Navy Yard, Washington
Rooftop, NCIS Headquarters
"Jethro, I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Jenny Shepard said, as Kate, Ziva and Rooney followed them into the elevator.
"You'd think right, Director," Gibbs replied; Jenny hit the floor for the rooftop, and smiled. Just like the Gibbs I knew, she thought.
"I...have heard many good things about you, Agent Todd," Ziva said, trying to make small talk. "Er...I mean her, not you - although, I'm certain-"
"I understand, Agent David," replied Kate.
Jenny's told me a lot about you-her. Too bad her-you didn't survive.
Gibbs looked about him, and noticed the same kill switch his own NCIS's elevator had; he glanced at Ziva, then at the panel, and she noticed the same. Might come in handy, he decided.
The elevator doors opened out onto the rooftop, showing a spectacular backdrop of D.C. that looked all too familiar. The silent flying aircraft off in the distance, and the enormously huge ship 40 yards to their right, made Gibbs and Ziva remember this wasn't the Navy Yard they knew.
"Big ship," Gibbs said of the ship, which had similar markings to the NCIS vans his team drove to crime scenes, and looked vaguely like-
"The shuttlecrafts from Star Trek," Jenny said. "I know what you're thinking: what on earth is that thing?"
Gibbs looked at Jenny, expecting her to explain.
"Agent Gibbs," she said. "This is the craft that Agent Todd and her team live and work in, as they travel the country and the globe."
"Officially, we're based here in Washington," Kate explained. "As the director said, we travel around the country. A mobile Major Case Response Team, investigating cases involving metahuman and other similar threats that regular MCRTs and the Office of Special Projects aren't trained to handle."
"Threats that are too powerful for your regular field and undercover agents," Ziva stated; Kate nodded yes.
"Sounds like something Leon started back...where Ziva and I are from," Gibbs continued. "Red, Blue, Green teams, based out of Georgia, never work there, traveling the country. They work out of trucks."
"We have them too - and they were my Leon's idea," Jenny stated. "Think of them as a mixture of a Red/Blue/Green team with what you do."
Jenny nodded to the others to follow her towards the ship, and the ladder appearing out of the hull below the main door.
"Ship here by itself, Kate?" Gibbs.
"The rest of my team's on board, going through their post-flight checks," Kate said. "My team is structured like Borin's and the other MCRTs - actually, off your own - my own - Gibbs's-"
"You used his team as a model," Gibbs interjected; Kate nodded. "He led the team, Tony was his senior agent, then you and McGee were the other agents...there was a Ducky, Palmer was his assistant as the M.E.s, and an Abby to run forensics."
"Yeah," Kate said; she's gotten past melancholy a long time ago when remembering her lost comrades. "I modeled the team after them, in structure. The people are different."
"Really?" Ziva said, looking at Rooney. "Doctor, you remind me a little bit of Ducky, in your demeanor, and your accent. Are you British?"
"English," Rooney said. "American mother; I'm a naturalized American citizen."
"One of the best M.E.s in the world," Kate said.
"Caitlin, you're too kind," Rooney said; Gibbs and Ziva noted genuine modesty in his voice; this man wasn't full of himself.
"I'm going up to get everyone," Kate said. As she ran up the stairs, Ziva turned to Rooney. "Did you know Doctor Mallard?"
"In passing," Rooney said. "He and I attended the same school in Scotland, and that connection apparently got my foot in the door, so to speak, here at NCIS. I joined Caitlin's team when it was activated a few years back."
While Rooney and Ziva made small talk, Gibbs looked at the giant ship.
"We restructured the rooftop five years ago to serve as a landing strip for agency and military craft and VIPs," Jenny explained. "It's not the only way to get into the building, but it's a way for VIPs to avoid road traffic."
"Surprised you don't have your own parking space up here, Jen," Gibbs quipped; Jenny laughed. "As if," she said. "Flying cars are a little too expensive,even at my pay scale."
Gibbs looked around him and saw something else he wouldn't find back home: a floating, 3-D billboard, roughly 400 yards away, alternating between ads for Papa John's and Netflix, streaming holographic videos for $19.99 a month.
"Got a gift for you, Jen," Gibbs said, referring to the package he left on the conference table in her office.
"Got one for you, too," Jenny replied, "...and it isn't bourbon. Figured you'd have plenty of that back home."
Gibbs chuckled.
"We had to scramble, but we figured it was the perfect gift to summarize the...uniqueness of this mission," she told Gibbs.
He thought about Vance's 'gift'; it had been years since McGee wrote that thing.
Gibbs, for his part, had no idea what to bring another Jenny Shepard; he probably would have assigned it to Abby and DiNozzo and went with whatever they suggested.
"I do have questions, Director," Gibbs thought, as he saw Kate standing at the top of the stairs, giving orders to those inside.
"I know you do, Jethro," Jenny replied, waiting for him to ask.
What about Kate. How did she survive getting shot. What happened with Ari.
What happened to his other self, and their team. How did Kate bounce back from it.
Kyle Boone. McGee's sister. The kid who tried to blow up the school. The Dempsey brothers.
La Grenouille. Paula. Trent Kort. Hollis.
The diner.
How did Jenny survive. Who or what healed her? Was she even sick?
Damon Werth. Michelle Lee.
Rivkin. Eli David.
Fornell. Diane. Colonel Bell. Agent Macy. Reynosa.
The Port-to-Port Killer - was Mike involved?
Barrett. Cruz. Ryan. Harper Dearing...
"Jethro?" Jenny said, lightly gripping Gibbs on his forearm.
He noticed Ziva and Rooney looking at him, with some concern. "Gibbs, are you alright?" Ziva asked.
Gibbs looked at his agent - "I'm fine, Ziva," - then at the ship.
"I have a question, director," he said, looking ahead. "What is that thing, and who's on it?"
"That's two, Jethro," Jenny joked.
"If I may, Agent Gibbs," Rooney said. "The ship is United States Army-issued, a Spencer 201, issued to us when we began taking missions as an offshoot of the OSP. It isn't propelled like an airplane or a helicopter. It, well, hovers...powered by a hybrid hydrogen/petrol engine."
"Helluva ship, Doc," Gibbs said, walking slowly towards the craft; Ziva automatically walked in step with him, while Jenny nodded to Rooney to keep pace.
"It travels up to...what is it? 250 miles an hour - I'm more used to metrics," Rooney said. "Typically we travel up to 150 miles an hour. It is equipped for up to a dozen people, although we currently travel with six...we live and work on board this craft. We have a fully equipped forensics, medical examination facilities, sleeping quarters, showers, a kitchen, state of the art communications equipment, even offices."
"Sounds like what Leon described about the Red Team, only they have to put two tractor-trailers together," Gibbs said. "Imagine you have more room to sleep."
"Our sleeping arrangements are...comfortable, but not luxurious," Rooney said. "We are there to work."
"Mind if Ziva and I have a look around, director?" Gibbs asked.
Jenny hesitated; this wasn't part of the deal, and I don't want to give any version of Gibbs more intel than he needs to know.
"Any 'tour', Jethro, will be authorized by me," she replied. "And don't think about pulling a Yankee White."
"What is a Yankee White?" Ziva asked; Gibbs instantly got Jenny's reference, but couldn't recall if he had ever discussed with Ziva the case that brought his own Kate to his team.
"Got a dead lieutenant or Marine on board?" Gibbs quipped.
"If there is, it's Agent Todd's case," Jenny shot back, in a friendly but firm manner.
"Did I hear something about a case?"
A male, with the demeanor of a Marine, wearing some type of black, skin-tight uniform with NCIS written on his chest, approached the foursome, Kate walking alongside him.
And touching his hand.
"Special Agent Tim Kerry," he said, sticking out his hand to shake Gibbs'. "Senior Agent, META Team...and, Agent Todd's husband."
Gibbs needed a few moments to remember who Kerry was...
"You were poisoned," he said.
"Ten years ago, right before Kate joined your team?" Kerry said; Gibbs nodded. "Oh yeah...I was poisoned...I got over it."
The Major Kerry I knew didn't get over his poisoning, Gibbs thought.
"We broke Rule 12," Kate said, half-apologetically, before Gibbs could say anything.
"I remember Gibbs giving me a few headslaps when he caught me and Kate in the elevator," the man said, smiling.
Ziva noticed the ring on his finger - and, for the first time, the ring on Kate's. How could I have missed that? she thought. I am supposed to be a trained investigator - the sight of Agent Todd herself must have-
"Ziva? You alright?" Kate said, holding up her hand and wiggling her fingers. "You noticed."
"Noticed...ah, yes. The wedding band," Ziva replied.
"You two married?" Gibbs asked; both nodded, and Kate spoke. "Right before we rejoined NCIS full-time."
"Agent Todd, Agent Kerry, will the rest of your team be coming down?" Jenny asked.
"We hadn't planned on it," Kerry replied. "We're prepping for the Gotham mission, here to pick up Kate and Rooney."
"Well, if you had a little bit of time to spare for a quick tour for Agents Gibbs and David - and a quick meet and greet on board - I'm sure our guests would greatly appreciate it...as would I," Jenny responded.
Kerry whispered in Kate's ear: 'do we really have time for this?'
Kate lightly elbowed her husband, and senior agent, in his stomach. That brought back yet another memory to Gibbs's mind - only his Kate's elbows to DiNozzo weren't quite as playful.
"We'd love to," Kate said. "Please. Follow us inside."
Third floor, bullpen
Agent Dom Vail came through on identifying the speedboat used in the Yu shooting.
"It was bought Tuesday afternoon from a business in Maryland," he said. "With cash. The owner says the buyer was a middle-aged man, bald, slender. I asked him for security camera footage; the guy swears it was taped, but he 'lost' the footage from the time of the purchase. I had it sent here so we can review it for ourselves, and I also brought him in so we can at least do a sketch on the buyer."
"Good thinking," Borin said. "Sound suspicious to you, Dom? Second instance of lost footage on this thing?"
"Well yeah," he answered. "No footage from Metro cameras near where the guy was killed, and no footage of the buyer."
"Dom, get the sketch of the buyer from the guy, then let him go."
Just then, Agents Brent Langer and E.J. Barrett walked off the elevator with a middle-aged, plump woman, and introduced her to Borin.
"Charlene," E.J. said, "was out walking her dog this morning when she saw two guys abandon the boat and drive away."
"They looked suspicious," Charlene said, gesturing wildly. "They got off that boat, ran away, and got in an SUV and drove away. They looked like they were criminals. I took their pictures, yes I did! And I talked with a cop, but he didn't want to hear me-"
"How'd you find her, E.J." Borin asked.
"Metro called us," she said. "The officer Charlene first spoke with talked with his captain after word leaked to Metro about the Yu shooting. Metro went back, talked with her again, and referred her to us."
Charlene took her cell phone - "I snapped their pictures, yes I did, right here on my phone, got them clear as day" - and handed it to Borin.
"Dom, scan these photos, and run a facial recognition," Borin said. "E.J. would you escort Charlene to the waiting area?"
As Charlene waited, Vail scanned the photos off her phone and ran them against every database NCIS had access to.
It took seconds to get a match on the first man: the suspected shooter, Tommy Monaghan. It took five minutes for a match on the second man.
The match wasn't what anyone expected.
"CIA?" Borin asked aloud.