Title: Tessellation (26/33)
Author: Emono
Rating: FRAO
Fandom: NCIS/Dark Angel crossover, mixing CSI's
Pairings: Jethro Gibbs/Logan Cale, Mac/Horatio, Catherine/Abby, Tony/Speed, Danny/McGee, Greg/Jimmy
Series: The Not-So-Dark-Angel Universe
Disclaimer: I do not own either, why? Because I'm poor, that's why.
Summary: They find Danny…can McGee keep it together? No, I think not.
Beta: gil_follower
Warnings: AU, rescue, scars, blood, violence, character-death

Prompt: "violence; pillage/plunder; extortion"

AN: Since I'm staying in a hotel over Christmas, I decided to ride the elevator once while I was here…and OMG, it was beautiful. So, basically, the elevator the fight is in is the elevator in a Best Western in Cincinnati, OH…yeah, that's how weird I am. I go into an elevator and think "Wow…how pretty…I should start a fight in here."

Two cars pulled up in front of The Rose Palace, leaving black rubber streaks in their wake. Jethro, Kate, Tony, and Logan came out of one car…Horatio, Mac, and Speed came out of the other. They all but ran to the entrance, each flashing a badge (in Logan's case, his NCIS ID) when the security bombarded them.

Jethro all but pinned down the front deskman "We need full-access to this hotel."

The balding man eyed Gibbs' badge, swallowing nervously, "Sir, the privacy of our guests-"

"I want your master code, and a skeleton key" McGee held out his hand demandingly, voice cold "Either cooperate or face charges for obstruction of justice on a federal level."

The man paled at that, immediately reaching under the desk and handing over a card…then wrote out a seven digit number on a slip of paper and handed that over too.

"Can you reach the sub-basement by elevator?" Mac demanded, but the deskman stuttered out something inaudible and he got impatient. He seized a fistfull of his shirt, nearly picking him up off the floor "Did you hear me? I said: Does the damn elevator go to the sub-basement?"

"All the way down! The stairs too!" the man shouted thickly "The sub-basement is caged off in the back, all the way in the back…no one ever goes there."

"Except for Robert Mead" Horatio growled, making a bee-line for the stairs "Speed, Logan, Tony, come with me. We can't all fit. We'll get there second, but we'll be the cavalry."

"Wait, Kitten" Jethro slipped a .48 in his lover's hand "Just in case. Go."

Logan nodded, heading off with the others. Jethro led his part of the team to the elevator, an ominous cloud swelling around them. Something horrible was going to happen…

»*»

The elevator opened up to the basement, they took out their guns and held them at their sides. Jethro led them silently into the dim area, the usual hotel crap piled everywhere from extra towels and shower curtains to extra chairs and desks. They were halfway through it when someone entered to their left, and soon Horatio and his team were creeping back behind them.

There was a ceiling-high cage door splitting the basement from the far back, and when the approached it McGee knew it was the right thing asking for the master key and code. There was a thick mechanical device that required both, and it locked the caged door shut. Tim ran the card through, then entered the code. It swung open creepily, but Gibbs wasn't about to let that stop him. Logan was at his side by Tony's request, he was to watch Gibbs' six while Tony was still injured.

Unfortunately, that meant he was one of the firsts to see the scene. After clearing the right side, Jethro gestured and they headed for the far left wall. Horatio suggested quietly they follow he pipes along the wall, and that led them straight to it. There was a spacey clearing in front of a section of wall, where Mead did his work. There was an old mattress on the floor, stained with blood and dirt.

And there he was…poor Danny. Danny was once again tied to the pipes, arms stretched taunt behind his back. He was in nothing but the black striped boxers he had managed to slip under his leather pants. His club clothes designed for his undercover mission were lying in shreds and strips by the mattress. But when you looked closer, you would notice all the blood. Dried blood caked his thighs and chest, shiny crimson still slicking his calves and a few cuts on his forearms. But the blood still ran shiny and bright red down the left side of his face, staining his skin and creating macabre rivulets down his neck and blending into the blood patterns on his chest.

Logan immediately dropped his gun and pose, turning and gagging hard into his hand. Everyone got a good look at Danny, and only Tim and Mac advanced.

But Mac spoke first, "Danny?"

"No, please…" Danny flinched away, breath hitching.

"Hold still" Mac commanded, pulling out his knife and seizing the blonde's forearm to cut his bonds.

"NO!" Danny half-sobbed, half screamed…trying to squirm away "No more! No more! I…I can't take it no more! Ya…ya can have anything, just don't touch me!"

"Oh God, Danny" Tim switched places with Mac, taking the knife from him "Danny, it's me…it's Tim. Calm down, ok? I'll cut you out."

"Don't hurt me, don't hurt me" Danny muttered over and over, the brunette slit the ropes and eased them off his lover's wrists. When something wet touched his hand, McGee looked down to realize his lover's wrists were bleeding and Danny's blood was staining the lines of his palm. McGee swallowed thickly, but instead of saying anything, he took the thick cloth blindfold off his lover.

Something broke inside Tim when Danny looked up, blood-shot blue eyes pleading with him not to hurt him, "T-Tim?"

"Danny" Tim reached up, touching his lover's chin and tilting his head to the side. There was a large gash down his cheek, from the base of his eye to just under the curve of his chin. It was dark, freshly made, and the only difference between the gash and rest of his blood-stained face was the dark color.

"Did Mead do this?" Tim's eyes flamed "Did he hurt you?"

Danny nodded slowly, dirt-smudged fingers reaching out for the man. But McGee stood and pushed past the others, leaving the scene. The blonde nearly whimpered when the blurry image of his lover disappeared, but another was there to take his hand and comfort him. As Logan called an ambulance, Speed let the blonde fall into his arms.

"It's ok, Danny, we've got you" Speed whispered into mussed blonde tresses "You're going to be fine…we'll get you out of here."

Danny could only nuzzle into the other, and wish he was his lover.

»*»

McGee jabbed the button on the side of the elevator, watching the floor that had his lover on it disappear. He only saw red, his hand clenched around his gun. He was ready to find and kill Mead, only him…no one else would step in. Not the law, not Gibbs…not even his beloved Danny.

As soon as he hit the first floor, a weight settled in his gut. The doors opened, and someone was there waiting on it. It was a rather tall, broad man…dark sunglasses and a cap on his head. He flashed a grin, stepping into the elevator with a salute. The man pushed the top floor button. McGee nodded back politely, then moved to leave the elevator and find Mead.

"Oh no, Special Agent McGee" the man chuckled, with one quick movement Tim found his wrist seized and his gun taken out of his holster "I think we have something to talk about."

"What the-!" Tim was tossed like a rag doll into the corner of the elevator, his gun discarded on the floor outside the doors before they shut. The elevator roared to life, ascending. The man removed his cap and glasses, tossing them to the floor. It was Robert Mead, hands still smeared with Danny's blood and grinning like a loon.

"You!" Tim growled, eyes flaming "You bastard!"

"Oh, tch-tch" Mead made a face "You're being serious too…is that why you and Danny get along so well?"

Tim colored, but managed to get to his feet. His gun was gone, and this man looked like he could take him in hand-to-hand. He made the mistake at looking into the mirrored walls of the elevator, catching an infinity effect…thousands of elevators with a small McGee and a very crazy Mead. His hand clenched on the silver railing below the mirror, lips pursed. How the hell was he going to-?

The doors opened, they had reached the top floor. McGee's eyes flickered to the doors as they opened, and he foolishly made a dive for them. A swift kick to the ribs had him back against the wall, and Mead looked almost…disappointed. The doors closed in slow motion, he swallowed nervously. Mead pushed the emergency stop button, then turned to his captured prey.

"I think you and I should stay" Mead pulled out two butterfly knives, both silver and polished. He tossed one to Tim, who barely caught it. "Man to man…I marred your lover, your agency fired me. We both have a hatred in us…who's is greater, Special Agent McGee?"

"You're a sick fuck" Tim flipped open the knife "You'd give me a weapon?"

"With a timer" Mead slammed his fist on the button to the basement, his knife open and catching the light "A knife fight to the basement, little you and I."

The elevator jerked to a start, putting Tim off-balance. Was this man serious? Mead lunged for him, knife brandished…he barely dodged, the small of his back hitting the railing as he pressed to the other side of the elevator. He was getting dizzy, staring into the infinity-shot of the mirrored walls. Everything was fuzzing up in his head, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Mead came at him again, and he just managed to wrist-block upwards and maneuver under his arm.

"Fight back, Special Agent McGee" Mead hissed, eyes bright with something akin to madness when he turned to glare at him. A grin broke his face, he knew how to get the other riled up. "I watched you both, I saw him obtain you like a true courtier. He got you into bed so easily, I knew you loved him. You put him in your book…there was no denying it."

Something snapped in him, something feral. McGee all but snarled, lunging at the man this time. The momentum sent them to the floor, they wrestled like a couple of school boys…though with sharper punches. McGee got nicked on the arm by a well-placed swipe, but he got in a solid punch to the man's jaw. His knife pressed to the man's neck, loathing in his eyes.

"Do it" Mead laughed, grin as wide as The Joker's "Slit my throat. Your boy won't ever forget me…now let me leave my fingerprints on you."

"You want me to kill you" McGee practically leapt off the man, knife down at his side "Why? What's so special about me?"

"Because you're the weak link" Mead stood, knife held up offensively "You're the one they always count out. I saw you and knew…and Danny saw it too."

Mead came at him slowly, voice low, "Danny's pretty flesh gave way beneath my knife like butter…he cried for you, Timmy…no matter what I did, it was your name he screamed. And when he finally broke and cried, I slashed open his face…he'd never been more picturesque, and you'll never see it. You'll only look at this scar and wonder… 'will I ever see him so beautiful?' "

"AH!" McGee swiped at the man with the knife, but Mead ducked under his arm. The primal, vicious being inside Tim wouldn't have that…pure instinct took over. He hooked his arm around the man's neck, pressing his forearm into his neck and cutting off his air. Mead was quickly disarmed with a jerk on his wrist, but he didn't get a greater chance to fight back.

Tim jabbed his knife into the man's lower back, the blade slipping inside his body easily, "This is for Danny, for all the pain you caused…now die, you son of a bitch."

Mead made a choked sound, the sound of his punctured kidneys poisoning the rest of his body flooding his ears. The elevator doors opened just at that moment, when the man convulsed in his arms one last time before collapsing to the floor. The polished silver knife still protruded from back, it had ruptured his internal organs and he slowly bled out.

McGee gazed down at the man in pure loathing, lips pursed and nerves steeled. Blood-slicked palms clenched, his clothes also stained crimson. For a brief moment, the kind subconscious inside of him cried injustice, and begged him to save this man. But no, he smothered it…this man had hurt his Danny, cut up his body…his blood was still in the lines of his hand.

In a moment, it was too late to save him.

"McGee?"

Tim looked up, his team there. Everyone was staring at him from the elevator doors, even Speed and Logan…who had Danny cradled between them.

"Oh Probie…you didn't…" Tony sighed, looking at the dead man on the floor.

McGee could only choke one thing past his tightening throat, "He…had it coming."

TBC