For informal interrogations (interviews, as the publicity department would call them), Gibbs and his team preferred to use one of the many meeting rooms in the building. It tended to put the interviewee at ease.
"What were you doing in the woods, Steven?" asked Gibbs.
The lanky teenager sitting across from him fidgeted uncomfortably. "Wow, straight to the point." He took a sip from the cup of water on the table. The relaxing environment did little to calm his nerves, and he could feel the senior agent's glare tearing him apart. "I was hiking."
"You don't look like the kind of person who hikes."
It was true. Steven was a very nerdy-looking individual and had pale skin. He clearly didn't get out much. "Yeah, a, uh, friend of mine made me do it."
"Where's this friend of yours?"
"He—" Steven was cut off by a loud ringtone. He pulled out his cell phone, but it was off. "Uh..."
Gibbs raised his eyebrows. A gesture that asked, Are you going to get that?
Steven pulled out the prepaid phone. As he did so, Gibbs's eyes narrowed. Steven spoke into the phone. "Hello?"
"Put it on speaker," commanded the voice on the other side.
"What? But I'm—"
"I know where you are," interrupted the voice. "Put it on speaker and set the phone on the table."
Steven did just that.
"Hello, Agent Gibbs," said the voice.
[INSERT OPENING THEME HERE]
Chapter Three: Confrontation
"Who is this?" demanded Gibbs as he stood up by instinct.
"Straight to the point. That's what I like about you, Special Agent. Sorry to hear about the break-in."
Slightly surprised, Gibbs said, "That hasn't been made public."
The voice chuckled slightly at Gibbs's tone. "Don't worry. I'm not about to spill your precious secrets. I'm here to talk to you about the case at hand."
"What do you know?"
"I know where your very Special Agent DiNozzo is."
That surprised Gibbs, but he played along. "Where is he?"
"Oh, wrong question. I think you'll find that 'what' is the more pertinent question."
"What?"
"Exactly!" the voice exclaimed jubilantly. "You have a good head on your shoulders."
Gibbs was losing his patience. "Stop the bullshit. Tell me what I want to know."
"The first step to the answer to your questions is sitting across from you. Until next time, Agent Gibbs." The voice hung up, letting an uncomfortable silence fall over the meeting room.
After quite some time, Tony and Leaf managed to find Caterpie wandering around the deepest part of the crevice.
"Is that him?" asked Tony.
Leaf nodded. "Yeah. That's Caterpie."
"Good." Tony stepped forward and called out, "Hey, kid!"
Caterpie turned to look over at Tony and only saw a threat. "Oh, no." He turned to run.
Leaf quickly jumped out from behind Tony. "Hey! Caterpie! It's me!"
"Leaf?" Caterpie turned around and looked at them both critically. "What are you doing here? Who's that with you?"
"I'm Tony. Your mother sent us to look for you."
Caterpie sighed. "Oh, gosh. She wasn't hysterical, was she?"
"Oh, yeah," said Leaf.
"I hope she's not too worried."
"Unfortunately..."
Tony interrupted. "Wait. You two know each other?"
"Of course!" said Leaf. "Everyone knows everyone around here."
"Small town, eh?"
"Well, not really small. More like close-knit."
Caterpie cut in, "Hey, um, did you fellas find the exit to this place?"
"Of course," said Tony. "We should get going."
Leaf smiled. "Yeah, before your mom gets any more worked up."
The three of them started to make their way out of the crevice.
McGee and Bishop stood on the other side of the mirror in interrogation. They looked at the computer geek sitting across from them with mild interest.
"If Tony were here, he'd probably be talking about Gibbs's interrogation techniques."
"Yeah."
In the room itself, Steven was fidgeting. "Uh, is there anybody out there? I've been here for, like, half an hour!"
As always, Gibbs came through the door with perfect timing. He sat across from Steven and started laying out pieces of evidence on the table.
"Look, uh, I can explain," said Steven.
"Oh, I'm sure you can," said Gibbs, not even looking up at Steven as he arranged his things.
After a second or two of this, Steven stuttered, "I-I've never seen that guy in the woods before."
"I believe you."
"I mean, I—" Steven stopped. "Excuse me?"
"I believe you." Gibbs finally looked up at Steven. "That surprise you?"
"Uh, a little..." Gibbs looked down again, sorting through papers. After a bit more silence, Steven added, "Uh, I want to help your investigation in any way I can, Agent Gibbs."
Gibbs put the prepaid phone on the table. "Start by telling me who called you."
"Well, I don't really know who he is. I mostly communicate with him over the internet. I never actually heard his voice until yesterday when he sent that phone to my house."
"Did you give him your address?"
"No. Of course not. That's what scared me. He knew where I lived and I never told him."
"Maybe he traced your UP address."
"What? Oh. You mean IP address. And no. That's not possible. My house doesn't have internet. I have to use my neighbor's Wi-Fi."
"Wi-Fi?"
"That basically means internet. But anyway, he sent me this phone and the moment I took it out of the envelope, it started ringing. Like in the Matrix! This guy's got to have been nearby to have been able to time the call like that. There's no way that was a coincidence."
Gibbs's expression changed slightly. Kid might've been a dork, but he had a good head.
The phone started to ring. Gibbs signaled McGee, took the phone and answered it himself. "Gibbs."
McGee immediately initiated a trace.
"I know it's you," said the voice. "No doubt you're interrogating my unwilling accomplice. I'm certain you've started to put things together."
"No idea what's going on," said Gibbs.
"Really? That's disappointing. I expected more of the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Anthony spoke very highly of you, I hope you know, before we parted ways. Go ahead, ask."
"Ask what?"
"Oh, stop stalling for time, Agent Gibbs. Ask the question or I hang up right now."
Gibbs spoke deliberately. "Where is DiNozzo?"
"Ah, there it is. Any second now, Mr. Gemcity will discover my location. And then you'll know just who you're dealing with."
McGee froze for a second in surprise.
"What?" asked Bishop. "What's wrong?"
"That's my pen name. How did he—?" The search returned a location.
NCIS Headquarters.
"I hope you have nothing important to tell Miss Scuito."
Abby was in her office, looking for some appropriate props. She had to get prepared for Gibbs's inevitable visit, and she had a very strong feeling one would be coming soon. She had a lot to tell him. Nothing that immediately solved the case, but some pretty suspicious information nonetheless.
Once she found the appropriate gizmos to explain the more technical aspects of her discoveries to Gibbs (for about ten seconds before he asked her to get to the point), she came out of her office area and into her lab. She started laying out the gadgets, but stopped when she realized someone was in the doorway.
She knew immediately that it wasn't Gibbs (if it was, she wouldn't have noticed him), but it was probably someone else who needed her technical expertise. She quickly put the whatsits she was carrying on the table and faced her visitor.
It was a dark, hooded figure, and Abby couldn't get a good look at his face. It spoke, "Hello, Abigail..."
"Uh, hi," said Abby somewhat apprehensively. Who is this?
"I've been looking for you."
Abby took a step back. This guy definitely wasn't supposed to be in her lab. "How did you get in here?"
"Why are you so defensive? I mean no harm."
I seriously doubt that. Abby kept backing away, keeping the intruder in her line of sight. It was a good thing she could navigate her lab blindfolded (something she actually tried once, just to test herself). She needed to get to the duct tape.
The figure extended a dark, beast-like hand at her.
"Get out of my lab," Abby said.
"Why don't we both take a vacation, Miss Scuito?" The figure started charging up a Dark Pulse of energy, its hand suddenly becoming charged with power.
That's—! Abby quickly ducked behind a counter, narrowly missing the intruder's attack. It instead hit the large TV screen on the back wall. The TV immediately exploded, showering Abby with shards of glass. She barely managed to suppress a scream.
"Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
"Stop! NCIS!"
"Gibbs!" Abby shouted.
"Agent Gibbs, a quiet approach, as you are known for," said the intruder. "We meet at last."
"Put your hands behind your head."
"I should take you both. Agent DiNozzo could use some company."
"Hands on your head!" shouted Gibbs.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" the figure asked. "No matter. I'll play along." The figure removed its cloak, brought its claw-like hands to its head, and turned around.
Gibbs maintained his pensive expression, but he was honestly shock, a rarity for him.
Completely exposed, Darkrai gave what could only be described as a smirk. "Hello, Agent Gibbs."
