking girls had already approached him, wanting to dance and flirt. He had thought of trying one, but then decided against it. Just him and his drink, that's how he wanted it tonight. A purring voice sounded in his ear, "All alone tonight, are we?" Christopher turned to answer the voice of what he supposed was yet another girl trying to flirt with him. He looked straight into the grey eyes of Phoenix and froze. He could say nothing. He turned away abruptly and looked for his bartender. However the man had spotted her, and slipped away, asking one of the girls to serve instead. Great, even he's scared of her. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Oh come on, what does a girl have to do to get a dance around here?" He replied without looking at her, "There's lotsa men on the floor already. Go find somethin' you like." She purred, "Ah, but what if I have found him already?"
Chris made himself look at her, "Sorry, not interested." She chuckled, "You know who I am, yes? Then you know how...dangerous...it is to say no?" LaSalle swallowed hard, trying to come up with something smart to say. Unfortunately he was coming up empty. He opened his mouth to say something, anything...when suddenly he was pulled off his bar stool. He yelped in surprise but then realized it wasn't one of Phoenix's ladies, but Sonya Percy. She played her role perfectly, "There you are, dah'ling! I've been lookin' all over for you. Come on, sweetness, my place!" She fair dragged him out of the bar, leaving Phoenix looking after them in amusement.
Good job, Percy! That was a near thing!