Chapter 7
Onboard the Shannon and Kelly, the Challengers of the Unknown were looking in shock out at the scene before them. The women, and animals, below were just as shocked to see the ship, which barged its way – loudly – into the auditorium
"DINOZZO!...What the hell am I looking at...?" yelled Gibbs, jumping out of his chair.
His order fell on deaf ears.
Tony, standing in front of the main viewscreen, was speechless, even as the three flying women waved at him and the others on the bridge, or knocked on the other side of the viewscreen.
Ziva waved her hand over Tony's face, but he was unresponsive; she then grabbed him by the back of the neck and began to shake, even as Superwoman and Hawkwoman looked at each other in confusion, followed by a smirk from the Lantern.
Gibbs put a hand on Ziva's forearm to signal for her to stop, then he nodded for Ducky to check on him.
"Tony? Tony! Are you with us, Tony?" Ducky said. Tony turned his head to look at Ducky, then the other way to look at Gibbs and Ziva, then back at the viewscreen.
They saw the Lantern hovering with her arms folded; the Hawkwoman and her wings flapping, her mace in one hand; the Superwoman smiling and knocking on the screen; and two more Kates, wearing Adam Strange's and Mary Marvel's uniforms, respectively.
Seeing the Mary Marvel analogue - miniskirt and all - finally got Tony to say something.
"Kate wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit, boss," he muttered. "I don't mind at all-"
SLAP!
A head slap from his boss seemed to knock DiNozzo out of his daze, and drew looks of shock from the Superwoman and near-horror from the Mary Marvel analogue. The Lantern began to giggle, while the woman in the Adam Strange uniform looked completely lost. Hawkwoman wondered what exactly was going on.
"Sorry boss," Tony said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Gibbs. Did she just say 'holy moley'?" Ziva asked after seeing "Kate Marvel" speak to the other women.
Ducky looked over Tony, asking if he was alright; Tony nodded, saying he was fine.
"He appears to be fine, Jethro," Ducky said. "Once things...settle down a bit, I will need to give Tony a closer examination."
Jenny, looking to assert some kind of authority as the team's director, inserted herself between Gibbs and DiNozzo. "Have any of you noticed the other women below? All four dozen of them?"
"Yep," Gibbs said. "Her, too," he said, pointing to the team's uninvited guest: the Kate analogue in the silver liquid metal uniform, strands and braids of cables sticking out of her head.
Then he turned to the stranger. "You put us here?"
"I did not bring you here; you did that yourself," she said, with Kate's voice and without her cadence. "However, this ship your own ship flew into once belonged to my team; it now belongs to the monitor, and they are here for his purposes."
"They," Gibbs said, pointing to the viewscreen. "Who in hell is this monitor? They with you? With him?"
"They are not with me or with him. I was brought here for the same purposes as they were," the Engineer replied. "As was your team member."
"Kate?" Gibbs said. "Where is she?"
At that moment, he and the others heard a faint rapping from the main door to the ship.
"You should ask her yourself," the Engineer replied, "if you will merely let her in."
Gibbs and everyone else looked at one another. "McGee! Get those cameras activated! Tony, Ziva! I want a full diagnostic on the ship! Ducky, Palmer, get to medical! Abby, call up Kate's records-"
They heard the door torn off its hinges, and Gibbs pulled out his P229, then ordered his team to do the same. Jenny, with her phase pistol drawn, went to Gibbs' side.
Gibbs slowly opened the door leading to the cargo bay, medical, sanitation and sleeping quarters. When he did, he saw a sight for sore eyes.
Kate - his Kate, in the purple Challengers uniform - hands on hips, looking annoyed, was held in place by the Hawkwoman, who smiled at the scene, despite herself.
Gibbs and Jenny stepped into the hallway, Jenny aiming her pistol; Gibbs put his pistol in its holster, then reached out to embrace Kate in a tight hug, as she embraced him back.
In his gut, he knew she was the real deal - certainly, his Kate.
"Welcome back, Kate," he whispered. "Thought I lost ya."
"Me too," she whispered back, then saw Jenny, gun drawn. "Uh, Gibbs...the director still may think you lost me."
Gibbs broke the embrace, turned back to Jenny, and held his palm up. "You can put the gun down, Jen."
"I disagree," she replied. "I'm ordering Dr. Mallard and Mr. Palmer AND Agents McGee and Sciuto to do a full diagnostic on this...woman-"
"Wow," said Hawkwoman. "You're the same bitch here as my Shepard is to Katar and I,"
"Excuse me?" Jenny replied, pointing her phaser to Hawkwoman, even as Challenger Kate held up her palms, and briefly the Challenger, the Hawk and the director got into a shouting match, stopped by a very loud whistle from Gibbs.
"Enough!" he yelled. "Kate. To medical, with Ducky and Abby. You" - pointing to Hawkwoman - "inside, with us - and her-"
"Actually," Hawkwoman replied, "you and your team need to be out with us."
"And why is that?" Jenny said. "Who are you?"
"A Justice League made up of a lot of versions of the same woman, brought together for something big," she replied.
"How big?" Gibbs replied. "What's the threat?"
"Who's the threat," Challenger Kate interjected. "Ari. And apparently there are just as many of him as there are of me."
Once Gibbs reasserted his authority over his team to Jenny - and Jenny reminded him of her authority over him - he got down to business.
First, he ordered McGee to confirm that the Kate in the Challengers uniform was the one he and his team knew; she was. Then he ordered her to submit to a quick physical by Ducky.
Only then did he allow his team off the Shannon and Kelly onto the floor of the massive auditorium, with Jenny attempting to assert her authority as "representative of the Challengers program, its members, the Department of Extranormal Operations, the United States of America and whatever planet Earth we're from".
Gibbs looked for the leader of the group, which he numbered at 55, including his own.
He saw a Kate in a Wonder Woman suit who put herself forward. Her outfit was more informed by Greek mythology than the Americanesque, red, white and blue outfit his world's Wonder Woman wore.
And he noticed the Kate in the Green Lantern-ish outfit putting herself forward, rather reluctantly, but firmly.
One thing he noticed was that none of them were easily led – just like the Kate Todd he knew. As ten more came forward to speak with he and Jenny, Gibbs could only chuckle.
