Chapter 7 – Deeks Loses His Appetite
NCIS: Los Angeles belongs to Shane Brennan. Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon.
Hetty stood in the OP center facing the floor-to-ceiling screen that was currently blank. While she waited for her team to arrive, she once again marveled at the simple design of their OP center.
It wasn't that big, with a black-tiled floor and four walls made of black wooden blinds that would close if they were in lockdown mode. Upon entering the room through the sliding doors you would see two computer monitors on either side of you. The same thing was mirrored on the other side of the room, but instead of a door there was a three-by-four foot touch screen. On the left of the doors was a much larger transparent screen that had a display of photos and news feeds. Across from that was the screen that Hetty was looking at. It was their primary screen for briefings. In the middle of the room was a table with a computer screen built into its surface.
At that moment, Hetty's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Misters Callan, Hanna, and Deeks. The three men were nothing alike.
Mr. Callan had short brown hair and bright blue eyes. The man was originally from Romania, but due to extremely complicated circumstances, he found himself in America at a young age, bouncing from foster home to foster home. After working with the CIA for a period of time, Mr. Callan began to work with Mr. Hanna at the LA branch of NCIS. Much of his life was still a mystery with the biggest enigma being what his first name was. They knew it started with a G, but that was it.
Mr. Hanna was a tall man of color with no hair. With his prior experience as a Navy SEAL, he was an expert at many types of martial arts and different kinds of weaponry. Combined with his undercover training, Mr. Hanna was a force to be reckoned with. While Mr. Callan had the nasty habit of being a lone wolf, his partner was a team player who could work with almost anyone.
That last fact was severely tested when Mr. Deeks had joined the team as an NCIS/LAPD liaison officer. He replaced Miss Blye's old partner, Dominic Vail, after he was killed, so it took some time for the team to accept him. It didn't help matters that Mr. Deeks had long sandy hair that was "styled by pillow" and no past experience working with a government agency. He had been an experienced attorney at law while working as a Public Defender in the Los Angeles Criminal Courts and done undercover work with the LAPD, but that was all. He had come a long way since then.
Despite all that, the three of them now worked together rather well, although Miss Blye's departure wasn't making things any better.
"Please, tell me that this isn't too big," Mr. Hanna pleaded. "G and I have an appointment at Lily Lockhart's place. She wanted to thank us for saving her by making us a home cooked meal."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hanna, but you'll have to reschedule your plans," Hetty apologized. "This takes precedence. Mr. Beale?"
He and Miss Jones brought up a series of photos on the big screen. They were not pleasant.
Mr. Deeks winced. "And I've lost my appetite."
"Less than a week ago we lost track of one of our agents, Miss Abigale Harper," Mr. Beale explained. "Until yesterday."
Miss Jones took over. "They found this under the Fortmen Bridge. As you can see, there wasn't much left."
"What did this?" Mr. Callan wondered.
"Not sure," Miss Jones admitted. "It looks like some kind of animal, but we can't determine what kind."
"Whatever it is, it's big," pointed out Mr. Hanna. "Are there any other cases like this in the area?"
"Yeah," Mr. Beale brought up some more images. All the people in them were brutally mauled by some sort of creature. The victims varied in ages, but one thing was similar about all of them.
Mr. Callan said what everyone was thinking. "They're all women."
"Yes," Hetty confirmed, "as far as we can tell, this thing only attacks females, and only in a specific area."
A map appeared on the screen with dots representing where the bodies had been found. They were all in a fifteen mile area.
Mr. Deeks spoke up. "I understand that you lost an agent, but all the others were random killings. This doesn't exactly scream federal investigation."
"Maybe not, but it is still our responsibility to help in any way we can," Hetty explained.
"I still don't understand something. If this thing is so big and dangerous, then why hasn't anyone seen it?" Mr. Callan pointed out.
"We're not sure," Miss Jones admitted, "We're still looking through things, but we haven't yet found anything of interest yet."
"Ok, Sam and I will check out the scene at the bridge. Deeks, go through the files on the other victims. See if you can find anything else of importance."
"You got it. I just hope I can still eat dinner by the end of the day," Mr. Deeks complained before leaving. Mr. Callan and Hanna followed.
Hetty wasn't just concerned about catching some killing monster, but also because her goddaughter. Dawn's school was in that fifteen mile area, and she didn't want to explain to Buffy that her sister had been killed by some murdering creature.
That reminded her.
"Miss Jones, a moment of your time."
The redhead followed Hetty out of the OP center, downstairs and into the incinerating room, where they destroyed certain documents. Miss Jones locked the door behind them before asking, "What is it?"
"I need you to look into something."
"Sure." Miss Jones shrugged her shoulders.
"Find out everything you can about a small town call Sunnydale. Also, I want to look into the past of an Elizabeth Summers. She might also go by Buffy."
"Got it." She was about to leave when she turned back. "I'm guessing that you want this to remain between us."
"Yes. Get back to me as soon as possible."
The Godmother
The day after Dawn left
Back in Sunnydale, in the kitchen at the Summer's home, Buffy had confessed to Giles that part of her didn't like what the slayer power was doing to her. She was afraid that it was making her cold to people. He suggested a retreat to a sacred place in the desert that would help her regain her focus and learn more about her role in keeping the balance of the darkness in the world.
"But I can't go," Buffy complained as she continued to handwash the dishes. "What if Glory tries something? I need to be here, helping."
Giles gently took her by the shoulders and made her look at him.
"Buffy, the best thing you can do is to prepare. Prepare yourself for the battle ahead. And the best way to do that is to learn how to make yourself stronger."
She sighed. "Fine, but if I come back and you're all dead, then I won't get to tell you 'I told you so'."
Shaking his head with laughter, Giles left to go get the necessary supplies for the short trip.
