Grab Your Gear
Gotham City: Famous the world over for its culture, commerce, industry, and nightlife. Many people come to Gotham to realize their dreams. Some succeed in business, some in entertainment. Some don't succeed at all. Many of those whose dreams are shattered by Gotham's movers and shakers return home to the comfort of their loving families. A few however stay behind, disillusioned, broken, and damaged. These few find themselves a part of Gotham's second most famous feature. The crime in this city is growing daily. Penniless and luckless men and women find themselves doing whatever is necessary just to survive. The desperate souls turn to petty thefts, muggings, armed robberies, even murder.
Naval Yard, Washington DC: Home of the United States Navy and the largest port in the country. The entire Navy is run from this piece of real estate, including the civilian branch of their law enforcement, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigation Service. Inside the offices of NCIS sits the agency's premiere investigative team, led by former Gunnery Sergeant, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. As he raises his head, he looks around his bullpen, partly to make sure his people are working, partly admiring the fact that he has ended up with the best group of people NCIS has. Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, senior agent and movie buff. Gibbs' go to guy when the chips are down. Gibbs grabbed Tony from Baltimore P.D. after the younger agent left the department over a decade ago. Next was Special Agent Timothy McGee. Tim is a computer geek, loyal friend, and the kid brother to everyone on the team. McGee came from the Norfolk field office, where he worked as a case agent until Gibbs brought him onto his team. Across from Gibbs sat Ziva David, former Mossad operative, now American citizen and NCIS agent. Over the past few years, their relationship had seen ups and downs, but Gibbs would place his life in her hands any day, knowing it would be safe. Glancing back down to his own paperwork, Gibbs smiled thinking of how quietly the team was working. This must be the longest amount of time in history that Tony has allowed silence to reign.
"Wow," Tony said. "It's quiet here. Too quiet."
Somuchforthat, Gibbs thought continuing with his work, hoping this would discourage Tony from going on. WhoamIkidding?
"You know, this reminds me of something." Tony said getting up from his desk.
"There's a surprise," Ziva said from her desk.
"Picture it," Tony continued, ignoring her. "Sicily, 2011-"
"Really?" McGee interrupted. "You're quoting The Golden Girls?"
"Quiet McGeek," Tony said. "A young NCIS very special agent is alone in his hotel room. Suddenly the phone-" Tony is interrupted again by the phone on Gibbs' desk. "Rings."
"Alright," Gibbs says and hangs up the phone. Rising and retrieving his Sig from his desk, he tells his team to "Grab your gear."
"I swear Boss, I had nothing to do with that," Tony says, reaching for his own weapon and backpack.
"I hope not DiNozzo. There's a dead sailor in Gotham."
"We're going to New Jersey Boss?" Tony asks. "Tony Soprano clippin' sailors now?"
"If he is DiNozzo," Gibbs said before slapping the back of Tony's head "His TV career is over."
Gibbs pushed the elevator button as McGee and Ziva joined them.
Gibbs hopped out of the van before it even came to a full stop. As he made his way past the crime scene tape, he took a quick look around to see if there were any looky loos. Looks like it's just cops and witnesses tonight, Gibbs thought. Good.
He made his way past the uniform playing gatekeeper and headed towards the collection of cops surrounding what had to be the body. As he approached, a white-haired detective looked up and met him halfway with his hand extended.
"You Gibbs?" he asked. Gibbs nodded as he uncharacteristically took the man's hand. "Jim Gordon. I called you guys as soon as I found out the vic's I.D."
"Name?" Gibbs asked, motioning for his team to separate and do their jobs.
"CPO Robert Granger." Gordon answered. "Single stab wound, some searing around the entrance, some kind of big blade."
Gibbs nodded, taking notes before asking "Any witnesses?"
"No," Gordon answered. "The guy, who found the body gave a statement, says he didn't see anything."
Gibbs looked up and glanced around.
"Where is he?"
"Over here, ready for your M.E." Gordon said pointing to the body.
"The witness."
"He already left."
"When?" Gibbs asked, clearly irritated.
"Just after I took his statement," Gordon said matter of factly.
"And you just let him?"
"Had no choice in the matter."
"How the hell long have you been a cop Gordon?" Gibbs shouted, drawing the attention of his team and the local LEOs.
"Calm yourself down Agent Gibbs," Gordon said. "This was a special situation."
"I don't give a damn what kind of situation it is, you never let a witness leave my crime scene until I interview them." Gibbs shouted.
"I took his statement before he left."
"You shouldn't have let him go in the first place."
"It's like I said," Gordon said in a quiet tone. "I had no choice. He wouldn't stay to talk to you."
"Then you should have put him in cuffs and made him stay." Gibbs said just as quietly but with much more menace in his voice. "You'd better have at least got his name and contact info."
"Oh, I got them alright," Gordon said with a hint of a smile. "But you ain't gonna like that info much better."
"And why not?"
"It was the Batman that found him."
"Who?"
"You Feds really don't pay attention do you?" Gordon asked.
"What are you talking about?" Gibbs asked.
"The Batman is a vigilante here in Gotham," Gordon said. "Officially, he's not affiliated with the department, but the truth is, he does more in one night to stop crime in this city than most of the department can do in a month."
"So what's his name, and how do I get in touch with him?" Gibbs asked before Gordon could say anything else to give him a headache.
"That is his name," Gordon said. "What he goes by when the mask comes off, I don't know. But, I can turn on the signal and hope he comes."
"The signal?"
"It's how we tell him we need to talk to him."
"You have an unidentified nut case running around the city doing the work of the police?" Gibbs asked with a confused look. "And you have a little signal you can send him so he can come talk to you? And you had him right here in front of you and didn't arrest him?"
"Tell ya the truth," Gordon said, "I could slap the cuffs on him, put him in the squad car, and head to the jail, and he'd be back home eating a sandwich before I turned the corner."
"Geez, I hope you don't treat all your criminals like that." Gibbs said frustrated. "Give me his statement." As Gibbs snatched the memo pad from Gordon's hand, he headed to the body, just as Ducky's van pulled up. "And send your little signal, Gordon. I wanna talk to your bat!"
"Talking to bats Jethro?" Dr. Donald Ducky Mallard asked as he approached.
"No Duck, just a nutcase who thinks he's a bat."
"I see," said Ducky, clearly not. "I was concerned you were planning another trip to Mexico," he said as he put down his case and pulled latex gloves from his pocket.
"Mexico Duck?"
"Yes," said the NCIS medical examiner. "You see, a group of researchers have learned that the Mexican free-tailed bats, not only have a rich repertoire of distinct and complex calls, some of the sounds can be mixed and matched to convey very different meaning. Essentially, this could prove that they have the closest thing to a language as any animal has shown to date. In fact, if researcher-"
"Duck," Gibbs said, interrupting his old friend. "Every time?"
"Sorry Jethro," Ducky said, clearly not at all apologetic. "But it is quite fascinating, the possibility of talking to animals."
"I'll leave the Dr. Doolittle work to other people Duck."
"Yes," Ducky said, now interested in the body before him. "What have you gotten yourself into young man?" Ducky asked the dead petty officer.
After extracting the liver probe, Ducky checked the temperature and did a quick mental calculation.
"Our young petty officer died about five hours ago Jethro," Ducky said as he put his probe away and began checking the wound. "Of course, I'll know more when we get him home, but it seems he died of sharp force trauma, but-"
After a pause, Gibbs knelt beside his medical examiner.
"Something wrong duck?" he asked.
"There's some cauterization near the opening of the wound, and searing of the flesh."
"Yeah, that's what the detective said."
"Jethro," Ducky said as the two rose to their feet. "I can't be certain until I get him open, but it seems that this young man was stabbed with a hot blade."
"Get him home Duck." Gibbs said as he turned from the body. He had barely taken a couple of steps before he was met by DiNozzo.
"Boss, you're not gonna believe some of the stuff these local guys are talking about." DiNozzo said as he came up to Gibbs. "Something about a guy dressed up like a bat."
"Yeah, I heard the same thing DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "Detective Gordon seems to think he can walk on water."
"Someone said he uses a searchlight to signal him Boss."
"A searchlight DiNozzo?"
"That's what their saying Boss"
"Christ," Gibbs said, shaking his head. "Alright, send McGee back with Ducky and the body. Tell him to get to working on this bat guy. I want to know everything about him, especially who he is. You and Ziva finish processing the scene, then look into Petty Officer Granger's background. Interview shipmates, find out what he was planning to do ashore."
"What about you, Boss?" Tony asked. "Where are you headed to?"
"I'm gonna go shine a light on Gordon, 'til his bat shows up."
By the time Gibbs made sure his team knew their assignments and saw Ducky, McGee and the Palmer loading the body onto a gurney, Gordon had left the scene, as well as most of the local cops. Gibbs caught up with the gatekeeper just as he was getting into his patrol car.
"What's your name officer?" Gibbs asked before the kid could close his door.
"Battle, sir," the patrolman said.
"Battle," Gibbs repeated. "Any idea which way Detective Gordon went?"
"Detective?" Battle asked. "I think you mean Commissioner Gordon don't ya?"
Gibbs let out a sigh as he dropped his head in frustration. "Yeah."
"Hold on." Battle said, reaching for his radio. "Commissioner Gordon, this is 183, the NCIS guy is requesting your twenty."
"En route to HQ," Gordon's voice replied from the radio. Have him meet me when he gets finished there."
"Will do Commish," Battle said replacing his radio mic. "I'll stick around until you're ready sir."
"Thanks," Gibbs said turning to walk back to the crime scene. As he approached Ducky's van, he heard Ducky's assistant Palmer asking if he could drive back to DC.
"I don't see why not," Ducky said. "Driving is a simple task. You're bound to be much better at that than navigating."
With a quick grunt of amusement, he joined them just as they were about to lift the body onto the gurney.
"Duck," he said quietly after the body was on the gurney. "There's something weird going on here. I know you never miss much, but keep an eye open for anything particularly strange."
"Yes, of course Jethro," Ducky said. "I will have something for you within a couple of hours."
"Thanks Duck."
He watched from the rooftop a few buildings away. The Navy cops were quick and efficient. As the body was loaded into their van, one of the agents climbed in back with the older ME, while the younger one hopped into the cab. He couldn't hear the exchange between Gordon and the lead agent, but based on their body language, he was going to be difficult to deal with. BettercheckwithGordon, he thought. Seewhatkindofreadhegotfromthisguy. He wouldn't make this difficult if he could help it. He really didn't like dealing with cops he didn't know, but this guy was going to be different.
Batman turned from the scene below and headed for the other side of the roof. Once at the edge, he paused briefly. Glancing over his shoulder, a thought occurred to him. Nodding his head, he leapt from the roof.