Chapter: 1
Loud music poured out into the deserted streets as a pub's door swung open. Two men walked out, wide grins splayed proudly across their faces as they supported each others' swaying bodies.
"Man, you were wild tonight! I've never seen you drink that much in one night before!" the taller one swung open the back door of a near by car and slid his companion onto the seats, laughing he giving his back a pat when he saw his friend had already fell asleep. "You're lucky I'm not too drunk, otherwise we'd both be screwed."
As the man opened the driver's door, he paused and looked to a darkened alleyway. With a furrowed brow he shut the door and listened, mmf rrgh frghnarg. With a quick glance to his oblivious passenger, the man slowly made his way to a near by ally way. His curiosity severely outweighed his sense of preservation. He carefully peaked around the corner, eyes widening as he saw a young boy tied up next to a great dane that was netted to the ground. The child looked bruised and beaten, but when he caught sight of him his eyes widened and he shook his head furiously. The man was beyond confused, but wasn't about to abandon the clearly in danger child. Taking one last scan around the ally, he gave up the protection of his corner and swiftly knelt behind the child, working on undoing his restraints.
"Don't work kid. I'll get you out of here in no time." The man said, gently removing the crude gag from around his mouth.
"You have to get out of here. They'll kill you!" the child whispered pleadingly. Before the man could so much as process the warning, burning hot pain deeply penetrated his chest. He painfully took in the fresh crimson that splattered against the child's horrified face before collapsing onto his side.
"You shouldn't have involved yourself with something that didn't concern you." The last thing the man saw was a faceless shadow forming behind the child before another Bang shattered the air and everything went black.
oOo
"Caucasian male, age thirty nine, his acquaintance identified him as petty officer Kevin O'Neil (1)." Tony DiNozzo, a middle aged man with an even tan and a playboy personality, listed off the only information they had about the case so far.
"Why hasn't the body been examined yet Ducky?" an older man seemingly hardened by the years walked along side of a seemingly older man, heading towards their crime scene.
"Unfortunately, our dead petty officer wasn't the only victim of our case." the aged man with a slight Scottish accent replied. Doctor Donald Mallard, more commonly known as Ducky. The three men came to a stop at the ally's opening, a few feet closer than everyone else.
A small boy sat curled into a trembling ball. His wide blue eyes locked onto the body in front of as he rocked back and forth mumbling. A great dane stood protectively in front of him, growling and snapping at anyone who dared to step closer.
"Who is he?" Gibbs asked, eyes never leaving the small form.
"We don't know. No one has been able to get close to him, the dog won't let us. We've tried to communicate with the kid, even tried to coax him to eat, but he won't say a word let alone break from his trance. He's been like this for eight hours at least." A local police man informed him.
Gibbs brushed past him and slowly approached the child. He put his hands up in surrender as the dog got onto all fours, lips pulled away from teeth as a snarl rose from its throat.
"Easy there, I'm not here to harm him." Gibbs spoke soothingly to the dog, ignoring the startled look Tony shot him. The dog seemed relentless in his guard stance, even snapping at the special agent when he dared to take another three steps.
"Jethro, don't do anything foolish. Come back here and then we could give the dog a mild sedative. It'd be completely harmless, and it's a safer alternative." But even Ducky's words of wisdom were disregarded as Gibbs continued his advancement.
Gibbs slowly moved his right hand from its defensive position to outstretched. The dog's eyes flickered to the hand before taking half a step back.
"It's ok." He repeated. Everyone waited with baited breath as the dog stopped growling. A sudden whimper sounded and the dog stood down, completely disregarding the man's presence as it turned to lick at the child's tear stained face.
"Ace?" a small, broken voice whimpered so lowly that only Gibbs being the closest heard.
"Is this your dog? Ace was it?" Gibbs asked. He crouched an arms reach from the child observing every miniscule movement. The boy whimpered once again and hid his face into the dog's dark fur. "My name's Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I'm an NCIS agent. That stands for-."
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service, I know." The boy cut him off, stunning blue eyes peered at him curiously from behind the dog.
"That's right. You're a smart kid." Gibbs praised, his lighter blue eyes assessing the many visible injuries. "What's your name?"
"My name's Dick Grayson." He whispered after a moment, seeming to contemplate whether or not this man was trustworthy.
"Hi Dick. Why don't you come here? We should get you examined. Some of those injuries look painful." Gibbs again outstretched his hand, but this time to the child.
"No!" he cried out. "No ambulances. I don't want to."
"That's fine, just fine. We can have you examined by one of our examiners. We'll only bring you to the hospital if your injuries are too extensive." Dick looked warily at the hand, almost frightened, but eventually he uncurled one of his tightly clenched fists from Ace's leather collar and hesitantly reached for the offered appendage.
Painstakingly slowly, Gibbs lifted the child into his arms. Holding tight to his new charge, he took long strides towards their car near by, noting that Ace was following close behind. Tony and Ducky exchanged disbelieving glances before Tony ran after his boss.
"A-Ace is coming with us right?" Dick asked when he was set down in the vehicle, eyes never leaving his beloved animal.
"Of course he is. Don't worry just relax and try not to aggravate your injuries." Gibbs stepped to the side, allowing Ace to jump onto the seat next to him.
"But boss-!" exclaimed Tony, his sudden outburst making Dick jump then yelp when his ribs protested. Gibbs slowly turned to his underling, a glare so fierce it killed any objections Tony had ready to burst. Head hanging, the movie enthusiast climbed into the passenger seat.
oOo
"Did you complete your objective?" an assassin knelt before his master's throne that was shaded with darkness.
"No I am sorry my lord. I deeply regret to report that the child got away. We were forced to flee when a civilian interfered." The assassin flinched when the armrest on the throne disintegrated to dust.
"And what of the civilian?" the voice shook with restrained rage.
"W-w-we disposed of him sire. He-."
"You did what?!" the intensity of these words bounced off the walls, making the underling tremble in pure fear. "You've alerted him to our operation. Your blunder has shattered this operation. No amount of groveling can make up for your error."
"Your grace, please you have to understand!" the man begged pleadingly, but to no avail. A sharp shink sounded shortly followed by a thud.
"Clean up this mess. I have to salvage this operation to the best of my abilities, assuming things aren't already too late." A figure stood from the throne and with a swoosh of his long cape he was gone. Leaving behind only the beheaded body that now lay in a growing pile of its own blood.
A/N: First try at this kind of crossover. This is pre-Robin/Robin in training. He's been out on patrol a couple dozen times and can hold his own in a fight, but still inexperienced and makes easy mistakes. He's about ten months fresh from his parents' death and it's still a raw subject. Can you guess who Ace is? If you can't, well then you need to read into batman more. This'll be focused mainly on the Bats, but there are other characters as well, hence why it's in the Young Justice section and not the Batman section.
(1) this is a completely made up name so if it coincides with any real life people, it's purely coincidental.
I do not own Young Justice or NCIS, review please.
