Title: All Hands on Deck
Author: Christy
Rating: FR 15
Fandom/Theme: Angel/NCIS/Highlander
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here. They belong to their respective creators and production companies.
Distribution: and TtH
Chapter: 4/5
Series: Alissa's Interests #10
Spoilers: None
Summary: Gibbs doesn't like cases that don't make sense.
Gibbs paced while Abby typed the eyes and compared them to the sample Ducky had given her from the victim.
"Gibbs, relax. Mr. Mass Spec'll have it for ya in a jiffy. By the way, what's with the non-disclosure doc I had brought down to me that DiNozzo said I had to sign?"
Jethro stopped his pacing, rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Because this case is far bigger than I originally thought, Abs."
Abby stopped in her tracks to stare at him as the Mass Spectrometer spat out data behind her. "Oh" she said simply, then jumped when the machine beeped. Staring at the results, her shoulders dropped. "It's confirmed- these are the eyes of the victim. Geez, Gibbs, who would do that post-mortem?"
"I don't know, Abby, but you'll find out when I do," he told her as he kissed her forehead and headed back upstairs.
"So, uh, boss, while you were getting the results from Abby, we called Watkins again and, after confirming our being read in, he told us the lieutenant was assigned to Norfolk because of a recent influx in- get this- vampires," Tony told him once Gibbs showed up in the morgue. Ducky had suggested it, since borrowing conference room rather than staying in the bullpen where everyone could overhear would raise too many suspicions.
"Relax, Anthony- the Slayers are here to keep us from having to fight the vampires ourselves. As I explained, most of the things you thought were just myths are truly reality. Why, I remember a time back in my youth when-"
"So, Duck, you knew about her being a Slayer?" Gibbs asked, interrupting him.
Doctor Mallard merely walked over to his desk, pulled out one of the drawers and withdrew three sharpened pieces of wood. "When you find stakes hidden everywhere on a body before autopsy, chances are the girl was a Slayer, Jethro. And I wasn't allowed to tell you about the Watchers, the Slayer, OR the Academy until you were cleared," he continued.
"So, what is this Jenny Calendar Academy?" Ziva asked. "A Watcher facility?"
"Close, Agent David. The School for Gifted Girls, named after a late friend of the founders, is where the Watchers train and educate the Slayers that are Called while still underage and being found all over the world as we speak. It's rather perfect, really: a boarding school comprised of hundreds of special girls no longer subject to the Draconian methods of the Old Council," Ducky told them, a touch of bitterness in his voice at the end.
"But how does this school connect to the assault? I see how it might connect to the lieutenant-" Tony began, then watch a grin spread over Gibbs's face.
"We get them all together and ask them."
The next day found Cordelia Chase, Commander Watkins, McGee, Gibbs, Tony and Ziva all in one conference room.
"So, would you two like to revise your statements, in light of recent information?" Gibbs asked them coolly.
"Everything I've told you, including the lieutenant being assigned to Norfolk to help with the recent uptick in turned vampires, is true. As to where she might have went during her weekend off, she didn't tell me," Watkins stated.
"The phone calls twice a week to the Academy or IWC Limited?" Tony asked next.
"Those were her check-ins, letting the Council know of her progress," the Commander explained.
"And your assault, Mrs. Chase?" Gibbs asked, turning to her.
"I'd let myself get rusty when it came to patrolling, like I used to do when I was in high school with Buffy and Willow. I was in town to try and find out where Ethan might be, but, as I said, Commander Watkins had been detained."
Ziva glanced down at her notes. "The British national who somehow found himself at Leavenworth?" she asked, a skeptic note clear in her voice.
Cordelia winced. "From what Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang told me and Angel, Ethan had Giles, who was the librarian as a cover for being Buffy's Watcher, turned into a Fyarl demon for the Initiative to study. It didn't work and Giles forced his old 'friend' to change him back, and the Army promised to keep Ethan locked up."
"The Initiative?" Gibbs queried.
"Uh, the Demon Research Initiative, Agent Gibbs," Watkins put in. "They were a little known section of the U.S. Army dating back to at least around World War II, if not earlier. They had a secret base built on the campus of Sunnydale University, but it ended up being demolished and filled in when the head researcher went a little-"
"Meglomanical?" Cordelia supplied with a smirk. "Anyways, Ethan's sentence got overturned, but Riley, er Sergeant Finn, never let anyone in the Scooby Gang know about it, like he'd promised to. It wasn't until a, uh, friend of a friend got caught up in a FBI sting that we even knew he was out, but we couldn't find him. Then I got intel recently that he had been seen in the Norfolk area and tried to beat some information out of a couple of vamps, but they kinda got the best of me for a little bit, as you saw."
"Any clues where Rayne might be now?" Tony asked.
"No, none. But, I have a hunch this murder had soemthing to do with why he's in town," Cordelia supposed.
"Well, thank you for your cooperation. We'll let you know if we need anything else from you," Gibbs told them as they all stood to leave.
It had been four days since the arrival of the eyes and, other than that delivery, the team felt no closer to finding out who had killed her or why. They got an unexpected break, however, when the front gate called to notify them that a stricken Alissa MacKenzie was asking for them. Leading her into an interview room, Gibbs gave her a bottle of water and some tissues. "How can I help you, Mrs. MacKenzie?" he asked gently.
"I think there's been another murder that relates to the case you'd asked me about last week," she told him simply.
"With all due respect, counselor, if there was a similar murder to that of the lieutenant, the investigators would have notified me," he told her.
"Not if it's a civilian," she told him firmly.
"Why don't you explain some more about why you're certain of this," he urged her as he pulled out a pad.
"My assistant, Samantha, was out running errands for me a couple days ago, but never came back with the blood work Dr Brennan had for me. Then, when I called Temperance, she told me Sam had never arrived. Long story short- they found her body five blocks from her apartment, her throat slit and signs of a struggle present, according to the police. I was willing to chalk it up to just another senseless murder in the Nation's Capital, but this was waiting for me when I came to work this morning," she explained, pulling a small box out of her bag and handing it to him.
The fact she wore unseasonably warm gloves started to make more sense to Gibbs now. "What's inside?" he asked.
"I'd rather not influence your observations, Agent Gibbs," she told him as he opened the box to find a severed tongue and a note that read 'For the Witch'.
Flipping open his phone, he speed dialed Tony and asked him to get whatever information there was on the murder of a Samantha Cooke. Turning back to Alissa, he asked "And other than this, why do you believe the murders are connected? I assume you already called the coroner's office in your friend's case to confirm, but what's the connection?"
"Because she's another Slayer and, much like the late lieutenant was a blonde like Buffy, the Queen Slayer, Samantha was a redhead like Willow, the Witch. Someone wants the Slayers afraid and I'd really appreciate your agents finding out why."