Tony sat, with his feet on the desk; he was reading a comic he had found in the cafeteria. A children's comic, a superhero comic.

"Hey I haven't read one of these since I was 8 years old. I had forgotten just how much a child's imagination can take over the mind. I mean, I never for one moment wanted to be a superhero, well just a little. So my little team, who would you all be or like to be?" as he surveyed the team, "Boss you have to be Superman, and Abbs, she's Spiderwoman," thinking of the tattoo on her neck, " And let's see Ziva you could be…nah you are already Superwoman. Now Jimmy, he really is Peter Parker…..and McGee, who could you have been?" Tony said now smiling.

Gibbs looked, at Tony and his eye twitched, if only he knew, if only any of them knew…. knew the truth.

Profile of a superhero:

Real Name: Frank Castle (born Castiglione)

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 200 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Citizenship: U.S.A. with a criminal record, listed in Marine records as a deserter.

He was so similar to the comic book person, only he wasn't 200lbs, he had salt and pepper hair colouring, he did however have the blue eyes….he didn't have a criminal record…..well he did in the eyes of Paloma Reynosa and her brother, but in his eyes, she was the villain…..yes he was an ex-marine, but he had never been a deserter…their other similarity was his wife and daughter had been killed by a drug dealer, his superhero, the wife and two children. In the comic world, the Punisher had firstly killed his family's killers…..had he, Gibbs, not killed Paloma's father…..he wanted Paloma, but her brother had done his dirty work for him, no come back there.

Gibbs never thought of himself as a superhero, he thought himself more like Paul Kersey in the Death Wish films, a vigilante…..again there was a similarity, yes justice was dished out. He, Gibbs also had the stealth tactics, he had been a tracker, not so much guerrilla warfare, he was a sniper, but he could use a wide variety of weapons…..his thoughts were broken by Tony's voice.

"Hey Boss you seen this," as he turned the volume up a little, on the ZNN news, "Another drug dealer found dead."

"Metro Homicide is again looking into the death of yet another drug dealer….this brings the total this month to six. The Police say they think it is all gang related, but fear that the violence and death may get out of hand. The FBI says they are working with the DEA and ICE, to see if there are connections….." as Tony turned the volume back down, hearing the phone ring on Gibbs' desk.

-oOo-

Gibbs sat in the loneliness of his living room looking at the news on the television, he wondered, Fornell hadn't called in the past week, Gibbs, like the Punisher he preferred to work alone, but sometimes he needed inside information. The Punisher had Martin Soap, Gibbs had Fornell who was always too happy to oblige, "Keeping another crimester off my patch."

The Punisher had a friend called Microchip, who assisted, by building technology, and supplying weapons. In Gibbs case, he relied on McGee to hack into databases, this way he could find out from the DEA or CBP if there was anything big going down. But his biggest aide was Fornell. People often wondered, they had married the same woman, not he smiled, at the same time, although Fornell had slept with his wife when he had been an Agent Afloat in the Med. It was no hardship really, Diane had cleared out his bank account and then started on Fornell's it was their mutual bond.

-oOo-

Bullpen

Gibbs looked about, Ziva and Tony off on lunch. He thought back to what Fornell had said, Horendez, Deputy Director of DEA, had mentioned something.

"McGee hack me into the DEA." Gibbs asked quietly.

"Why? Boss."

"Because McCryptochip, I said so, Fornell said something was going down, and I need to know if it is on my watch." as he looked at Tim do what he was best at.

"This do Boss?" as he showed Gibbs.

"Thank you, now you can go and have a break…..lunch."

"I don't need….." Tm began to say.

"You need McGee. OK, I need coffee here, "as he handed Tim $20.00 "And one for yourself and a donut. OK."

"OK."

"And McGee….don't hurry back."

Gibbs waited and then looked about and accessed, there was a shipment of cocaine supposed to be coming in to Norfolk. A foreign cargo ship the DEA were going to let through. Let the minion's find Mr Big, get the distributors to distribute, to take to the warehouse, get Fornell to name names.

He looked, he memorised, he heard the warring duo return.

"What's going down Boss?" Tony asked.

"Nothing yet, just keeping up to speed," as he switched screens, he had to make it look like opposing gangs. Did he care? He was good at his day job, and at night he was good at his job. The team often wondered when and where he slept. Never let on. Sometimes he would sit and reflect, wondering, was he the comic book hero, or was the comic book hero he. All he knew was that he had enough information for the kill or was it a killing.

Next morning

The team were gathered round the TV screen watching ZNN, they saw some reporter talking to the Mayor of D.C., they didn't hear or see Gibbs creep up behind them.

"So Sir," the reporter asked, "This body of a Columbian Drug Baron found this morning in the dumpster behind us. Would you say the method of elimination was consistent with the other murders we have had recently? I mean a neck vertebra severed, or in some cases the neck just broken. Would you say we have gang members, taking out dealers, or do you think that it is the case of a vigilante?"

"I am keeping an open mind. To be honest I can't see a vigilante murdering so precisely, it has to be gang related. Only inside information would know movements, so I think the gangs have an informant."

"Thank you Sir. This is Joanna Kane, ZNN, returning you to the studio."

Tony turned to almost collide with Gibbs, "Didn't hear you approach there. Now, I know how the victims must have felt like or maybe not since they are dead and probably didn't hear their murderer. You're not the murderer are you, I mean you were a Marine….? Tony asked, but stopped as he saw Gibbs' eye twitch, "Guess not…..I'll get that." as they heard the phone ring.

Gibbs turned and looked at his team, maybe he would be found out one day, but at the moment his secret was safe.

The End