NCIS and BtVS
in a Fan Fiction Crossover
Buffy Returns to Washington
by
STFarnham
Lancer47
Rating: T (PG-13)
Summary: Agent Gibbs has a vampire problem. He really wishes he didn't.
Timeline: Current with NCIS 2005/2006 Season
This is a sequel to my story, Buffy Goes to Washington, and occurs a few months afterwards. It is not connected to A Murder in Norfolk.
Author's Notes: I describe the area where Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia meet as mostly unpopulated mountainous terrain, but I don't actually know if that's accurate. If it is full of suburbs and shopping centers, don't tell me.
Prologue
The NCIS van pulled up to a downscale neighborhood store, next to several cop cars and a coroner's hearse. Ziva and DiNozzo got out, held their badges up to the uniformed cops on duty, and ducked under the crime-scene tape to join Gibbs who had arrived just ahead of the van. They walked in carefully, making certain that no evidence was contaminated.
The senior detective walked over and introduced himself, "I'm Detective Sellars, are you the NCIS guys?"
"Yes. What've you got, Detective."
"Heh," said Tony, "I'll bet I know what your nickname is."
The detective pointedly ignored Tony and said, "The clerk was killed during an apparent robbery. After we started to process the crime scene we discovered that he was an active duty Marine Staff Sergeant, stationed at Quantico. Apparently working a second job. So we packed up our CSI guys and called you." He turned to grab a large canvas sack which he handed to Tony, "Here is everything we collected, including some Compact Flash cards from our cameras; I'd like those back when you're through with them."
"Thanks, you guys are certainly being cooperative."
"Yeah, I only have eight active murder cases to handle, I'm really broke up about having to hand this one to you."
"I can tell," said Tony, "anything interesting in here?"
"The security camera caught most of the action. I only took a quick look, but there was a girl here, at the time of the murder, whose actions are, well, a bit out of the ordinary. I'm pretty sure she was just in the right place at the wrong time, but, well, you'll see. Looks like a pretty good image of the perp, for all the good it'll do you."
The county coroner had already declared the clerk dead, so they went ahead a bagged the body and put him in the NCIS van. It took another couple of hours before they were ready to head back.
--- ---
Abbey danced in front of her monitors while watching the crime scene tapes, occasionally taking notes, interspersed with humming and twirling. Her short skirt made her twirls arresting. She had digitized the tape and was analyzing it almost frame by frame after enhancing all the frames overnight. From time to time as she viewed the ultra slow-motion playback, she printing out several copies of particularly good frames on her photographic quality inkjet printer.
"What have you got for me Abbey," yelled Gibbs over the music, "can we call the case closed?"
Abbey jumped, squeaking in surprise. Her spiked steel wrist bracelets clanked as she waved her hands, "GIBBS! Geez, do you have to sneak up on me like that?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well, that makes it all right then," she said, turning back to her monitors. "Now look at these prints, they're illuminating. I predict that you're not gonna like it."
She picked up the stills and started to explain,
"OK,
(1) here's the clerk,
(2) here's the customer,
(3) here's the killer,
(4) here's where he leaned over the counter and fatally stabbed Staff Sergeant McNulty in the chest, WITH HIS FINGERS! Then he leaned over the counter and bit him on the neck!
(5) Here's the girl, at half the weight of the now dead Staff Sergeant, ATTACKING THE MURDERER!
(6) The perp flies backward out of the view of the camera and the girl follows, pulling some sort of knife out of her sleeve. I'm still trying to enhance those frames but the resolution is just overwhelmed by the speed of the action; there's nothing here but blurry pixels.
(7) I have no idea what happened here, since the action is now off screen, but there is a little dust cloud over on the right. It's gone five frames later.
(8) Here's the girl back in the picture, picking up her goods. She sets down her supplies, mostly food, on the counter and gets her purse out of her pocket. It's really small, more of a man's wallet than purse, I'd say.
(9) Here she is counting out her money, after slowly adding up the cost. She even painfully calculates and adds the tax. Finally, she puts the money on the counter. Then she picks up the phone, calls 911, then leaves.
But Gibbs, there is no sign of the killer from this point on the tape until the police arrive and remove the tape. And judging from the crime scene photos, it shouldn't be possible for someone to get from the back of the store to the front without being seen by this camera. So he had to get out another way, but I didn't see another way. Do you see the problem here?"
Gibbs shook his head mournfully as he viewed the tape forward and back, pausing here and there. He finally picked up the still prints and left.
--- ---
Dawn Summers had arrived in Washington the day before, slept fitfully, and spent the morning shopping. It was a gorgeous late spring day; she was delighted that it wasn't hot yet, but the hint of summer-swamp-gas to come was in the air. She was sitting at an outside café, drinking a latte with biscotti and catching up on the news with the Washington Post.
Willow walked up and sat down, "Hello Dawnie, I'm not late, am I? How was your trip?" she leaned over and they hugged briefly.
"The trip was fine, and I'm early. This is an unusually fine day for spring time in Washington, isn't it?"
"Yes indeed. Well, are you ready for this?" Willow asked, with a hint of worry.
"Sure, after all, it's just another Slayer. I have a lifetimes experience dealing with them."
"Yeah, but Dawnie, this one is feral. As far as any of us can tell, she lives like a wild animal in the woods somewhere. It could be dangerous."
"So how came we haven't found her before now?" Dawn asked, a little pointedly.
"We've tried, several times. She must have highly attuned senses because she always starts moving away just as any of our Slayers senses her. Every time we started to move enough people into the area to trap her, something else even more important came along to distract us. But this time, we are determined to find her. The world seems fairly quiet on the demonic front, there are no worrying portents about, no impending apocalypses on the horizon, and all known Slayers are all happily doing their slayage duty, except this one."
"So what's the plan Obi-Will-Kenobi, can you help her?"
"You've really been hanging around Andrew too much. And anyway, doesn't Dawn rhyme better than Will?"
"Obi-Dawn-Kenobi? Oooh! I like it! I can screw with Andrew's head. Why didn't I think of that before?"
"Because you live on this planet," said Willow as she tapped the ground with her foot.
"Oh, heh!" laughed Dawn.
Willow said, "So, to get back on topic, the plan is to use our Slayers to sort of herd her to you and me. Buffy doesn't want her fighting other Slayers, if at all possible, so I am prepared to magically restrain her. But I don't mind telling you Dawn, I'm worried about this use of magic, even though the Witches of Westbury have spent quite a lot of time preparing me."
"Are you sure you're ready?"
"As ready as I can be, but if either of us can talk sense into her without needing magic, it would be better all around. Assuming we can figure out a way to meet her."
--- ---
Tony DiNozzo got out of the NCIS crime scene van and stretched luxuriously. Ziva, getting out on the passenger side, scanned the area alertly. Tony wandered around to the back and opened the door. "Dr. Mallard, wake up, we're here!"
The doctor was stretched out on the gurney, snoring away. At Tony's shout he woke up and said, "Stop shouting, I can hear you fine."
The three walked over to the trailhead. They could see Gibbs a hundred yards up the trail with several park rangers. They were all looking up a cliff, gesturing at something.
"Any bets," asked Tony, "on where the body is?"
"No bet. It's gonna be a hard climb," sighed Ducky, "for you. I don't believe I'm up for any vertical traverses."
Eventually it all got sorted out. The Park Rangers conjured up a climbing team, who set up a sort of block and tackle arrangement on top of the cliff (after photographing the area and finding a little evidence that someone had been up there).
As Tony strapped himself into his borrowed climbing harness he said, "I hope you have a head for heights Ziva, this is a sport that separates the men from the boys!"
Ziva expertly tightened the straps around her waist and shoulders and replied, "How about the women from the boys?"
One climber preceded the agents and was waiting near the ledge to help belay their lines. The other climbers handled the lines from the top and Tony and Ziva just leaned back and walked up the cliff, all under the watchful eye of Dr. Mallard and Gibbs. The other rangers had wandered off and were watching some birds splashing in a pond.
Ziva signaled a stop and walked herself sideways just below the ledge to the body. She seemed perfectly comfortable with a hundred feet of air below her, dangling on two lines. "Tony," she said, "there's some blood above, and a bit of dangling flesh, I think."
Tony glanced nervously down and looked distinctly ill. But he shook his head and looked up, got his camera out and started snapping pictures. He said, "So, uh, what do think? How'd he get here?"
Ziva gazed skyward, and held her thumb out like an artist, and gaged the angle of the rock above. She finally said, "He was thrown from the top. No question." She looked down and saw something on the body. "Huh, what's this?" She fished out a specimen stick and prodded the corpses mouth open. "He's got a toad in his mouth."
"The phrase Ziva, is frog in your throat."
"I don't know what you're talking about Tony, but that is unquestionably a toad, not a frog, and it never made it down his throat."
"Oh," said Tony, "you mean he really has rodent stuck down his mouth?"
"Not a rodent, you idiot, a toad. Amphibian, I think. Except toads are desert dwellers, not amphibious, oh, now you've got me confused."
"Is it a horny toad?"
"Geez Tony, dangling up in the air, looking at corpses and toads, and STILL all you think about is sex?"
"No, no, Ziva, a horny toad is a specific type, indigenous to this area."
"That sounds like a chicken and cow story to me."
"You mean a cock and bull story."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She turned to the climber still crouched on the ledge off to their left and said, "OK, you can pack up and lower him down. We're done here."
"Hey," said Tony, "I'm the senior agent here, I'm the one to say we're ready."
"OK Tony, say it."
"We're done."
Eventually everyone including the corpse, made it to the ground in one piece. Dr. Mallard did a quick inspection before packing him up for delivery to his lab.
"So Ducky, what do you make of this wound?" asked Gibbs.
"Hmm, it would appear to be an animal bite. Unfortunately, there are several anomalies. One, any animal with canines this far apart would also tear out quite a bit of flesh. Second, there is very little blood, either at the scene, or in the body. Even if he was killed elsewhere and dumped up on that cliff ledge somehow, that still doesn't account for the lack of blood on the body."
--- ---
William T. Conner, the conductor of a Norfolk Southern northbound mixed-freight train,
grumbled about being behind schedule as he filled out his paperwork at the conductor's desk on the left side of the locomotive cab.
Sam Wheaton, the train's engineer, thought he saw something on the rails ahead. He intently studied the view. After a few seconds, he said, "Bill, there's something on the track ahead that don't belong," and he immediately hit the brakes and simultaneously pulled the speed selector back to neutral. He had been at full throttle going up a slight grade at 35 MPH. He still couldn't quite see what the object was, the mottled shadows from the waving trees obscured his vision. "Bill, we're gonna hit it, whatever the hell it is it's too damn close, good thing it's small. We'll prolly be down to ten, maybe fifteen miles per hour." He set every brake system he had to full emergency stop. But he knew it was to no avail.
"Oh my god!" the conductor exclaimed a few moments later from his seat on the left side, studying the object intently through his binoculars, "it's a man, that's his leg over the rail!"
Sam pushed at the brake levers again, but they were already full on; with his left hand sounding the horn continuously, there was nothing left for him to do but wait for the train to gradually slow to a stop, except pick up the radio and call dispatch. Dispatch called the Norfolk Southern Police Department. As the train slowed through fifteen MPH, the conductor could clearly make out details of the man as he passed out of view under the wide front hood of the locomotive. He could have leaned out his side window to watch the front wheels sever the leg, but he wasn't up for that kind of sight.
"Well hell," he said quietly, "he's a Navy Lieutenant."
The young brakeman, sitting behind the conductor, had his whole torso practically hanging out the side window. A few seconds later he pulled back in and said, "Whoah, that was gross! But I think that guy was already dead! He didn't even twitch, except, you know, when the wheels hit him."
Conner looked at his watch and wrote in his notebook: 6:17 AM, Hit man on lying track, severed leg.
"Well Bud, go on up to the front porch and get ready to jump, but not before I tell you, not until we're going slow enough so you don't break your fool neck. Take the first aid kit with you and check him out."
"Hey cappy, if he wasn't a corpse before, he is now," he replied with major attitude.
The conductor turned around and gave him the look, the one that said Don't give me any shit! The brakeman gulped, nodded, and squeezed through the center door to the front of the locomotive with the first-aid kit in his hand.
--- ---
Dr. Mallard walked into his lab and began preparing for an autopsy of yesterday's find.
The door slammed open and Gibbs poked his head in and said urgently, "Ducky! Saddle up, we're goin' in the field again!" and was gone.
"Damn," swore Ducky, "three days in a row Mr. Palmer, what rotten luck, I'd so much rather stay here and cut up dead bodies." He took off his lab coat and grabbed his field kit and went to the garage, grumbling all the way.
Ziva was heading for the driver's side when Tony cut her off. "No way Ziva, you aren't driving the wagon while I'm on board!"
Ziva frowned as she got in the passenger side. As they pulled out of the garage, Ziva asked, "What is this NSPD Agent that we're meeting?"
"Norfolk Southern Police Department."
"What's that? A suburb of Norfolk? I thought we were going to someplace in northern Virginia, a railroad accident."
"No, no Ziva. Norfolk Southern is the name of the railroad. The NSPD is their police department."
"Are you joking?" she asked.
"No. I'd go into a long history of the Railroad Police, if I knew it. But luckily for you, I don't. You can think of them as an obscure Federal agency, sort of like us except for railroads instead of ships."
"Well that sounds very strange to me."
--- ---
Willow and Dawn drove through Fredricksburg, Virginia at seven in the morning. Dawn drove while Willow tried to use a magically enhanced compass to triangulate the location of their errant Slayer. She had her map marked with the current locations of three Slayers, plus her best guess of the unknown Slayer. They drove through a small town, past a well-maintained old courthouse, a bunch of historic buildings, bumped over some train tracks, and found themselves following a small river on a winding dirt road. Railroad tracks occupied the other side of the rushing stream.
Willow was decidedly delighted with the chirping and chittering of the birds and squirrels. She felt her connection with the Earth giving her a real buzz, what with Spring signaling the resurgence of life. They heard the horn of a train ahead of them, a long blast, a short, and a very long blast. A few minutes later a rumbling black freight train appeared, three big engines pulling an endless line of auto-racks loaded with Toyota's. Willow didn't pay much attention to the train, but as they passed it, her location charm went haywire, pointed to the middle of the train, and followed it. Then it started spinning in circles. Willow shook it experimentally, but now it just wanted to point North. "Damn," she said, "I think that train somehow interfered with my spell."
"How could that be Will," asked Dawn, "vibrations or something?"
"No, I don't think so. Oh heck, you know what?"
"What?"
"Our Slayer must be on that train. Hitchhiking, I bet. Maybe she's not as feral as we've been thinking!"
Dawn frantically looked for a place to turn around, but the road was too narrow. A mile past the end of the train, she finally found a turnout and whipped the car around in a tight circle. She started to race back.
Willow shook her head, "Don't bother Dawn. She's already jumped off. We need to find a quiet place to stop so I can renew this finder charm."
--- ---
Somewhere between Fredericksburg and Richmond, Tony found the turnoff. Actually, it was pretty easy to find since there was a cop parked there. The cop started to wave them off, but then saw the lettering on the side, and signaled them in. Ziva gave a friendly nod to the cop as they rolled past. Tony drove carefully down an ever-narrowing dirt track until they could go no further. They parked next to Gibb's car, two NSPD cars, an NS Supervisor car, and another cop car.
Ziva knocked on the divider door to the rear, "Ducky, we're here!" The three of them stretched and prepared for a hike.
"Damn," said Dr. Mallard, "I'm really not cut out for these hikes in the woods. How do I get into these situations?" Turning to the uniformed cop on duty, he asked, "How far is it, officer?"
"Welllll, aboot a mile, I'd guess. Easy walk though. Watch out fer the rattlesnakes. Them critters will kill ya fer sure."
As they walked down the trail, Ziva turned to Tony and asked, "Do they really have rattlesnakes here?"
"Naw, he was just messing with your head. This isn't rattlesnake country, the water moccasins drove them off. They're about twice as lethal."
Ziva glared at Tony, certain he was lying about something, but uncertain enough to maintain a high level of alertness, just in case. At least it was an easy hike. Less than fifteen minutes later they reached the tracks at the front end of long train. The train crew was sitting disconsolately around an idling locomotive, talking to an NSPD Special Agent and a Norfolk Southern manager.
The agent looked up sharply when he heard the newcomers. He held up his hand, until Ziva identified them as NCIS. He nodded and pointed down the tracks.
Ducky said, "Hell, another half-mile to go." Near the end of the train, Ducky found McGee inspecting under the cars.
"Hi Dr. Mallard. Here's the right leg. It was severed at the engine, got pushed around for most of the length of the train before finally getting caught on a dangling air hose. I took pictures, is there any reason I shouldn't move it?"
Ducky looked, snapped a few more shots, and said, "Go ahead." When Ducky finally made it to the corpse, he found a quietly angry Jethro Gibbs.
"What do we have here, Jethro?"
"It's just like the last two. Look at the neck."
The doctor set about examining the victim, the biggest piece anyway. He casually stabbed his thermometer into the corpse's liver. He took plenty of pictures and bagged bits and pieces of this and that. Finally, he said, "My guess, he died between three and six AM, this morning. He's lost a great deal of blood, but little of it is in evidence here. I wish I had done the other autopsies already, but there's nothing to be done about that. In my professional opinion, he was tossed from the top of a moving train, judging by the marks in the ground, and assuming that these footprints are those of the train crew that found him. He was dead or nearly so when he hit the ground."
The railroad manager came up to Gibbs and asked, "Can we move the train yet? We've got trains waiting in Richmond now, and we can't get back on schedule until this one backs down far enough to find a spot flat enough to get moving up the grade again."
"No, we aren't done yet. I'll tell you when it's OK." The manager went away muttering imprecations to himself.
--- ---
Willow and Dawn sat on a blanket by the river. They had found an ideal place to stop. Willow chanted in an ancient language over what looked like an ordinary backpacker's compass. But after a few minutes, the needle suddenly went nuts, spinning around, stopping, starting, moving jerkily. Until it finally settled in a direction that was decidedly not north.
"Well, that's weird," said Willow, "our quarry seems headed back down the tracks. Call Anna and tell her to drive south for a mile or so. Have Jeri go to the river directly behind us. And get Kennedy ahead of us, about a quarter mile from the river, on the other side."
Dawn faithfully translated those directions into course changes for the Slayers, and transmitted those orders by cell phone.
"I think we'll all be on foot soon, Dawnie. Are you up for a run through the forest?"
"No. I've got a better idea Will, let's let the Slayers run themselves ragged. Then we'll saunter up behind them after they've caught their shy sister."
"That sounds like a plan."
--- ---
Gibbs said with a sigh, "It's Lt. (jg) Raphaelson, newly appointed to the USS Truxtun, DDG 103."
"Damn," said Tony, "didn't even get to go on his shakedown cruise. He must have been riding high, then to have this happen..."
Ducky shook his head, "For a naval officer to die this far from the ocean — very sad indeed."
Gibbs looked at Ducky and, "I'm done here."
The railroad manager asked, "I can release the train?"
Gibb said, "I need to talk to the crew first, just a couple more questions, then you can move it."
"Thank you!"
Gibbs addressed the group, "Are we in agreement that the victim was probably thrown from the train in front of this one? And there could not have been any intervening trains, given the testimony of the crew of this train?"
Nods all around.
"OK, can one of you Railroad Agents find out which train was in front of this one, and arrange to stop it somewhere ahead?"
The RR Agents nodded yes.
Gibbs said to the muttering manager, "You can park it on a siding or something, it's not necessary to block the main track. And I doubt it will take long for us to check it out."
Several shouts came from the front of the train. Gibbs looked towards the commotion and saw a wild-looking girl running through the trees, having just knocked down two or three of the people standing around the locomotive. DiNozzo heard someone running from the other side side of the train, stepped around the end car and was astonished to see a beautiful young woman, dressed to kill in an expensive white track suit, leaping gracefully over some low rocks, charging towards the middle of the train. She didn't even slow down when she got to the train and jumped from the ground to the roof of a boxcar. She stopped and looked around, then leaped off and ran after the other girl. They both disappeared into the woods.
Gibbs wanted to run after them, but he saw that it would be impossible; he couldn't possibly run that fast. In fact, he thought darkly, no one could run that fast. "Ducky," Gibbs asked, "can you and McGee transport the body back to the van?"
The doctor nodded.
"DiNozzo, let's go." Gibbs turned and hiked back to the front of the train to talk to the crew. The railroad police followed. Just as he got to the front, two more young women showed up, a redhead and a brunet. These two were out of breath, Gibbs noticed -- they weren't in the same athletic class as the others.
"Hi," said redhead with a smile, "my name is Willow. By any chance, did you see a young woman running through here? We really need to find her."
Gibbs glared, "No." Willow's face fell. "But I saw two young women run through here like they were cheetahs. Just what is going on here?"
Yet another young woman showed up, crashing through some underbrush from Gibb's left.
He looked up in irritation and said, "Who the hell are you?"
"Hi y'all," said a cheerful brunette, "I'm Fred!"
Willow frowned at her and asked, "Fred? Why are you here?"
Dawn smiled briefly at Fred and said, "She probably got tired of waiting for us to come back to the car."
"The car?" asked Willow, "oh! The car, yes."
Gibbs was irritated. He looked back and saw that McGee and Ducky had taken the body and were bushwhacking cross-country to the trail. He turned to the conductor and said, "You're good to go."
The conductor herded his crew aboard the train after a brief conference with the supervisors. The railroad police and supervisors left. Pretty soon, it was just Gibbs, DiNozzo, and three young women, standing quietly near the tracks, watching the train back down the rails. Much to Gibbs amazement, two more young women joined them.
"Hey Jeri, Anna. Any luck?" asked Willow.
"No, where's Kennedy?" asked Jeri.
"She's off making like a gazelle, according to Inspector Gibbs, here," said Willow.
"That's NCIS Special Agent Gibbs. And I still want to know what the hell is going on here."
"NCIS? What's that?" asked Dawn.
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We investigate crime involving Naval property and personnel.
"This isn't your jurisdiction, is it? I mean, I don't see any water or ships anywhere nearby."
Willow looked around the clearing. The only sign of civilization was the train track. The rest was trees, bushes, birds, insects, leaves and flowers bursting joyfully open in the sun, the whole nature in spring thing. It was all Willow could do to keep her feet on the ground.
"Finding a dead Navy Lieutenant nearby is all the justification I need to be here."
Anna and Jeri swiveled their heads simultaneously to look up the trail. "Kennedy is back," said Anna. And sure enough, a moment later she stepped out of the woods and into the clearing. All the girls looked at each other and nodded negatively, without saying a word.
"Damn," said Willow, "I thought we'd find her this time."
Gibbs frowned thoughtfully and pulled a picture of the mystery girl in the 7-11 store out of his jacket pocket. "Do any of you recognize this girl?"
They all looked at the picture. Most said no, but Kennedy said, "That could be our missing girl. But I didn't get a really good look at her."
"You mean," Gibbs exclaimed forcefully, "none of you have ever met this girl you're chasing? This is starting to sound suspicious as hell. I had better get a believable explanation, and soon, or I will arrest all of you."
"For what?"
"How about attempted kidnapping? Or interfering with a crime scene? Trespassing on railroad property. Jumping on a train stopped in the woods. I'm sure I can think of more."
"Hey fella! We're just walking through the woods, looking to help a girl we heard about. We're not gonna kidnap her! We're not gonna do anything but talk! So get out of my face!" Willow said, getting exercised.
Fred said, "Mind your own business, lower being!" Gibbs looked at her in surprise.
The group continued to argue. Time passed. Suddenly, the three Slayers all turned as one and stared intently. The others noticed and stopped arguing. Shortly, all heard something large crashing through the woods. Fred grabbed Gibbs and yanked him back into the underbrush.
"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Gibbs.
"I am protecting you according to the dictates of my guide, even though I deem you as not worthy." said Fred/Illyria, leaving Gibbs with more questions than answers.
Back in the clearing, a nine foot tall yellowish-green scaled multi-headed creature with bony crests and many fangs burst out of the thick verdure.
Dawn yelled, "That's a Groenwalds Demon! It takes complete removal of the heart or quartering to kill it!" This last was shouted to the Slayers who had leapt into battle.
Only Anna had a sword, the others had knives. Gibbs was horrified at the sounds of battle that he could not see. He tried to wrest himself free of Illyria's grip, but couldn't.
He shouted, "Let go of me so I can do my job!" Gibbs was distracted by Willow pulling a sword out from under her jacket. She apparently had it strapped diagonally across her back. She ran ran out of his sight, shouting, "Kennedy, sword!" and tossed it in her general direction. Kennedy jumped into the air and caught the sword. She cut around in a wide arc on her way down and cut off one of the demon's heads, which didn't even slow it down. The other head fell dead by Anna's sword, but the damned thing kept fighting.
The train, which had found a flat spot just a mile down the track, had managed to get going the right way and was passing by just as the wild slayer arrived in the clearing. She took one look at the situation and jumped up on the demon's tail, took two steps up the back and swung her sword right through the spine and torso. The demon felt that, and fell dead moments later.
On board the locomotive, the brakeman and conductor had both rushed out the back of the cab and were standing on the side catwalk watching the battle in open mouthed astonishment. The engineer divided his attention between the front view and side view. He didn't want to stop, because that would require backing down again and would be terribly embarrassing to explain. His speed was just barely fast enough to make it to the crest of the grade, any slowing at all would be too slow. They rounded a curve and the train blocked all further view of the battle. They all got back to their seats.
Conner asked, "Uh, did you see that? Cheerleaders fighting a big green monster?"
"I saw it, but I'll never tell anyone about it."
"Nope, that didn't happen, couldn't have. Hallucinations. Crazy talk."
"Somebody must have been making a movie."
"Oh yeah, that had to be it."
"No other explanation, really. Musta been a student film, like that witch thing a few years ago."
"Sure, of course."
"You betcha."
"Man, those new digital cameras they use these days are really small!"
--- ---
Back in the clearing, Anna shouted, "Let's get this thing hidden!"
"Uh, Anna?" asked Dawn, "How?"
"We'll toss it in that ditch and brush leaves over it. Lots and lots of leaves." Anna picked up one end and the wild child picked up the other and they tossed it into the ditch. The other slayers chucked the other pieces of the demon after it and they all brushed huge piles of leaves over the carcass.
"Wow," said Willow, "now it hardly looks like a big demon fight went on, if it wasn't for the gallons of green blood sprayed all over creation."
As Kennedy prodded one of the dead monster's heads with her toe and pushed it into the ditch, she asked "What the hell was that?"
Dawn answered, "I told you, it was a Groenwald's Demons. Think of it as a big lizard, dangerous, a bit more lizardy than demony. You know, like the Monitor Lizards on Easter Island. Its bite is like a Monitor's also; it festers and kills you a couple of days later."
"They don't have Monitor Lizards on Easter Island," said Willow.
"Yeah, well, some island somewhere has them."
Meanwhile, the feral Slayer was looking around furtively and started to back into the brush. The others noticed and kept her from running.
Dawn said, "Hey, we want to talk to you. And more importantly, you need to talk to us. We can help you."
The girl stopped trying to disappear and looked at Dawn. The other girls surrounded her. At that moment, Gibbs came crashing back into the clearing with an irritated Fred following behind.
"Hey!" shouted Gibbs, "I want to talk to you!" He looked down as his feet slipped in something and added, "What the hell is this green crap?" He looked around and he frowned as he took in the splatters of green blood, the casually wielded swords and generally disheveled appearance of the girls. The new girl started to bolt when Gibbs appeared, but Anna and Kennedy grasped her arms firmly.
Willow said, "Why don't we all sit down, just sit, and, you know, talk?" she looked down at the pools and splatters of green ichor and continued, "but not here, back there, where it's drier."
They all moved out of the clearing to a smaller and more comfortable spot. The swords started disappearing. Jeri shrugged her backpack to the ground and offered clean rags and food all around. The wild slayer grabbed a sandwich and messily gobbled it down. The other Slayers also grabbed for food and were hardly any more mannerly. Gibbs frowned at them all.
Dawn said to the newest slayer, "I'm Dawn, this is Kennedy, Anna, Jeri, Willow, Fred, and Agent Gibbs. What's your name?"
Gibbs suddenly thought of something and pulled a radio out of his jacket. Ignoring everyone, he clicked his radio and said into it, "Ziva! Are you back at the van with everyone?"
The radio crackled a little and Ziva answered, "Yeah Gibbs, everyone except DiNozzo."
"OK, you and McGee go with the Railroad Agents and find that train they're holding for us. Ducky, you can head back to the ranch." He clicked the radio a couple of times and then asked, "DiNozzo! Where the hell are you?"
The radio crackled back to Gibbs, "Uh, I'm here in the woods boss."
"Where in the woods?"
"Well, uh, north of the rails."
"DiNozzo," Gibbs answered as if to a six-year old child, "the rails run north and south, how can you be north of them?"
"Well really they run sort of north-by-northeast, and I guess I must be a little north and mostly west of them."
"DiNOZZO! Get your butt over here!"
"Uh, where's here?" he queried.
"You're lost, aren't you?"
"No, no, I'm not lost. I'm just temporarily not certain of where I am in spacial relationship to you."
Gibbs could hear some crashing and cursing coming over the radio. Kennedy's head was cocked sideways as she listened to something only she could hear.
She said, "If you want, I'll go get him."
"No, that's quite all right..." said Gibbs. But he trailed off in thought and changed his mind, "Wait, that's a good idea. Go ahead." She took off into the woods. The feral slayer looked longingly after her.
Gibbs asked the group, "DiNozzo won't get lucky or anything when Kennedy finds him, will he?"
The others laughed and Willow said, "No, Kennedy is my girlfriend."
Gibbs smiled appreciatively. The new girl raised her eyebrows and looked at Willow in surprise.
Dawn said, "So, you never did tell us your name."
The new girl looked trapped. She looked down, and around, and brushed her straggly hair out of her eyes. Her freckled face looked at home here in the Appalachian forest. She was painfully thin and dirty, and in dire need of fingernail clippers, a hairbrush, and new clothes, but her teeth were perfect.
Gibbs looked at her thoughtfully and decided she must be about sixteen, even though she looked younger.
Finally she said, so softly that only those with Slayer hearing were certain, "Emily."
"Emily?" Gibbs asked.
She nodded.
Dawn said, "Look Agent Gibbs, why don't you go away and let us talk to Emily?"
"I'm not going anywhere until I have some answers. And I want to take Emily back for further questioning."
Emily looked frightened and all the other girls glared at Gibbs.
Willow said, "We won't let you take her. You can just forget about that."
Emily looked relieved.
There was a sudden commotion from the woods and everyone could hear DiNozzo shouting, "Hey! Let go of me! Goddammit! You bitch!"
A few moments later Tony stumbled into the middle of the group, tripped and fell beside Willow. He sat up, gathered what dignity he could, and said calmly, "Hey boss."
Kennedy stalked into view and said unnecessarily, "I found him."
Gibbs smiled at her, "Thanks. You ever think about law enforcement as a career?"
"No," she answered flatly. She sat down next to Willow and patted her knee.
Willow said, "Well Agent Gibbs, this is where it starts to get weird. So I really think you should leave now."
"Starts to get weird? You're kidding, right? Anyway, I'm not going anywhere. Especially since you've made it clear that I really don't have a reason to take Emily into custody. I can interview her right here, though, that should work."
Emily got that trapped look again. Dawn sat down next to her and said, "Don't worry about him, we won't let him do anything but talk and ask questions. None of us are lawyers, but we have had lectures on how to deal with cops, so we will look out for your interests. And the first thing is, don't answer any question that you don't feel comfortable answering. And if you do feel like answering a question, think it through first."
Gibbs glared at Dawn and said, "All right Emily, first would you tell me your full name please?"
"No."
"Ahh, OK, then please tell me what happened at the convenience store, three nights ago."
"Monster. Killed it." The other Slayers high-fived each other and flashed thumbs-up signs. "Too late for the clerk though," she added quietly.
"And the train today?"
"Another monster, killed it," she paused and said sadly, "I was too late to save the policeman."
"What policeman?" asked Gibbs.
"The one who was thrown from the train. I saw him running through the woods. At first I was afraid of him, thought he was after me. Then I saw he was being chased by a monster. He was able to get on a slow moving train, the monster followed, I followed. Monster killed man. I killed monster. If I had been faster I could have saved him."
"Well, first, he was a Naval Officer, not a policeman. But it probably doesn't matter. You did try to help him, and that matters," Gibbs said quietly.
"The monster was a policeman also," Emily added as an afterthought.
"What? They were both Naval Officers?" exclaimed Gibbs.
"I guess."
"This may be a stupid question, but where did you leave the body?"
"No body, dust," said Emily.
Gibbs skillfully and quietly interrogated Emily for another hour and eventually decided he had everything that she knew. "Let's go DiNozzo, lets leave these young women to their business, because it isn't our business any more," he paused and then slowly added, "I sincerely hope."
--- ---
"So," said Willow after Gibbs and DiNozzo had left, "what's your story Emily? Why are you hiding out in the woods? We know you're a Slayer, like these girls here. Have you been having the dreams?"
"What's a Slayer?" she asked, "and how did you know about my dreams?"
"You are a Slayer, Emily," said Kennedy, taking up the story, "Jeri, Anna and I are Slayers. The full title is Vampire Slayer. There used to be only one at a time, one girl died and the next was called."
"But, but, who makes us slayers? Who has that kind of power to ruin our lives?"
Willow hung her head. Kennedy continued, "No one really knows who gives us the power. Usually people say things like 'The Powers That Be'. But thats really a sort of joke title. And truly, our lives have not been ruined."
"You said there used to be only one? How many now, and why?"
"Ah, yes, there used to be One girl in all the world given the strength and speed to fight the demons, vampires and forces of darkness," she intoned piously, "and then one day a Slayer named Buffy Summers drowned. She was lucky, she had friends who got to her in time and performed CPR, but she was technically dead long enough to call another slayer. So then there were two. Then a little more than a year ago she ran into a big problem, so big that all of us who were potentially slayers were in danger. Many of us were murdered."
"By weird guys with no eyes, and big foreign-looking knives?" asked Emily.
"Yes, they're called Bringers, I gather you ran into some of them."
"Yeah, but they didn't know I been fightin' and huntin' these hills since I was knee-high to a bear. I kilt three of them cocksuckers, dumped the bodies down an old mineshaft, and hid out in the woods ever since."
"You thought more were after you?" asked Dawn.
"Nah, them I could take care of, it was the law I was worried about. See, them Bringers murdered my family before they found me. And with all those dead bodies around, and the fact that my family never did git along with the law, well, the sheriff would probably shoot first and ask questions later if he ever spotted me."
"Oh goddess," Willow said, concerned, "your family? Oh, I'm so sorry."
"Well, they were a pretty sorry lot. I would've shot my dad one of these days myself. Just saved me the trouble. And my older brothers and sisters and cousins were of no account. Anyhow, if they hadn't all been drunk on 'shine at the time they could've taken care of them sorry-ass Bringers themselves. I am sorry about the little ones, but that's life."
The others, except for Ilyeria, looked at her in horror.
"Emily," said Dawn, "you have a new family now. One you can be proud of. If you want to live, come with me." Dawn looked at the others and laughed softly, "I've always wanted to say that. Andrew will be so jealous."
--- ---
The next afternoon Gibbs was sitting at his desk. The rest of his crew was out investigating while Gibbs struggled with a report. A report that would be utterly truthful without ever mentioning the word 'vampire'. It was tough going.
Abbey came up out of her lab clutching a file. "Here's something interesting Gibbs, all three of these barbecue-fork victims worked in the same unit, just before their current postings. They were all submariners on the USS Hampton, SSN 767, all at the same time.
"Even the marine sergeant?"
"Yep, him too. He was on board for some TDY—some special op." Abbey shook her head to get some strands of hair out of her face and her collar jangled.
Gibbs said with feeling, "Shit."
"Why is this bad news?"
"Well Abbey, it's because the facts no longer fit my hypothesis. So I need some new ideas, and some new facts would be nice too."
"Well, one good thing came out of this."
"What?"
"I finally convinced you to stop using the word theory when you meant hypothesis."
"Get the hell out here!"
Abby left with an amused grin while Gibbs looked through his Rolodex with a sorrowful expression. He really did not want to make this call, but there was no longer any choice. He punched the number with the same enthusiasm as if he were calling one of his ex-wives.
"This is the Pentagon, how may I direct your call?"
"Extension 4747 please."
"Yeoman Timmons."
"Yeoman Timmons, this is NCIS Special Agent Gibbs. I need to talk to Major Finn."
"Oh, yessir. Uh, I mean nossir. The Major isn't in."
"Well, can you forward my call?"
"Ah, well, that would be, ah, no, uh sir."
"Then give me his number."
"I can't do that either, sir."
Gibbs frowned into the phone and said, "Then get a message to him! He needs to call me ASAP!"
"Uh, yes sir, that's something I can do. But I can't promise that he'll return your call in a timely manner."
"Just get the message to him. Tell him I have business that falls into his turf."
"And you you know about his, uh, turf?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I'm so sorry about that Agent Gibbs. I'll do what I can to get this message to him."
--- ---
The next morning found Emily, Willow, Kennedy and Dawn having brunch at an outdoor café outside of Washington. Emily was drinking latte with delight but poked suspiciously at her Quiche Loraine, which she had ordered on Kennedy's advice and was now regretting.
Willow tapped away on her laptop and finally said, "OK Emily, you were officially declared dead. No ones been looking for you, at least not the Sheriff of Lee County, Virginia."
"Try the Sheriff of Harlan County, Kentucky. He's the one got a hard-on fer me and mine," said Emily.
Dawn blinked at Emily's casual pejoratives and said, "But I thought you were from Virginia?"
"I am, but you check a map and you'll find that where I lived was near Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. I still have relatives all over, and we'uns dint much care which state we was in. Actually, up in them hills you can hardly tell."
Willow tapped her laptop some more and found that Emily was 'Missing, presumed dead' in Kentucky. "Well, we'll get you some new identification. In fact, we might be able to finesse the United States Government into getting a new ID for you. They're the best at fake ID after all."
"Hi all!" said Buffy, coming in from the sidewalk, "you must be Emily, I'm glad to meet you at last, I'm Buffy Summers."
"Ah, hi," Emily replied, caught totally off-guard by Buffy's California cover-girl looks.
"You're the Senior Slayer? The boss?"
"Hah, I wish. Slayers are the most irritatingly independent women in the world. It's ingrained in us to go our own way, alone into night. Getting slayers all going in the same direction is like that saying about herds of cats. Or single-minded slippery hogs or something."
"Oh Buffy, you know very well everyone listens to you," said Dawn.
"Yeah, they listen, they nod their heads in agreement, and then they all go off in different directions."
Willow said, "Seriously Emily, it's not that bad. Buffy's actually a pretty good leader these days, and she's usually not too overbearing. We all respect her decisions."
Buffy was about to retort when her cell phone rang. She looked at it and frowned, "Damn, it's Riley. I'd better answer it." She flipped it open and said, "Hello Ri, sup?"
"Hey Buffy, where are you, anyway?"
"I am sitting at an outdoor café, not sipping cappuccino because it isn't here yet, with two slayers, a witch, and a sister."
"And what part of the world is this café located?"
"Just outside of Washington, in fact."
"Er, is that DC or state?"
"DC."
"Oh, wow, that's damn good. You're not there because of one of your slayer dreams, are you?"
"Nope, business. Which, as it happens, has been concluded. What can I do for you?"
"I know you probably don't have warm and fuzzy feelings for Agent Gibbs at NCIS, but I think he needs some consultation of the kind that you or I could provide. Since my group and I are in Nepal at the moment, I can't help much. Can you give him a call and see what he wants? And try not to put him in traction?"
"Hmmph, I guess I can, in fact, he can do me a favor. OK, what's the number?" She noted the number on the palm of her hand and said into the phone, "OK, got it Riley. I'll talk to you later, and say hello to your Sherpas for me, oh, and Sam too." She put her phone away and said, "Willow, would you like to accompany me to NCIS? The rest of you can do the tourist thing while we bail out the Navy from whatever reef they struck. Is that a mixed metaphor? And we can probably get Emily's new identification out of the deal."
--- ---
Buffy and Willow got off the elevator at NCIS. Willow said, "Wow, this is not what I expected. I thought there'd be ugly green offices, battered metal desks and bad carpet. This is upscale, this is nice, hey, this is really a waste of taxpayer money! I'm going to write my congressman and complain!"
Gibbs looked up as they approached his desk. His face fell and he said, "Oh hell, what did I do to deserve this? If I had known that a call to Riley Finn would produce you, I wouldn't have called."
"Ha ha," McGee said to Buffy, "he's joking you know."
"No he's not," said Ziva, "he really doesn't like you, Buffy. I think you remind him of one of his ex-wives."
"One of his exes? Just how many did you collect?" Buffy asked.
"That would be none of your business. Introduce me to your friend, please."
"This is Willow Rosenberg, she can be of tremendous help, unless you're certain that your problem can only be solved by violence, then she's less helpful, but she can do it in a pinch."
Willow smiled at Buffy's introduction.
"Well, there might a problem with clearances."
Willow held up her visitor's pass along with an ID card issued by the Defense Security Service.
"Good grief," said Gibbs, "that DSS card better not be a forgery. McGee, check it out."
While McGee checked Willow's clearances on his computer, Willow said, "You know, Agent Gibbs, if these are forged documents, and if some well-connected computer cracker fixed the computer files to read the same, then all the checking in the world would be useless."
"Yeah, but the DoD has the best computer security in the world. No way could you actually change any files, even if you did manage to break in."
Willow mumbled something under her breath.
"What?" asked Gibbs.
"Oh, you're living in a dreamworld Agent Gibbs, the GAO gave the DoD an 'F' in computer security," said Willow.
Buffy interrupted, "Forget about that, Riley told me you needed our help, so let's get down to business. Willow did catch me up to what happened out in the woods yesterday, but I'm guessing there's a thread of evidence that doesn't fit."
"Yeah, let's go down to the lab. Ziva, come with us, DiNozzo, keep doing what you were doing, and McGee, join us when you are done checking on Ms. Rosenberg."
--- ---
Instead of going to the lab, they ended up in a secure conference room. Gibbs checked an electronic device and punched some codes into a computer. Finally, he said, "OK, everything is secure now, no taping, no eavesdropping, everything we say will be between us."
"So why all the security?" asked Buffy.
"Because," answered Gibbs, "I don't want to spend my declining years in the nuthouse. And if what we have to talk about gets around, I am afraid that that's exactly what will happen."
Willow smiled and said, "I wouldn't worry too much about it, most people absolutely refuse to believe in the supernatural. And they twist everything they see or hear so as not to notice anything out of the ordinary. All you really need to do is to make sure your written reports don't mention anything like magic, or demons, or vampires; unless of course, you can twist it around with phrases like, 'the victim believed...' or 'the perpetrator was convinced that vampires were chasing him...', etc. But I'm sure you know the drill."
"Yeah, but, I don't take chances when I can avoid them."
"So," asked Buffy, "what's the problem?"
"I have three victims. The huge problem is that all three served together on a nuclear submarine until all they rotated out into ordinary assignments. There are a number of unusual details about this case, including the fact that all three were apparently murdered by at least two different, er, uh, you know..."
"...vampires," offered Buffy.
"Yeah," said Gibbs, "what you said and I won't. Look, I don't know what you guys can do here. Anything to do with nukes is highly classified. I really did need Major Finn on this, not a couple of civilians."
Willow said, "We can be more useful than you think. First of all, it's not likely that this'll turn out to be some sort of espionage thing, vampires are not known to work for spy agencies. They tried that back in WWII and it ended in failure because vamps are too stupid and too independent for that sort of thing. And if one did, he would likely be thoroughly unreliable. No, the odds are this will turn out to be simply that someone got turned and went back to eat his friends and family. That's what vampires do."
Gibbs looked disgusted, "I knew I didn't want to get involved in your world."
"Don't worry," said Buffy, "as long as we understand each other, we'll do our best to de-involve you."
Gibbs said, "I can't look the other way."
"Yes you can, and you will, at the right time," said Willow, "you'll be surprised at how easy it is to come up with excuses and alternate answers. In the meantime, to get to the bottom of this, we can advise you. Then, when you connect the dots, call us."
Gibbs pondered that and finally asked, "All right, what do you advise?"
Buffy said, "Actually, this should be pretty easy. First, get a list of the people on the sub when the victims were there. Then, find out if any are missing, besides the dead ones I mean. Look for anyone who's family was murdered and unsolved. That will probably identify your vampire. Then, turn me loose. Of course, it's possible that the vampires Emily slayed are the are the only ones that were involved."
Gibbs was irritated. Buffy and Willow could see that he was conflicted and trying to argue with himself. He got up and paced around the table. Buffy and Willow glanced at each other but said nothing.
Finally, Gibbs shook his head and said, "All right, I'll it try your way, but I can't see how anything good can come from this."
"Except we'll make sure that your vampires don't murder anyone else."
"Yeah, OK. You know, I'm still not certain I believe in any of this crap."
"Even though the Pentagon does? And the President too?" asked Buffy with a smile.
"Yeah."
"And your own forensic technician?"
"Abby is an outstanding scientific investigator, but she has a blind spot as big as all Goth."
Willow and Buffy were amused. Willow said, "So, your next step doesn't even involve us. Here is my card, and Buffy will give you hers. When you get to the point where you need us, give us a jingle." And with that, they both stood up and waited expectantly for Gibbs. He finally joined them with a sour expression.
--- ---
"McGEE! DiNOZZO!" shouted Gibbs as he got off the elevator, "get your kits, we're going to New London!"
"What about me?" asked Ziva.
Gibbs appeared uncharacteristically embarrassed. He said, "Um, your security clearance doesn't go high enough for a visit to a nuke. Sorry Ziva, but it's out of my hands. But you can start with the personnel data and can investigate the crew from here. That's what you're good at anyway, interviewing witnesses is not your strong point after all."
DiNozzo said in an aside to McGee, "Except with pliers maybe."
When McGee and DiNozzo had left the room, Gibbs walked over and dropped two business cards on Ziva's desk. He quietly explained what he wanted, and added, "If you find a name, call Summers or Rosenberg. Don't tell me about it. And don't even think about going after it yourself—unless you're feeling particularly suicidal."
Ziva's eyebrows went up as she watched Gibbs enter the elevator.
--- ---
To be continued, probably in a few weeks, if only my clients let up a little bit.
