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Mike Franks had known something was wrong; after being an NCIS agent for so long he had developed an extra sense to wake up when someone was near him, but this time he couldn't. He just didn't have the strength to fight the drugs that were keeping him too drowsy to wake up. When an unknown hand had gripped his, he knew something had gone terribly wrong with Jethro and he cursed his inability to be there for him. He shouldn't have let the nurse drug him; he should have discharged himself and backed him up. But it was too late now, and as the mysterious hand was joined by another, this one gripping his fingers, he knew what was going to happen next. He focused on his hand and waited for the pain, hoping to use it to help him break out of the fog of his unconscious mind. He didn't need to wait long, the person snapped his fingers back and Mike felt the pain flood his body, jolting him awake immediately, an embarrassingly loud cry of pain escaping him. His first reaction was to grip his broken fingers and as he did, he got his first real glimpse of the cause of the mess he had been drawn into. The blonde Russian woman had already left his bedside and moved to Jenny's, her use of his fingers obviously just a way to scare her. He gritted his teeth and tried to channel the pain in to action as he saw the murderess pull out a gun. He looked around for some kind of weapon, cursing his luck as he saw only the IV pole and the equipment used to monitor his heart and keep fluids in him. He ripped the saline bag off of his pole and tried to lift it. Better than nothing.
"Hello Jenny, remember me?" The soon to be skewered woman asked in a sickly sweet voice. He saw Jenny panic and reach up for the alarm button. Smart thinking girl, he thought as he realised he should have pushed his first, damn drugs. Svetlana grabbed and twisted her arm around in an effort to prevent her from hitting the button but was too late. Mike felt sick, knowing that there wasn't anything more that Jenny could do to help herself and death was holding a gun and staring her furiously in the face. The door burst open, letting Jethro and another man through it practically before it had opened all the way. Svetlana pushed her gun to Jenny's head and simply stood, watching them enter.
"If you shoot me, she dies too, I promise you." Mike had heard that tone of voice before; it was the tone of someone with nothing left to live for, and they were the most dangerous people to trap in a corner. They didn't play by anyone else's rules and made unpredictable decisions at the most inopportune times.
"Put the gun down and you can still walk away from this." The other man said, probably the Vance guy Ziva had told him about.
"The hell she can!" Mike grumbled, annoyed that Vance was going to try negotiating with her. The hollow look in her eyes confirmed his suspicions about how this confrontation was going to end; quickly and with blood. Franks got out of his bed and tried to get a better grip of his pole and waited for his chance to do some damage of his own. No one was going to kill Jenny while he was around and he owed this sinister bitch some pain now too. Svetlana looked at him amused before carefully attempting to round Jenny's bed, trying to put it between her and the men in front of her. That was when all hell broke loose.
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Svetlana savoured the moment; she had waited for this day for so long and this time it wouldn't slip through her fingers. As she approached the bed of the woman that had been too soft hearted to kill her, she smiled. The roles were reversed, now she was the one that held the gun, and she had hardened her heart a long time ago, so killing was not a problem for her. It was time to show her some of the pain that she had had to live with these nine, long years. Jenny was obviously terrified of her and she felt the satisfaction settle in her soul. Suddenly, Jenny reared up and attempted to push the alarm button behind her head, hitting it just before Svetlana could grab her hand. That is not part of the plan! Enraged, she twisted the arm around, Jenny's gasp of pain soothing her impulse to end it quickly. She needed to see every long moment of her pain, and she needed to hear every second of it, a quick death would not do her revenge for Anatoly any justice. The door behind her burst open so she put her gun to the petrified woman's head and watched them enter, knowing they wouldn't try anything while her weapon was trained on her.
"If you shoot me, she dies too, I promise you." She would make good on that promise, her last act would be to pull the trigger and the incapacitated Jenny couldn't do anything to stop her. She glanced down at her, revelling in the absolute power she had over her life, and saw a small red patch appearing through the covers over her stomach: blood. She was clearly trying not to let her see how much pain she was in and that small fact told her it was a lot. She felt tears in her eyes once more, this time due to the intense joy suffusing her body. She could almost feel the victory. Nothing that they did now mattered, because it felt as if she had already won.
"Put the gun down and you can still walk away from this." The annoying man Gibbs had brought as back up tried to convince her, but she had no intention of walking away. This was her last stand, and she was going to take as many of them as she could with her.
"The hell she can!" the old man grumbled in her direction. She turned her gaze to him and smirked as she saw him struggle out of his bed, the pole dangling from his hands. Well, the foolish old man is certainly determined. She knew she was too vulnerable in the open where she currently was so she decided to try and move around the bed, putting Jenny between her and the men in front of her. From there she just might be able to take them all out before she died, which was a pleasant thought. Just as she started moving the men suddenly lunged at her.
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The first thing Leon saw when he got through the door was the gun that Svetlana had put to Director Shepard's head and both he and Gibbs came to a sudden stand still. Vance's first instinct was to check over his superior and as he did so, he could see that Jenny was in serious pain, her eyes unguarded by the professional mask that all agents learned to develop as a probie, and strengthened as they progressed through their careers. He looked away, feeling like he was invading her privacy, and took stock of the threat in the room, the slightly unhinged Russian holding the gun. She didn't appear to be concerned about having no back up or the fact that she was outnumbered and he didn't like that, it made him nervous.
"If you shoot me, she dies too, I promise you." She glanced down at Jenny and seemed to become happier at the sight of her pain. Leon decided he had seen enough. His duty was to protect his fellow agents so he was going to do so; he decided he would try to talk her away from the Director.
"Put the gun down and you can still walk away from this." He tried to make his voice clear and strong but not arrogant, which usually caused criminals to try and shoot the cocky attitude out of him. He didn't like the change of atmosphere in the room as he said it though; she looked at him like she didn't care about living, about getting away from here after causing havoc. She seemed to watch him in distain, as if giving her a way out made him pathetic in her eyes and he felt a shiver of apprehension run down his spine.
"The hell she can!" A man growled from the bed beside him, which he had thought was empty, and Leon chanced a surprised glance at who he assumed was Mike Franks, the retired NCIS agent that Director Shepard had asked to be her temporary partner during this ill-fated 'mission'. Franks was standing in front of his bed, holding his IV pole clumsily in his arms like a lance, seemingly waiting for the first chance to run her through with it. Leon mentally sighed; the old man was just going to get in the way if it came to a fight. He looked back at Svetlana as she seemed to rethink her position, and as soon as her gun left skin contact with Jenny, he leapt at her, sparing a thought for his family.
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Gibbs didn't listen to anything that happened when he entered the room, his eyes drawn to and captured by Jenny's petrified and agonised gaze. She was perspiring and shaking in pain, the fear clear in her glistening eyes, the tears she was desperately trying not to show to Svetlana welling up, ready to overflow. He knew the feeling, when the drugs prevented you from holding back and covering up your emotions. She seemed to be trying to borrow his strength, to help her rebuild her barriers. He let her, hoping to draw on her presence to help him keep calm and not make any rash decisions, knowing the cost could be her life, and he drew great comfort from the fact that she was still breathing. Svetlana hadn't killed her yet, and she wasn't going to now that he was here.
He wouldn't let her down; he wouldn't fail her like he had failed Shannon and Kelly. He might not have been in the same country back then, but he was now and there was no way Svetlana was going to take her from him. Once bitten, twice shy, well losing Shannon and Kelly had been a monster bite, he wasn't going to let it happen again, not while he still had life in his body. Jenny wouldn't be just another regret, someone he watched die without ever showing how he truly felt about her, even after everything that had happened. He strengthened his resolve, deciding to make this quick. The first thing he needed to do was get the gun away from Jenny's head. His gaze snapped to Svetlana as she tried to move around the bed, to put more obstacles between them and her. He knew it was now or never.
Gibbs rushed forwards towards Svetlana, Leon at his side, and they both made a grab for one of her arms, Gibbs getting her gun arm and pulling it higher up towards the ceiling just as she squeezed the trigger, the bullet impacting mere centimetres above Jenny's head. Leon gripped her other arm so she couldn't hurt Jethro and tried to bring it behind her back to make her loosen her grip on her weapon, but she had other ideas. She brought her knee up and slammed it in to Leon's crotch, then punched his face as he doubled over in pain, sending him sprawling on the floor. She then used her free hand to grip Jethro's and push on the nerve there in a thumb tap, making his whole body freeze. She brought her other knee up into Gibbs' crotch and then hit him on the head with the butt of her gun, sending him to the floor next to Leon, allowing her to take aim at Jenny once more.
The way was clear for Mike to galvanise himself into action and he viciously shoved his pole into her abdomen, then as she curled over he swung it at her head, causing her to fall backwards on to Jenny's bed, she brought the gun back up pointing it at Franks and Leon staggered up from the floor and grabbed it, hitting her hand against the side of the bed to try and make her open her fingers but she had a death grip on it and emptied the clip, hoping to hit something. Gibbs recovered enough to stand up and grab her head, snapping her neck marine execution style, and then he let her lifeless body fall to the ground.
They all staggered over to Jenny's bed and slumped on it, gasping from the ordeal and Gibbs wiped away the small trickle of blood from his head, embracing Jenny, pressing a kiss to her forehead and trying to calm her down as she sobbed in his arms. It felt so good to hold her again, even if he couldn't wrap his arms around her for fear of doing more damage and she could only cling to him with one hand, which she used to clutch the material of his jacket, to prevent him from moving away.
"What did I tell you about leaving those loose ends, probie?" Mike asked and Jethro rolled his eyes and then answered his 'boss'.
"Not to." Franks indicated Svetlana's body and scoffed.
"If that's how you remember what I taught you, I don't want to know what happens with the stuff you forgot."
They shared a laugh, needing the relief from the high stress situation and Mike tried to put the stuff back on his pole before the nurses came back. The last thing he needed was to be charged with damaging hospital equipment.
"They'll never know." He muttered, trying to straighten out one of the pipes leading from the bag, in to his arm using his thumb and his curled up fingers.
Gibbs pressed another kiss to Jenny's head as she quieted, the adrenaline no longer pumping around her body and making her hysterical. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, the injuries she had suffered taking their toll on her body and tiring her out. The pain was flooding her, the meds long since used up. Just as he was about to call out to the security guys to let the nurse in, he noticed that Leon's white shirt was staining red. He cursed under his breath as Vance slipped down the bed on to the floor, the smile freezing on his face.
"Leon? Crap! Call a doctor!" Gibbs jumped up from the bed and tried to put pressure on the wound, knocking Leon's hands away as he tried to help, the shock his body must have gone in to fading away and leaving him shaking violently from pain.
"Can we get some god-damn doctors in here?!" Mike bellowed, and the security guys allowed the waiting medical staff to stream in the door. The warm blood was seeping through Jethro's fingers and pooling on the floor beneath Vance, the sharp smell of iron filling his nostrils and he realised that one of his arteries must've been damaged; otherwise the blood would be flowing much slower. Gibbs didn't know what to do, but as he was pushed away from Vance, towards the back of the room, he was glad to not be feeling Leon's life literally slip through his fingers. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, he wanted to stay with Jenny but he didn't want to leave Leon to fend for himself. After all, it was his and Jenny's mess that had gotten Vance injured. Leon hadn't had to get involved; he could have stayed back at the office and written him up for removing evidence from NCIS. Gibbs was sure that if Vance hadn't come to back him up, he would have been killed at Jenny's house, in the surprise that Svetlana had set up for him. He owed Leon his life. His mind was made up for him as the nurses sedated Jenny and took her to theatre, leaving him with Mike, who was being set in plaster, and Leon.
He moved closer to Vance as the doctors peeled back his jacket to reveal five large holes all clustered around the lower part of his ribcage. Leon reached out and grasped Gibbs' jacket, the pain unbearable and sweat began beading on his face as he struggled to keep it together long enough to talk.
"G-guess I'm… n-not… going to see my… f-family again… huh?" Vance struggled to talk, his voice breaking as the agony ripped through him. "Tell… th-them… I l-love… them. T-tell my… f-family…"
"Sure you'll see them, Leon; you can tell them yourself, you've had worse than this." Jethro swallowed and put on his strongest façade, hoping to keep him awake long enough for the doctors to seal off some of the blood vessels before they could risk moving him. Vance gave him an amused glare.
"One… b-bullet Gibbs, in th-the arm."
"From the fuss you made it sounded like it was at least fifty!" Jethro chuckled, trying to keep the mood light. Vance tried to laugh too but he ended up choking on the blood pooling in his lungs and throat. The doctor's exchanged worried looks as they finished what they could and then lifted him on to Mike's bed to wheel him away.
"You'll be ok, Leon."
"You're… usually s-such a… good l-liar… Gibbs." Leon began to gasp, as if he couldn't catch his breath and then his eyes rolled back. Gibbs was made to step back as they took Leon away to surgery, leaving him in the room with the body of the vengeful woman that had tried to ruin his life and the blood of his colleague and friend on his hands. Mike gave him a reassuring smile.
"That kid is strong. He's got a lot to live for, he'll be fine. So will your Jenny." Jethro noticed the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He was lying.