Chapter 3: Twin Minds Think Alike pt. II
The cloaked figure wandered the shadows of the alley after watching the fight between Gibbs and the punk. The cloak was billowing in the wind while the hood of said cloak was perfectly still, like someone had put the hood in that position permanently.
'All things considered, my hikari is going to be pleased when I-' He thought when he stopped.
Standing in front of him was three or four Ensigns assigned to the base. They were trying to get their 'escorts' to partake in a little 'fun'. When they noticed the short, cloaked figure they did what any drunken sailor would do, they were going to turn the kid into a human horseshoe.
"HEY, KID…GET OVER HERE AND CLEAN MY FRIEND'S MESS UP!" A plucky younger Ensign shouted to the cloaked figure.
The figure walked up to the plucky drunk and said in a plain tone of voice, "Ensign Mavricks, you are too inebriated to order a corpse around. Take your soused self, and your friends, and your 'escorts' and leave this area at once. Do I make myself clear."
The drunk Mavricks looked at the cloaked figure and said, "All right, you asked for it shorty."
That was the word that set off the cloaked figure. Mavricks drew back his fist and threw a punch that would have put the figure out for hours, but instead got nothing but air. The figure pulled out a Duel deck and pulled out a familiar card.
"I summon Illusionist Faceless Mage, in attack mode." The figure said.
Seemingly, as if out of thin air, a figure that looked like a clown appeared and took a punch from another Ensign. That's when the other two quickly sobered up and ran as fast as they could back to the base. The last Ensign and Ensign Mavricks looked at the figure and were still too drunk to realize that they were in trouble.
Their new opponent had three heads: one boy, one girl, and one that was empty save for a mouth that looked painted on. The rest of the body looked like something a clown would wear in a circus act.
"I.F.M, Send these two to the Shadow Realm…then send them back to the US Naval Base." the figure said.
The Mage complied and created a pair of small circles around the two drunks. The first one disappeared without a sound. The second one, however, sobered up and grabbed the figure in a last ditch move to save himself. The only thing that he caught was the cloak and tore the connection between hood and cloak itself.
Ensign Mavricks looked shocked as he saw who was going to send him to the darkness and said the only thing he could say before disappearing, "YOU!"
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The weary group of NCIS Investigators finally made it to the base and were in the Medical ward. The room looked something like out of ER, but at the same time looked more ominous at this time of night. Of course when you drive with DiNozzo at the wheel you can understand if it took you all night to get from point A to point B.
Ducky felt a little anxious to meet his protégé from a few years ago. He had a slight smile as he remembered how he was bested in a simple game of chess…
Flashback
Ducky looked down at the board and noticed that there were only four pieces left on the chessboard: His white king, white rook, and his opponent's black king and black queen. Ducky's rook looked like it was in a position to take his opponent's queen and declare checkmate.
Ducky looked up from the board and said, "It looks like I'm going to win again, Julius. Why not surrender now and admit that you can't beat me when it comes to a game like chess."
His opponent picked up a glass that had tea in it, took a sip and said in a teen's voice, "Only a fool admits that he is beaten. Or at least, that's one of the things that I learned from you."
"Look down, Julius, your queen is going to be lost on the next turn and your king is out of reach to take the rook away. You are beaten, admit it." Ducky said before sipping his own tea.
Ducky's opponent smiled and said, "True, true, but you forgot to look at all possibilities Ducky. Beat your way out of this."
Ducky looked at the board just in time to see that his opponent moved his queen diagonally to his side of the board. Specifically toward his rook. Ducky knew that his king was out of range to take his opponent's queen and was silently applauding in his head when the kid took his rook and left the king.
"Check…mate." Julius said.
Ducky looked at the kid and said, "Well done, Julius, well done. I never saw that coming. You have done exceedingly well. You'll make a fine doctor, medical examiner, or whatever career you decide to go into."
Ducky looked back up and took a mental snapshot in his head of his pupil. The kid was in his mid teen years, had the height and weight of a scarecrow, and had the personality of a modern game player. His clothes consisted of a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, a red outer-shirt, and a pair of military style boots. His hair was light brown and was pulled into a loose ponytail with his bangs framing his face. He had an unassuming face that fit anyone's profile until you got to his eyes.
Yes it was the eyes that got to Ducky. They were simple in shape, which was almond shape, but the color was complex and different, to say the least. The color was steel gray with flecks of brown in the outer edge. To the casual observer his eyes were in slight arrogance and distracted but Ducky knew that was just a ruse to hide his cold logic and smoldering reasoning. Only the Cassidy family and Ducky knew that behind Julius's eyes there was a tactician and strategist that enjoyed a challenge.
End Flashback
Abby noticed that Ducky looked nostalgic and was about to say something when they heard a large boom coming from their destination. Ducky himself looked like a parent had lost a child. The six of them ran toward the Chief Examination Office when a figure was blown out of the door and down the hallway. They ran even faster at that little show. Gibbs, DiNozzo, Kate, and McGee drawn their weapons and were scanning the room in front of them while Abby and Ducky looked at their downed man.
"Who's in here!" DiNozzo shouted to Gibbs.
Ducky surprisingly shouted back, "This is Dr. Cassidy's office. Be careful to not disturb anything."
Kate looked around and asked, "Dr. Cassidy, are you in here?"
"No, I'm somewhere in the Bahamas and left a hologram. Of course I'm here. I just decided to meet the floor up close and personal." A voice said from under a mix of rubble and a gurney.
Kate rolled her eyes and said to herself, "Great. Another Tony to worry about."
"Just pull this rubble away from me and I'll explain everything." Dr. Cassidy said.
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After a few minutes of pulling rubble away from the remains of a gurney, they found Dr. Cassidy.
'He doesn't look much older than when I met him and trained him years ago. Even the look is still the same.' Ducky thought.
Gibbs, Kate, DiNozzo and McGee looked a little stunned at the Doctor.
Abby walked in and immediately asked, "Who's the kid?"
The 'Kid' stiffened like Gibbs with the punk who accused him of being old. He smiled at Abby and asked, "Did you get hit when the patient was thrown or are you always inquisitive?"
Abby figured out that she was insulted and gave him a glare.
"Who are you, exactly?" Gibbs asked with slight confusion evident in his voice.
"…Oh, sorry. Dr. Julius Cassidy, M.D. and resident CMO and Coroner at the moment of Domino City Naval Base." The kid said.
Ducky looked at him while they were being introduced, albeit rather awkwardly. Dr. Cassidy didn't look much different than from the mental snapshot of a few years ago. He was a few inches taller, which made him more like a scarecrow. His hair was longer and was now a dark brown, but still in a loose ponytail. He wore a red t-shirt with a dragon on the front, a pair of dark green sweatpants, and a pair of tennis shoes as well as a doctor's lab coat. The eyes were still gray with brown flecks but were a little darker in shade and hue. The major difference was the ring that was on his finger.
The ring was gold, yet shined with an inner radiance. The design was Egyptian in origin, with the eye of Ra sitting proudly on the top of the ring. It looked like an ordinary ring, but something about it gave Abby and Kate the creeps. Gibbs and DiNozzo felt like there was someone else in the room with them but they didn't bother to voice it aloud.
"So, Ducky, I didn't know that you were bringing friends. If I did, then I would have set out more beds." Dr. Cassidy said.
"These people are here to investigate the murder here in Domino City." Ducky said.
Gibbs noticed a slight flicker in Dr. Cassidy's eyes when he said, "Oh, I think I have a suspect but at the moment I don't have any real evidence. We can investigate in the morning if you wish."
"I at least want a look at the body, Julius." Ducky said.
"Of course, Ducky. How can I bring you to the other side of the world and not show you my puzzlement." Julius said.
Abby started toward the only remaining, not to mention working, computer in the room. She got as far as sitting down in the chair when she felt someone was watching her. She looked around, yet saw no one. So she started her task of getting back into 'The Duelist's Database", when she heard a voice say, "I wouldn't dig to deep, if I were you?"
She thought it was Dr. Cassidy, so she replied, "And if I were you I would stay away from me at this particular moment," and turned around to look at the doctor. The scary part was that no one was there.
"On second thought, maybe I do need to sleep a little." Abby said to herself.
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'Closer now…she is closer, now. Find her…KILL her.' The voice said.
She listened to the voice more often than not nowadays. Her friends think that she was perfectly fine but that was an act put up by the voice to keep up appearances. She even managed to coerce Kaiba's little brother into helping her by staying the night with him. Nothing went on between the two but she put enough subconscious commands into Mokuba to make him her unwitting pawn. The voice influenced enough people to mob the Game Store but as soon as those…NCIS people showed up the plan fell apart like dominos on a model.
'Time to kill…sorry my dear but I must be the one to do this…matter of honor, you see. Night, night…By morning this will be an unpleasant dream.' the voice said.
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Mai was being escorted by the guard when she felt a cold chill down her spine.
'He's here.' She thought with terror as they reached the office.
"Ms. Valentine, I presume?" Gibbs asked.
She nodded her head and was getting nervous at the same time.
"I'm Special Agent Gibbs, the woman near the computer is our resident expert on computer hacking and everything that we bring in, but we call her Abby-" Gibbs was saying before being interrupted by Mai.
"Help me!" She practically screamed.
Gibbs looked confused while Tony asked, "From what?"
She was about to answer when a loud boom sounded from the other end of the hall.
"HIM!" She shouted as she ran behind Gibbs.
Abby ran into the dissection room to warn Ducky of trouble while Kate, Tony, McGee, and Gibbs pulled out their guns. They heard footsteps coming closer to the door. The guard shouted a warning before he was knocked aside by seemingly nothing but the air. The shadow of a figure appeared on the other side of the door. The four with guns aimed them at the door and were ready for anything…or almost anything.
The doorknob turned, and in walked a young woman with light brown hair and a school uniform. Gibbs noticed that the only odd thing was her eyes were very red, like exploding sun red.
'Oh…shit.' Gibbs thought.
"Move aside or you will die too." the young woman said to the five. (A/N: Don't forget, Mai is in the room but is without a gun)
Tony was the first in asking, "Are you the one that's threatening Ms. Valentine?"
She drew a knife and threw, expecting it to kill the man outright but that changed fast. The knife stopped only inches from hitting his chest, then dropped on the floor. The knife thrower looked and saw a person with a hooded cloak sitting cross-legged on the desk. She made a feral hiss at the figure and left by her favorite method of drawing shadows around her. Mai at this point feinted again.
The other four aimed their guns at the cloaked figure. At that point, a black mist settled around them.
"Who are you?" Kate asked.
The cloaked figure pulled his hood back and shocked everyone in the mist. There, sitting cross-legged on Dr. Cassidy's desk, was Dr. Cassidy. But at the same time, it looked like a different person.
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Sorry for the delay but I had writer's block. To answer a question or two, the investigating will start soon. I first needed to introduce the new faces. I think people can guess who the young knife wielding woman was. Expect to see a little more soon. Please Read and Review.
Legal Matters
See chapter 1