Sound Kills
Author's Notes: This combines one of my current stories and one of my favorite shows. Also, this was written in just under two hours, I know it's not perfect plot wise.
Summary: Gibbs and his team are working a case that is going to get a lot more weirder.
Story Start: Bull Pen
Gibbs strode into the bullpen like an angry thunder cloud descending on a family picnic as he said "Tell me we've got something."
"Sorry Gibbs, no luck yet in determining where Sergeant Reynolds has gone." Ziva said apologetically from her computer.
"He hasn't hit any airports, train stations, bus stations, or toll booths." Tony added with a shake of his own head at his computer.
"His credit cards and bank accounts have all been silent as well Boss." McGee said with a severe frown at his screen.
"Come on, there's got to be something, the guy stole four million dollars from his department, he's got to be trying to get away somehow." Gibbs said in frustration. The next moment his phone rang and he flipped it open and tried not to let his frustration show as he said "Yeah, Gibbs." He listened for a moment before he said "Alright, we'll be there soon." Closing his phone with a snap, he said "Looks like we've got a lead after all, Reynolds' uniform was just found in an alleyway in Yorktown. Call Ducky."
"Uh Boss, if it's just his uniform, then why do we need Ducky?" McGee asked even as he and the other two grabbed their gear.
"Because his uniform wasn't the only thing found there." Gibbs said, and if it was anyone else, that flash of emotion in his voice would have been queasiness. The three other agents traded an uncertain look before they followed after their boss to the elevator.
Scene Change: Alley Way
The team was waved into the alley way by a police officer who looked decidedly green around the gills and pointedly NOT looking into the alleyway. As they reached the middle of the alleyway, they could see why.
"Reminds me of Big Trouble in Little China." Tony said weakly as they took in the splatter pattern on the walls and ground around the soaked uniform. The splatter was primarily red but it was also chunky showing that whoever had been wearing the uniform had essentially exploded from the inside out.
"What could have possibly caused this?" McGee asked as he resisted the urge to vomit and instead began snapping the necessary pictures.
"An explosive device that was swallowed?" Ziva suggested.
"Not with his uniform in that shape." Ducky countered as he and Palmer came into the alleyway as well.
"Yeah, if it was an explosion then his clothes would be all burned up." Palmer said in agreement.
"I don't suppose you can give me time of death Duck." Gibbs said wryly.
"I'm afraid that that would be a mite difficult to determine at the moment Jethro." Ducky said just as wryly.
"Maybe we can get it from that." Ziva suggested pointing at a security camera on one of the alley way walls at the entrance that was thankfully pointed towards the inside of the alley rather than the street.
"On it." McGee said handing Tony the camera and moving out of the alley to enter the building and obtain the security footage.
Gibbs put on a pair of gloves and carefully made his way over to the soaked uniform. Soon as Tony finished taking the needed pictures of it, he knelt down and said "He had his dog tags on." Holding them up for Tony to get a snap shot, he then carefully pulled a set of car keys out of a shirt pocket and then a wallet out of his pants pocket, both of which were also photographed.
"Gibbs." Ziva said uncertainly and the Gunny looked at her then followed her gaze to a set of gory objects next to the uniform.
"That's weird." Tony said needlessly as he took a photo of the gore splattered parts of a disassembled hand gun, including bullets.
"It is a Barretta, just like Reynolds' preferred side arm." Ziva commented with a frown.
"Why would the killer disassemble Reynolds' gun if they were just going to leave it here?" Tony asked in confusion.
"I do not believe that the killer did that Tony. See how every part is covered in the spatter rather than them just lying in it. Yes, I imagine that whatever did this to our thief caused the gun to simply fall apart." Ducky said with slight awe.
"This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. I've got tracks here that approach the body but don't go anywhere." Tony said and Gibbs glanced down at said tracks with a frown. This really was rather strange.
Scene Change: Back At The Navy Yard, Abby's Lab
After an appropriate amount of time, Gibbs strode in with a large cup in hand and said "Tell me you've got something Abbs."
"Oh, I've got something alright." Abby said excitedly, a megawatt grin on her face as she accepted the Caf Pow! and took a deep sip before she continued "I believe I know how Reynolds died and it is totally sci-fi!"
"Yeah, how so?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Check this out." Abby said as she put down her drink and tapped a few keys on her keyboard. On the big screen behind her computer a video feed from the camera showed Reynolds walking down the alleyway. All of a sudden, he spun around and drew his gun only for the gun to immediately begin shaking in his hand. The weapon rather quickly literally shook itself to pieces in his hand, Reynolds staring at it in disbelief. The next instant, he clapped his hands over his ears with a loud yell before a moment later he rather violently exploded causing Gibbs to actually jerk back in surprise.
Giving Abby a wide-eyed look, he asked "What the hell did I just see?"
"THAT, Gibbs, is what happens when the body is hit with a barrage of soundwaves at somewhere between 9 to 16 Hz. His body was literally torn apart from the inside out by being shaken to death." Abby said with a grin at the gruesome but COOL cause of death. Her grin then grew even bigger as she said "But that's not the coolest part, look at what ELSE the camera caught!"
Gibbs would hardly use the word 'cool' to describe what he had just seen but he nevertheless turned back to the screen as Abby resumed playing the video clip. What he saw had his jaw slowly drop as a person completely decked out in green armor plating with black Celtic markings painted all over the plate armor pieces walked into the picture. The figure studied Reynolds' ruined uniform with a cocked head for a moment before he turned and looked up towards the camera. Gibbs' eyes widened as the new view showed that the person was actually a human shaped robot, the armor plate on the right forearm raised up to show a weapon of some kind in a usually hidden compartment and blue lights for eyes looking up at the camera. A shield over the face drew back revealing a mouth that was smirking up at the camera and the robot actually gave a peace sign to the camera before it slightly crouched and then leapt straight upwards and out of the camera shot.
After a stunned moment, Gibbs' mouth closed into a severe frown and said "The video feed must have been tampered with by the killer."
"Maybe," Abby unhappily admitted before she shook her head and said "But I don't think so, it seems like a lot of trouble to generate that specific bit of video and put it over the original feed. And he would have had to do it AFTER the fact too. Why would he bother? I mean sure, our guy could be trying to hide his identity while taunting us but why not just blur out his face? That would be SOOOO much easier."
Before Gibbs could come up with a reply, an unknown voice said from behind them "It isn't a video edit."
The two turned around to see an African American who had obviously let himself go wearing a casual suit with a tie crisply tied and a folder in his hands. Pulling out his creds, he held it open so that they could see the badge held inside and said "Special Agent William Fowler, United States Government." Flipping the case closed, he pocketed it and walked further into the room as he said "Reynolds was part of something bigger than just stealing government funds. MUCH bigger."
"And I suppose you're here to take over my investigation because of the other stuff he was involved in." Gibbs said warily.
"I've read your file Gunny, I don't mind sharing on this one, that is if a Jarhead like yourself can handle working with a Ranger." Fowler said easily enough as he walked over and held a hand out to shake.
"Nah, I don't mind at all." Gibbs said with an easy grin and shook the offered hand before he turned serious again and said "So what can you tell me?"
Fowler turned serious as well and pulled out a flash drive with a picture of a lock on it from the file and held it out to Abby. Abby looked at it warily before looking at Gibbs. Receiving a nod, she put the flash drive into her computer. Immediately, her screen locked with the word "CLASSIFIED" appearing on the screen at an angle before a pop up window appeared over them showing a single folder labeled Unit E. As Abby opened the file Fowler said "Unit E deals with the strange and the unusual side of things, from investigating the origins of strange energy signatures to the transport of portable nuclear generators, to the tracking down of paramilitary groups who are lead by guys who build laser pointers of death mounted in satellites for a hobby."
"Coool." Abby said with a grin even as she looked over the files inside of the folder.
Fowler returned her smile before he once more turned serious as he continued "Reynold's department was responsible for being the decoy when it came to hiding where the funds that supported Unit E went to. Only the head of his department was supposed to know but somehow he found out about it and took the funds for this Quarter and booked it. We believe that he received the necessary information from one of Unit E's enemies and so sent an operative to tail him then solve the problem."
"You mean to tell me that that robot thing works for you?" Gibbs asked skeptically.
Fowler hummed and said "Hm, Tac, he's one of our best, but a bit of a cowboy I'm afraid. It doesn't help that he was trained by a fellow member of his species who was part of a Black Ops group."
"Species?" Gibbs questioned.
With impeccable timing, Abby clicked on the file labeled "What are the Autobots?" and a video clip of Fowler sitting in front of a desk that a general was sitting behind said "Our visitors are automatous robotic lifeforms, from the planet Cybertron. They were fighting a war between each other and the other side, called the Decepticons. During the later half of the war, both sides began hiding their supply of Energon, the substance which is both their fuel and their ammunition, off world, including several deposits on Earth hidden underground. Several centuries later, the fighting brought the Autobot's premier team and the Decepticon's flagship to this planet to both relocate and secure these deposits in order to continue the fighting."
"Cooool." Abbey repeated.
Gibbs was clearly skeptical still but moved on as he said "Why did this 'Tac' character kill Reynolds rather than bring him in?"
Fowler sighed and said "Like I said, Tac's a bit of a cowboy, and both believes that solutions to problems should be permanent and has a bit of a mischievous streak in him, hence allowing himself to be seen in his natural form rather than having his hologram up. Optimus, his leader read him the riot act for that stunt of his. I had to jump through a few hoops in order to get all of the other copies of that recording erased before it could get put on the eleven o'clock news." Fowler gave Abby a stern look and said "I trust that you won't be spreading it?"
"Straight to the recycling bin and completely wiped off my hard drive as soon as this conversation is finished." Abby promised crossing her heart.
Fowler nodded before he looked back at Gibbs and said "We learned that Reynolds wasn't the only one who found out about this, just the first guy to try and profit from it. We have the names of the others, we wouldn't mind a bit of help running them down."
Gibbs accepted the obvious olive branch as he nodded and said "You've got it, though when this is over I want a word with this Tac guy."
"That can be arranged, I'll even let your team and the misses here meet him as well. But ONLY them, and if they breathe so much as a word about him, Gitmo will seem like a Holiday Inn." Fowler said with a firm warning at the end.
Gibbs gave another nod while Abby did her best to keep in the squeal she wanted to give at being able to meet an actual alien.
Time Skip: Two Days Later
The rounding up of the other three Navy Personnel was rather routine to be honest. The Department Head was also brought in but it was only for a 'soft interrogation', aka an intense, but completely intimidation free questioning session that lead to a brainstorm for how to prevent this from happening again. Now that that was over, Gibbs and his team were being escorted in a large van with blacked out windows driven by Agent Fowler to a secret location. Not even Director Vance knew where they were going or what they were going to see, only that the people working under him were about to see something that he wasn't even supposed to ask them about in his dreams. Seriously, for a pudgy former Army Ranger, Special Agent William Fowler could be scaaaaary.
They had been driving for an hour to get to their destination. Part of that was because of a rather unfortunate accident on the highway during their journey. Agent Fowler pulled into an abandoned air field and into the large two story hangar at one end. Hopping out when he entered the center of the completely empty building, he said "Well, here we are."
As Team Gibbs hopped out, Abby looked around in confusion and said "I thought we were meeting Tac here, where is he?"
"Indeed, with that accident back on the highway I would assume that he would be the one waiting for us, not the other way around." Ducky said in agreement.
"Oh, he's here alright." Agent Fowler said with a grin as he gestured for everyone to stand by him. Once everyone was in a line, he looked at the van and said "Alright Tac, take it away."
The team only had time to be confused for a second before the van rapidly began shifting, parts lifted and moved as they turned into different shapes while a thirty foot tall robot began forming. Jaws proceeded to lower and eyes widen as their former transport stood over them looking down with crossed arms. Fowler grinned and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Tac, Cybertronian member of Team Prime. Why don't you come down here so the others don't strain their necks Tac."
To the other's amazement, Tac rapidly shrank down to human size and said "So, who's got the first question?"
Needless to say, it was a very good day to be Abby Scuito as she had a great deal of questions about the heavens beyond the Earth answered.
END
Author's Notes: Poll and Update Schedule are on my Profile.
This idea latched onto my brain and wouldn't let go. Still, not bad for something that I finished in a couple hours of start and stopping.