A/N: Here's the next bonus chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Rise of the Guardians, NCIS, and all their characters belong to their respective owners
Bonus Scene #2: The Tangibility Test -AKA- The One Where Gibbs Shouldn't Be Surprised
"Uhh... hey, Gibbs?" Jamie whispered, apprehension written all over his face. Gibbs looked up from his paperwork and raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Have you seen Jack?"
"What do you mean 'have I seen Jack'?" was the deadpan reply.
"Well... he, um... may or may not have wandered off and I can't find him," Jamie winced, his apologetic smile more like a grimace. Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache already starting to form.
"He can't go through walls, right? So he couldn't have gotten far," the older agent said with a sigh, "at least not anywhere with restricted access."
"That's the problem, though... I already checked everywhere he could have gone on his own."
"You sure he didn't just leave?"
"I don't think so. He would've told me before he did." Jamie had the look of a worried parent that just lost their kid in a shopping mall.
"Did you check Ducky's lab? Maybe it got too hot up here for him," Gibbs got up from his chair, grabbing his paperwork and coffee. "Come on, I gotta talk to Duck anyways."
When they arrived in autopsy, the room was cold as always. There was, however, no sign of the winter spirit. The only occupants in the room were Dr. Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, and the cadaver that they were currently dissecting.
"Ah, Jethro! Mr. Bennett!" Ducky greeted cheerily behind his face shield. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Just need your signature on this, Duck," Gibbs said casually, gesturing to the paperwork in his hand.
"Of course, just give me a moment. Here, Mr. Palmer, if you would take over, please?" Ducky removed his gloves and took the documents, humming to himself as he looked them over. "By the way, Jethro," he handed the papers back to Gibbs, "would you mind taking these samples up to Abigail for analysis? We've both got our hands quite full at the moment."
Gibbs accepted the items, handing the documents to Jamie. "Thanks, Duck," He said with a smirk and a nod. The two left and made their way up to Abby's lab.
The first thing they noticed when they got off the elevator was that it was unusually quiet. It was pretty normal to be bombarded with loud, heavy-metal music the moment you entered that particular hallway, however, the volume had been turned significantly down. They were both perplexed, to say the least.
When they entered, they were met with an amusing and confusing sight. Jack was sitting on the metal worktable while Abby was pelting paper balls at him. Neither had noticed the newcomers.
"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked flatly, startling the two. In that split second, Abby yelled, "Gibbs!" while simultaneously throwing another paper ball without aiming. Jack turned his head slightly so see who walked in and the ball hit him square in the eye.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!" Abby winced. Jack rubbed at his eye.
Gibbs just shook his head in exasperation while Jamie looked dumbfounded.
"Wait, you can see him?!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Abby said excitedly, directing her attention to Jamie. "I always, you know, suspected Jack Frost might be real, and then with what happened a few months ago, and those times where some of the others thought you were talking to yourself, and then all those crazy freezing pranks that have been plaguing Tony..." She rambled on. "And I mean I already knew that Santa Clause was real. And the tooth fairy... So I just kinda put two and two together and made an extra-sparkly four."
"That's two adults that can see me now!" Jack declared proudly, holding up two fingers. "The kangaroo's gonna be so jealous."
"I'm an adult…" Jamie deadpanned.
"You don't count," Jack said impishly with a dismissive wave.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow and gestured to the array of paper balls that littered the floor. "What exactly were you two doing, Abbs?"
"Science," Jack answered cheekily as he tossed a paper ball at Jamie, who caught it and threw it right back at him with a smirk.
"We're testing a hypothesis, Gibbs!" Abby said, going into explanation mode. "So, you know that Jack can only be seen, heard, and touched by people who believe in him, right? And a non-believer will walk right through him, right? So then we were thinking: well, what about objects? 'Cause like, when someone walks through him, they're wearing clothes and carrying sleds or books or cell phones or whatever, and those will go right through him as well. But objects can't believe in anything because they're just objects. Yet objects are still physically tangible to Jack. He can't just go through walls or windows or trees or whatever," she waved her hands around in emphasis, "You with me so far?"
"Uhh... kind of?" Jamie said while Gibbs just nodded for her to continue.
"Right, so, why is it that some objects go through him and others don't? Like, is there any rhyme or reason to it? Does it just depend on the object or is it about who is touching the object? So we tried out a few things, like if a believer holds an object," She picked up a pencil and bopped Jack on the head with the eraser end, "or, if a believer throws an object..." Abby then threw another paper ball at the winter spirit, hitting him in the shoulder. She then gestured to the table he was sitting on, "...or, if there was no human contact. And so far, all objects have been tangible," She held up both her index fingers in a loose pointing motion. "Now all we have left to test is..." She caught sight of another visitor about to enter her lab, "a non-believer!"
"Who doesn't believe in what?" Jimmy Palmer looked extremely confused as he walked in, carrying several vials. "Dr. Mallard had a few more samples he wanted me to bring up," he explained, holding them up for everyone to see and nodding to the ones that Gibbs was still carrying. He grinned at Gibbs like they were having a 'twinning' moment. The grin dropped at the deadpan look Gibbs gave him.
"Jimmy! Just the skeptical adult I wanted to see!" Abby got his attention, an 'innocent' smile on her face. She took the vials from him and physically directed him over to the table. "Stand right here. Ok, now I need you to swing your arm out."
Though extremely confused, Palmer did as he was told, unaware that his arm was going right through the Guardian of Fun, who subtly flinched at the feeling. Jamie let out a poorly concealed snort of laughter as he caught a glimpse of Jack giving Palmer bunny ears in retaliation. Jimmy let out a nervous laugh, glancing to the younger agent, "I feel like you guys are pranking me..."
"No, no, sorry," Jamie cleared his throat with a grin. "Continue."
"Now hold this paper ball and swing your arms around again." He followed her instructions wearily. Both his arm and the paper went through the winter spirit.
"Ok, now Jimmy, I need you to stand over here and throw this paper ball right at that spot on the table," Abby directed him again.
"Why am I doing this?" He questioned.
"I'm measuring the range of movement of a human arm and the ability to aim without seeing. Now here," She handed him the crumbled paper. "Throw right there," she said, then added, "with your eyes closed."
Once again, Palmer did as he was told (and missed more than half of the throws), and was the only one to not know that the ball did not actually hit the table before bouncing away. A few more throws for consistency and Abby was satisfied with the results.
"Thanks, Jimmy! You've been extremely helpful," She smiled brightly as she hastily ushered him out of the lab. "I'll get those results to Ducky ASAP!" Leaving no room for a response, she locked the door as soon as he was out.
"Well, I guess there's our answer," Abby said looking thoughtful. "Looks like the only time an object will go through you harmlessly is if a non-believer is in physical contact with it." A frown pulled at one side of her mouth. Jack cringed, the same dreaded thought passing between the two. The shared looks had Gibbs and Jamie confused.
"What?" Jamie asked.
"Well…" Jack trailed off, "The… uh… reason we were testing this theory out, you see…" Abby rolled her eyes at his reluctance and continued the explanation for him.
"Jack got carried away with his pranks, and now Tony thinks he's being haunted by a ghost; which is close to the truth, but that's beside the point. Anywho. Now we know that it is possible for Tony to shoot you," She gave Jack a pointed look, "even if he can't see you."
"Wait, Tony tried to shoot you?!" Jamie exclaimed. Jack winced sheepishly.
"Technically he just pointed his gun in my general direction, but, um, yeah…"
Jamie shook his head in amused exasperation.
"You might be winning your prank war, but you should really quit while you're ahead, before it gets too out of hand, yeah?"
"Don't need to tell me twice," Jack said truthfully as he hopped down from his seat on the worktable. "I think I'm gonna stay far away from Tony for now." A devious smirk crossed his lips, "Besides, I've got someone else I haven't messed with in a while. He's probably getting jumpy from the anticipation."
"You really think pranking Bunny is any safer?!" Jamie asked in bewilderment.
"Bunny?" Gibbs asked.
"The Easter Bunny," Jamie clarified.
"The Easter Bunny is real, too?!" Abby yelled excitedly, her eyes lighting up.
"…real full of himself, that's for sure…" Jack muttered. "… the freakin' kangaroo…"
"Is he a bunny or a kangaroo?" Gibbs was thoroughly confused, both with who they were talking about and the fact that he was actually bothering to question it at this point.
"Bunny," Jamie answered at the same time Jack said, "Kangaroo." Jamie rolled his eyes at Jack's shit-eating grin.
Gibbs just shook his head with his eyebrows raised and blinked slowly. He had clearly reached his weirdness limit for the day.
"I'm going back upstairs," He said, looking at the other three with an unreadable expression. He opened his mouth to say something else, but quickly shut it with a shake of his head and turned around and left. Just before the automated doors closed all the way, Jamie, Abby, and Jack heard Gibbs shout from the elevator.
"Get back to work!"
A/N: So this is the last of what I have pre-written. I'll be marking this story as complete, however I may still add more bonus scenes in the future. A sequel is possibly in the works as well, but like I said before, I can't promise anything. If I do write a sequel, I'll post a teaser for it as a chapter on here so you guys know about it.
I also have some ideas for other RotG crossovers that I think you'll all enjoy, so keep an eye out! :)
Thanks for reading! And for those who celebrate it, happy Easter!
