Behind the Mask

Gibbs, Gordon and Batman stared at the contents of the package. The grisly visage made Gordon shudder. Gibbs took his pen out of his jacket pocket and poked a bit to turn it around to better examine it.

"Well," he said. "One thing is certain."

"Yeah?" Batman asked.

"Whoever it is, he's very good."

"Good?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah," Gibbs said. "Except for the teeth, it looks just like me."

Gibbs put on a pair of latex gloves and reached out to pick up the replica of his head. Looking into the mouth, he saw that the teeth were actually dentures. The tongue and skin felt like textured latex. The hair felt like nylon.

"Where did you find this?" Gibbs asked.

"It was delivered to me," Batman answered.

"Delivered where?" Gibbs asked.

"To my home."

"I'm gonna need a better answer than that," Gibbs said.

"Too bad."

"Listen," Gibbs said, "we need to get to your place and process it. See if the guy left anything else behind that can help us find out who he is."

Dammit, Batman thought. Ishouldhavethoughtofthat. Aloud he said, "That's already being taken care of." Whatisitaboutthisguythatisthrowingmeoffmygame?

"By whom?" Gibbs asked, getting more annoyed by the second.

"I have friends," Batman said.

"Commissioner," Gibbs said, turning to Gordon. "Can we have a moment alone?"

Gordon looked to Batman, who gave him a subtle nod. "Sure," he said. "Not like I have a crime to investigate, or this is my office or anything." As he opened the door, he turned back to the other two men. "If one thing gets broken in here, I'm gonna shoot you both." Once he was outside and the door was closed, Gibbs rounded on Batman.

"I have told you before, I have no idea who you really are and I don't care," he said stepping as close to Batman as possible without actually touching the other man. "Whatever it is you do here, is between you and Gordon, but I have a dead sailor and civilian and I have to find their killer. Knowing your little secrets means so little to me, I can't even express it. The fact remains that whoever sent you my head obviously knows who you are."

"Yes," Batman said. "That means these deaths were meant to get my attention. He wants this to be personal."

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked. "Well, I'm about to make it personal too. Your life here is just that, yours, but I need to know certain things to help me in this investigation. I give you my word, if you're not involved, I'll leave Gotham when this is over, and you and your personal life will never have to worry about me again."

Batman stood and stared at Gibbs for a long moment before nodding his head. Stepping past the older man, he opened the door to the commissioner's office.

"I hope you aren't claustrophobic," he said by way of an invitation.

Tony pulled his rental car up in front of police headquarters and moved to kill the ignition. When he spotted Gibbs leaving the building with Batman, he stopped and decided to watch them. The two other men walked up to the most unique vehicle Tony had ever seen. It looked like… Hell, he couldn't tell you what it looked like. This was the most uniquely designed vehicle Tony had ever seen. While he watched, Gibbs and Batman got into the vehicle.

"What are ya thinkin' Boss?" Tony asked as he put his rental in gear. "Getting' in cars with strangers never works out good."

Tony followed the two to the first intersection, allowing a couple of cars to separate them. When the light changed, Batman made a sharp left turn and Tony followed. Within a block, the other vehicle had pulled so far ahead that Tony had to accelerate just to keep them in sight. By the end of the second block, Tony was tired of playing. He sped up as fast as the Honda he was driving would allow, not gaining on the other car at all. By the time, they left the urban area Gibbs and Batman were out of sight completely. Tony kept the accelerator on the floor as he fished out his cell phone and dialed Abby's lab.

"Tony," Abs said when she picked up. "What's going on there?"

"Listen Abs," Tony said. "I'm following someone that I'm not sure I trust." He didn't want to tell Abs that Gibbs was with his suspect. He didn't need her worrying. "I'm on Highway Thirty-Six, heading east out of Gotham. Can you MapQuest the area and tell me what's out this way?"

He heard some quick tapping of Abby's keyboard before she answered, "Not much Tony, Some industrial areas, a couple of farms, and then almost nothing."

"Almost nothing isn't nothing Abs," Tony said.

"Well, unless you count what looks like a huge private estate and then the ocean," Abby said. "But the estate isn't exactly on Thirty-Six. It's like on a private road."

"Private estate?" Tony asked. "Whose?"

"Hold on," Abby said typing some more. "Oh, holy crap."

"What Abby?"

"Tony, the location comes back to an address, One-Thousand-Seven Mountain Drive. That is the personal residence of one Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises."

"I'll call ya back Abs," Tony said and hung up. "That makes a lot of sense," he said to himself. "Who else but a billionaire could afford all that crap?"

"So, are you gonna tell me who has such a personal grudge against you," Gibbs began, "Bruce?"

"What?" Batman said, nearly steering the vehicle off the road.

"Relax," Gibbs said with a smile. "It's like I said, I don't give a rat's ass who you really are. What you do here is not my jurisdiction."

"How?" Batman asked.

"The eyes," Gibbs said. "Makeup aside, you can't hide your eyes."

"A trained observer," Batman said.

"Just a good cop," Gibbs replied.

"I've kept this secret for years."

"Not from everyone."

"Apparently."

"So?"

"A few years ago," Batman began. "I came across a guy, claiming to be an agent of justice. He called himself Azrael. When he died, his son took his place. They were a part of a pseudo-religious sect called the Order of St. Dumas. What they were or did is not very important, because the Son turned his back on the Order. He used to help me sometimes. He went off to work on his own in another city and eventually died."

Gibbs just watch as Batman talked, waiting for the man to get to the point.

"He used flaming swords when he fought," Batman continued. "I'm thinking that whoever our killer is, he's the Order's new Azrael."

"So how did he find out who you were?" Gibbs asked. "The old Azrael?"

"Unlikely," Batman said. "When Valley, the old Azrael, left the Order, he didn't look back."

"You sure?"

"He wore the suit, but he wasn't with them."

Batman passed the road leading up to Wayne Manor and drove for another mile in silence. He made a quick turn onto a road hidden by shadows.

"Shortcut?" Gibbs asked.

"In a manner," Batman asked. "You've got the who figured out. You might as well know the how."

"Oh I know the how," Gibbs said.

"What?"

"You're a freakin' billionaire," Gibbs laughed. "I wouldn't doubt that all of your companies fund your, what hobby?"

"I'm privately funded," Batman said. "But I do get first dibs on new technology."

"Must be nice," Gibbs said with a smile.

"Sometimes."

Gibbs had no idea what any piece of equipment was for, but he had a feeling that if McGee or Abby were here right now, they'd collapse in the throes of orgasm.

"The most comprehensive forensics lab in the world," Batman said. "A computer system that can get any bit of information I want. Several levels, all dedicated to justice."

"And conveniently located right under your living room," Gibbs said, trying to regain his psychological edge.

"Something like that," Batman smiled going into an antechamber.

"So this is it?" Gibbs asked still looking around. "A couple of old computers and some test tubes?"

"And a full bath," Bruce Wayne said with a smile as he rejoined Gibbs in the main chamber.

"Well," Gibbs said with his own smile. "I guess you have to make do with whatever you can scrape together."

"This way," Bruce said, pointing the way to the exit. "I'll show you where the package was found."

As the two made their way up the stairs to the manor, Bruce shared with Gibbs how he first became Batman. Gibbs was impressed with the drive and training the young man showed. Whether he liked the idea or not, the guy did have the necessary skills to do the work.

"You ever think about making it official?" Gibbs asked.

"Batman with a badge?" Bruce asked as they stepped into the foyer. "I could never stand patrol duty long enough to make detective."

"There are other options Bruce."

"The characters around here feed off of fear," Bruce said. "It's their own fear of batman that keeps them from running over each other and the innocent people in this city. That fear would be negated if they knew I operated under the same rules as you."

"If you operated on my rules," Gibbs said, "they'd be even more afraid of you."

Bruce gave the older man a brief smile.

"Alfred!" he called out.

When no answer came, Bruce led the way into the kitchen to find it empty. "Dammit," he said. "I sent him to the city to set up the penthouse."

"Yeah," Gibbs said. "I hate when I forget stuff like that."

"Ok," Bruce said. "I have some stuff that we can use."

As he led the way through the house, the phone rang and Bruce stopped to answer it.

"Wayne Manor," he said.

"Mr. Wayne," the voice of a young man said. "My name is Anthony DiNozzo from NCIS."

"Yes Mr. DiNozzo?" Bruce said "How can I help you?"

"Would you mind letting me through your gate so I can talk to my boss?"

"Uh Mr. DiNozzo, I-"

Bruce was interrupted by Gibbs taking the phone from him.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "I thought I told you to go back to DC."

"You did Boss," Tony said. "But something didn't feel right. You left something out when we talked earlier."

"Alright DiNozzo," Gibbs said looking to Bruce. "Come on in."

Gibbs went and sat on the couch, beside where Bruce had slumped.

"Don't feel bad," he told the billionaire. "They're really good at their jobs."

"Apparently," Bruce said.

"Don't worry," Gibbs said standing back up. "They can keep a secret."