a/n - Today's the reveal, are you ready? Let me know what you think, and thanks for all the wonderful reviews.
Tim stood in front of Gibbs and the LA team, waiting for their approval as Hetty explained the features of his new suit. She was obviously pleased with her newest creation. "This suit is made of chameleon cloth, designed to temporarily mimic the appearance of the material it has just passed through. At Timothy's most intangible state, it takes on the appearance of the surrounding environment, allowing him to become almost invisible. If you would, Timothy?"
At his aunt's command, McGee took a deep breath and phased. The resulting gasps told him that the fabric did what it was designed to do.
Gibbs walked around the last location he had seen McGee. As he moved, there was a slight distortion, but if he hadn't been looking for it, he probably would not have noticed. "How long can he stay hidden like this?"
"As long as he can hold his breath." Hanna was also circling McGee. "I guess the daily sessions in the dive tank are working." The workouts in the icy water had been Tim's least favorite parts of the day, but the most vital. He still wasn't to the level of someone who had gone through the months of traditional training a SEAL went through, but the length of time he could hold his breath had more than doubled already. Curious, Hanna reached out and felt for McGee. When he brushed against Tim's arm the distortion increased momentarily before McGee moved away from him. Eventually, he had to breathe and became visible.
"Well done, Timothy, well done." There was no mistaking the pride in Hetty's voice. Gibbs was no less proud, just more silent as he nodded his approval.
Once McGee was done with the demo, he pulled the hood off his face and let it return to his collar. The fabric of his hood was extra thin, allowing it to conform to his face and not restrict his vision. Once back in his collar, it did not add any bulk. Now that he had returned to his normal state, his new suit also returned to its normal appearance. Not quite blue and not quite green, the material shifted color as he moved. As promised, it was not a Spandex suit, but still well tailored to emphasize his shoulders with subtle detailing to give the illusion of feathers. Gibbs recognized the silent homage to Tim's real father in the design and knew that had to please the younger man.
Callen noted the barely visible knives hidden in the sleeves and legs of McGee's hero suit. He also noted the increased confidence in the other man. "You ready to fly back to DC?"
"I'm not flying; I'm taking a more direct route." McGee waited for the rest of the group to understand how he was going to travel.
"You're travelling through the network? Are you ready to go that far?" Dominic hadn't been with Tim and Eric for the last several sessions and had missed their mapping of the national NCIS network, let alone their examination of other federal networks.
Tim had a slightly nervous smile. "We're going to give them quite a show." As the group moved to the large plasma upstairs, Gibbs watched him closely. They had talked about this a great deal, but the first cross-country trip was going to be nerve-wracking. Before the video conference went through, he pulled Tim off to the side.
"Are you sure you know the path? You and Eric have worked out all the bugs?"
"I'm ready; I can do this, Boss." Truthfully, he was terrified but one thing Tim McGee was not going to do was let down the man who so completely believed in him.
Gibbs saw the confidence, but he also saw the underlying fear. "I know you can. Now, as soon as you are successfully there Hetty and I will be on the jet. We should be there about four hours after you arrive. Apparently Hamilton is nosing around, so stay at headquarters until I get there, alright?"
"Four hours? I'll still be getting grilled by Tony about our week here." After a shared smile, the two men joined the rest of them in front of the plasma. Gibbs took his place next to Hetty while Tim sat at one of the computers and prepared.
---NCIS---
"Come on, Ziva, hurry up." Tony reached down and closed the file she was reading. "We've got to get to MTAC if we want a good seat."
Ziva rolled her eyes as she stood and followed him up the stairs. "It's a briefing, not a sideshow, Tony." He was already at the top of the stairs, bouncing slightly on his heels as he waited for her to catch up.
"It's not just any briefing, it's his official introduction as a Super and everybody is going to be there." Sure enough, when they arrived in MTAC the Director was flanked by three people Ziva did not recognize. The woman and one of the men did not strike Ziva as unusual, but the second man had unusual yellow eyes. Her suspicions were confirmed when Tony introduced her to them.
Before she could begin a conversation, the door opened again to admit Abby, Ducky and Palmer. Abby just grinned at them before launching into a technical conversation with the woman and Vance. One of the guards came in, escorting Jackie Vance and Sarah McGee.
Every seat in the gallery of MTAC was full as Vance moved down to stand in front of the main screen. The lead technician announced the link was live and then they were seeing Hetty and Gibbs larger than life. Tony and the rest of the team leaned around Vance to try and capture a glimpse of McGee. On the screen, Hetty Lang began speaking.
"Good day, Leon."
"Is it?" Vance was also looking for a glimpse of their new Super. Hetty's smile grew impossibly wider.
"It is a very good day, Leon. May I introduce the first Superhero to join the ranks since the dark days of the uprising… Shadowhawk."
Hetty turned and held her hands out towards a seemingly empty chair. Everyone stared as Timothy McGee slowly seemed to appear out of thin air, pulling back his hood as his body became solid. In MTAC there was awed silence until DiNozzo stood up with a whoop.
"When did he learn to do that?"
Up until that moment, Leon Vance had been hard pressed to see any resemblance beyond the physical between Tim and his father. Tim was quiet and reserved, timid almost, and often questioned himself. Hawkfire had been strong and confident, just shy of boastful, but always aware of his strengths. Now, seeing the younger man in a suit that so clearly echoed his father's, with a rarely seen confidence in his stance, the resemblance was breathtaking.
"Welcome home, Shadowhawk, and welcome to the family of Supers. How soon can we plan on your arrival?"
"Thank you, Director Vance. As for the time of my arrival…" Tim turned to Hetty and then Gibbs. Hetty nodded immediately, Gibbs' nod was a little slower and more thoughtful as an unspoken conversation passed between them. With one hand he pulled his hood back into place while the other hand reached towards the computer in front of him. After the previous demonstration, no one was surprised when he disappeared from the chair. However, most of them were surprised when only a few seconds later he appeared in an empty chair in MTAC.
"Probie!" Tony stood to greet his partner, but Ziva grabbed his arm and held him back to let Sarah get to him first.
"Tim, Tim, Tim." There was no mistaking the joy on McGee's face when his sister launched herself at him with a thousand questions. The distraction was enough that only Vance looked back at the plasma to see the look of relief on Gibbs' face.
---NCIS---
Decorum was out the window as they gathered for lunch in the conference room. Sarah wanted to know everything about her brother's new abilities. His team wanted to know everything he had done since leaving DC the previous week. The visiting Supers wanted to get to know the only son of the man that had led them for so many years and through so many heroic actions.
It wasn't until it was time to send Ziva to pick up Gibbs and Hetty that the party started to break up. Ducky dragged Palmer back to autopsy to get back to work while Abby left with Sarah and Jackie for a night of Superhero movies. Vance and his old friends retreated to his office to review the video from the uprising he had managed to obtain.
As the rest of them scattered, Tony remained glued to Tim's side. "Wow, McGee, I mean, wow, my probie's all grown up."
They both laughed at that before McGee turned serious. "Tony, thanks, seeing that DVD of my parents really meant a lot to me."
He patted McGee's arm. "You remember that. They were your parents, not the McGee's." When he saw the questioning look, Tony had to admit what he knew. "Vance told Ziva and I about the problems with your adoptive dad. I'm sorry man, that had to be rough."
Tim shrugged, not ready to discuss what Ian McGee had tried to do. "At least I have my sister back in my life. I hear I have you to thank for that too."
"I knew she'd come around after she thought about it. I just made sure that I was around when she was ready." Tony didn't mention how many hours he had devoted to making sure he was around at the right time. It had all been worth it when he saw the reunion.
---NCIS---
Gibbs was still beaming with pride when he and Hetty arrived back at headquarters. Unfortunately, too much information had been gathered to delay any further, and Vance briefed Gibbs and McGee on what had been discovered in their absence. Once they were up to speed, he had a few questions to ask and one more bombshell to drop. "How far into a network can you get? What if it's encrypted?"
He'd spent a great deal of time not only working on these problems, but explaining the results to Eric and then to Gibbs and Hetty. "Most firewalls don't really detect me so I can get in and out pretty easy. Encryption is a little trickier. I still have to break through the layers. It's easier, but I still have the time limitations because of a lack of air. The easiest way would be for me to work through enough of the encryption to figure out the code before I go in."
"But if you had the codes, you could get in and out past the encryptions and the firewall undetected?"
"Why, what's going on?" Gibbs interrupted Vance with a question of his own.
After all his circling around the problem, Vance still didn't know the best way to approach this except straight on. "Kort has been asking for a meeting with McGee. He wants you to break into Hamilton's secure files. He's convinced you'll find something in there we can use."
Gibbs was not amused nor convinced. "First trip out and you want to send him into the lion's den, Leon? Can't we start him off on something a little easier?"
"We need to know what Hamilton is up to. When's the meet set for?"
Vance looked down at his watch. "Two hours."
---NCIS---
Hamilton slid into the booth, waiting for the occupant to look up at him. "Ian McGee?"
"Who wants to know?" Judging from the slurred voice, the drink in front of him was not the first of the night. "Who the hell are you?"
"Someone who knows what you have to do to get control of that boy of yours." When Ian looked up, Hamilton tossed a photo down onto the table. "Get rid of this man and there will be no one to stop you." Without waiting for a response, he left for his next stop, leaving Ian McGee to stare in hatred at the picture of silver hair and bright blue eyes.
---NCIS---
On the other side of town, another McGee waited in a booth. Kort slid into the opposite seat and stole a french fry off his plate with a smirk. "Your keeper lets you eat this junk?"
McGee refused to be angry with the man who had tried to rescue his mother. "Only when he gets to eat it too." Tim tilted his head towards a nearby table where Gibbs and DiNozzo were seated across from Vance and David. Kort let out a huff of laughter and slid a flash drive across the table.
"Here, it's what you need to see his files."
It was even easier than the last time to pull and read the information stored on the small drive and Tim absorbed the encryption code easily. "Let's see just what the man is up to, shall we?"