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Chapter - 4
It was a long drive back to New York, mostly because Tony got bored and kept fiddling with the radio. It was just as well, though, since it seemed that Jones and O'Neil were harder to track than expected. McGee had come up against a fire-wall or some such thing that had him angry and defensive when Gibbs called for an update. DiNozzo teased him but Gibbs had confidence that Tim and Abby would come through.
Finally, as they neared he city, McGee called. DiNozzo put it on speaker so they could both hear. "Boss, you there?" McGee asked.
"Yes, Tim, go ahead," Gibbs answered as he slid through traffic.
"Well, Abby and I," he paused so Abby could say hi, "Abby and I finally cracked the encryption that was blocking the GPS trackers on their phones. I don't know why civilians would have protection like this on their phones; I mean it's better than I've seen on CIA equipment."
"Get to the point, McBlabbermouth. Did you get a location?" DiNozzo snapped as he grabbed for the handle over the door. City traffic was brutal and Gibbs was getting creative.
"Of course, we did," Abby broke in. "We sent the location to your phone. It's an abandoned warehouse. We're trying to track the owners, but we're hitting a wall. It almost looks like no one has ever owned it, which means that whatever is happening there won't have nosy landlords looking into it. Be careful guys."
"Always am, Abby," Gibbs promised. "Have you found anything else?"
"Sure, it looks like little April isn't as simple as she looks. Before her antique shop was burnt down, she was connected to another high profile arson case. Her old employer, Baxter Stockman, who was, like the biggest name in robotics up til then, disappeared after a fire burned down his whole building. He was implicated in several high profile robberies, but he disappeared before anything could be linked to him. After the fire, he went black, no mention of him anywhere. Friends and family think he died, but the police think he's in hiding."
"Jones also had a fire in his past, Boss," McGee chimed in. "His father's shop was burned down by the Purple Dragons when he was a boy when his father wouldn't pay for protection."
"Explains his love for the gang, Boss," DiNozzo said. "No connection to our dead marine though."
"That's where your wrong, Tony," Abby said.
"Ziva found out that Barry had filed a complaint with NYPD that punks were threatening to burn down his mother's apartment building. She's waiting to talk to his mother for more information," McGee said. "That was two days ago."
"Which is when he got his first beating," Gibbs said as Tony directed him off the interstate. They were pretty close to the warehouse.
"Exactly, oh and those metal fragments? I found out what they are," Abby announced. "They have the same composition as the city's older sewer pipes. I'm thinking that our perp has been in the sewers, which matches some of the trace evidence from the alley and his clothes."
"Great, we're looking for samurai crocodiles in the sewers," DiNozzo complained. "Turn here, Boss."
"Okay, keep me informed," Gibbs said and nodded for DiNozzo to hang up.
"Well, Boss, how are we going to approach this?" DiNozzo asked.
"Carefully, Tony," he answered and he pulled to a stop a block away from the warehouse.
There was nothing unusual about the boarded up warehouse as Gibbs and DiNizzo approached. Still, they approached cautiously. Lucky they did to, since the place turned out to have more security than expected. Gibbs figured that they were the in the right place, thinking of the trouble McGee ran into. They avoided the motion sensors and the cameras and reached the door. They paused to listen at the door. There were maybe four of people talking, including Jones and April. Gibbs held a finger to his lips to keep DiNozzo quiet so they could hear.
"I'm telling ya, it's just fishy, Raph!" Jones was shouting.
"And I'm telling you, that it's stupid, you dumbass. We've never heard of the guy and we sure as shell wouldn't kill him," another voice, probably Raph, argued back. "Use your brain, knuckle head."
"Maybe, I will, Shellhead!" Jones yelled back. There was a crash as it sounded like they started fighting and knocking stuff over.
"Should we stop them?" April asked someone. "We need to figure this out. They think Casey had something to do with it. This Agent Gibbs, he's not going to just let it go. He wants to talk to you."
"Us? Why?" another voice said. "Did you tell him about us?"
"No we'd never," April promised. "It's just Casey kept talking about friends and he got curious. You'll see as soon as Leo finishes downloading the data his little robot."
"Hey, do you think I'll get my stuff back?" Jones asked. "I want my cricket bat back, you know how are those are to find around here?"
"Don't worry about your toy, bozo," Raph complained.
"No, actually, I wanted to ask you about that cricket bat," Gibbs said as he opened the door.
Before they could finish opening the door, there was a crack and a puff of smoke. When it cleared, Jones and O'Neil were standing alone next to an odd, green, armored truck. Gibbs would swear there were rocket launchers on the side.
"Wait, there were two others here," DiNozzo said, he had his gun drawn, but he kept it pointed at the ground.
"I don't know what you mean, Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo," April said with a disarming smile. "It's just my boyfriend and I, trying to get some alone time." She bumped Jones's arm. "Right, sweetie?"
"Uh, yeah, right," Jones murmered. He was still blinking the smoke from his eyes. "It's just us, humans."
"Try it on someone else, guys. I don't buy it," DiNozzo snapped.
"DiNozzo, put your weapon away. Let's just talk," Gibbs tried to calm everyone. He looked around but couldn't see another soul in the building. "We just have some more questions. No harm done. Please, tell your friends to come out."
"No way, man," Jones barked. "You're trespassing and not welcome. This ain't right!"
Before Gibbs could argue, a decorative door, kind of like an elevator door, rose up and opened. Inside was a five foot tall, walking turtle with a purple bandana over its eyes a bo staff on its back. It was distracted, looking at a screen in its three fingered hand. Gibbs blinked hard, twice, but nothing changed.
"Hey, guys, I finished the download from the spy-turtle. That's Mikey's name for my bot, anyway, it looks like the dead guy was from the building that…" It finally looked up and its eyes got big when it saw the NCIS agents. "Oh, shell," it cursed.
"Nice going, Donny," another turtle, this one wearing red with two sai in its belt, showed up to Gibbs's right. It walked past him and reached over to smack the purple one.
"Raph!" One wearing blue and carrying two swords on its back scolded from next to April. "You shouldn't have broken cover."
"Yeah, well, too late for that now, Fearless leader," Raph snarked.
Next to Gibbs, Tony passed out.
Half an hour after the NCIS agents walked into the warehouse, Gibbs still having trouble convincing himself that he was not dreaming. At the moment he was sitting comfortably on a cushion on the floor, drinking traditional Japanese tea with a giant rat and listening to a, rather disjointed but comprehensive, history of how these creatures came to be. The rat, named Master Splinter, three of the four turtles, and April explained about aliens, ooze, nin-jit-su, and New York ninjas; while the fourth turtle and Jones were arguing movie trivia with DiNozzo on the other side of the remodeled abandoned subway station. It was all just a little strange, though Gibbs hoped he'd get a chance to bring Abby here. She'd love the place and the turtles, even the rat; though Gibbs figured he liked the rat best.
"So," Gibbs said as the story wound down, "let me see if I get all this. You," he pointed at Master Splinter, "were a ninja's pet in Japan who came to America after your master was killed. Then you found four baby turtles that were exposed to radioactive mutagenic ooze which changed you into what you are now. After raising the turtles and teaching them martial arts, you found out that your master's murder had set himself up as a businessman here, in New York. You fought him, killed him, then found out that the ooze came from an alien experiment, and that your enemy was not, in fact, dead but another one of these aliens. You thought you killed him again, but now he's hiding behind his public image and letting war wage between his factions on the street."
"Yes," Master Splinter said and took a dignified sip of tea. "And I must compliment you. That is the most succinct description of our circumstances that I have heard."
"It's also the most I've heard you say in one sitting, Boss," Tony said, coming to sit next to him. Master Splinter politely offered him a cup of tea, which the agent took with remarkable poise considering he almost, fainted again when the rat was introduced.
"He left out book of Renaissance artists that Master Splinter found in a storm drain," the orange turtle complained. "That's my favorite part."
"I'm just trying to get my head around it, Tony." Gibbs shook his head and tried to remember if he had a rule for something like this, but couldn't think of any right now.
"Special Agent Gibbs," Master Splinter said with great seriousness, "now that we have revealed ourselves to you…"
"Hey, give us credit, we snuck up on you," DiNozzo interjected.
"Shush, don't interrupt," Splinter scolded as Gibbs smacked the back of DiNozzo's head. "As I was saying, now that you know of us, we are at your mercy. The outside world is not ready to accept us and you could place us in great danger."
Gibbs sobered, "Let me ask you this: Are any of you involved with the murder of my marine?" He studied the rat carefully, cautious but ready to believe the creature's word.
"No!" shouted the red one, jumping to his feet. "We don't hurt innocents, never in a million years! I don't care what you think, my brothers and I…"
"Raphael, be silent," ordered the rat, sounding so much like a proud father that it sent a jolt of hurt through Gibbs as he remembered his own family. "No, Special Agent, I swear on my late master, that none of my sons, nor their friends had anything to do with that man's death."
Gibbs set his cup down and leaned back, considering his options. He believed the rat, but it wasn't so simple. "I believe you," he decided. "And I won't reveal you to the world, but I think I will need your help to catch the murder. Can I count on you?"
"Is that what your guts is saying, Boss?" DiNozzo whispered. Gibbs nodded.
Now it was Splinter's turn to scrutinize them. Finally he nodded as well and took another sip of his tea.
"Is this another lesson in trusting your gut, Master?" the blue one asked.
"Yes, but I think Agent Gibbs is more adept at that lesson than I," Master Splinter replied with a smile. Gibbs was getting better at reading his facial expressions.
"Oh man, you got that right," DiNozzo crowed. "He's got a reputation for following his famous gut. He's almost never wrong."
"Well then," the purple one, Donatello, spoke up. "How can we help you?"
Immediately, Gibbs was back on track and down to business. "First I want to confirm your story. I want my people to test your weapons against the injuries on the victim. Not that I don't believe you," he held up a hand to forestall protests, "I just believe in covering my bases. Second, I need Casey Jones to make a list of everyone he's beaten with the cricket bat lately. Finally, I want to know what he," Gibbs pointed to the Donatello, "was going to say when he showed up in the warehouse. It sounded relevant to my investigation."
Leo blushed, which was an interesting look for a turtle. "Well, see, when we saw you take Casey…"
"You saw us?" Tony whined. "I didn't see anything."
"Duh, dude, we're ninjas," the orange one laughed and slapped Tony on the shoulder. The hit was hard enough to make the man flinch.
"Anyway, we figured we needed to know what was happening. No offence but we don't exactly trust the government. So, after April talked to the agent lady, she agreed to follow him and take my," he glanced at the orange one, Michelangelo, and rolled his eyes, "my spy-turtle, into your office to see what we could find out. I downloaded your files on the case as well as listened to your agents talking to eachother. Then I sent it back to where she was waiting so she could bring it back so I could get the information. I couldn't risk transmitting the signal from inside, since I didn't know if you would be looking for something like that. Really, I was just lucky no one picked up on my command signals and…"
"I need to introduce you to Abby," Gibbs said and DiNozzo choked on his tea. "But please get to the point?"
"Yes, my son please, be concise," Master Splinter encouraged with a wave of his hand/paw.
Donatello coughed and retained his confidence. "Right, well, I noticed that your dead marine, or rather his mother, was living in a building that the Purple Dragons have been interested in. We think it's because the apartments are in a direct line to Oroko Saki's building, home of the Shredder. We think Hun wants to be able to keep an eye on his old boss and maybe this guy was getting in the way. Meanwhile, we kept the Foot from burning it down the night he was killed."
"That's our alibi, Agent Gibbs," the blue one, Leonardo, pointed out. (Gibbs was getting better at remembering to call them by their names as time went on.) "We were fighting the Foot all night, and Casey was with us. April was at home, monitoring our com-links in case we got separated. As it was we chased some of the Foot for several blocks before quitting the streets and heading home, underground." He scratched his head, awkwardly. "That's kinda hard to prove though; since you can't exactly ask the Foot Ninjas and no one would have seen us." He considered this very seriously, seeming to zone out for a minute.
"Hey, um, youse guys were talking about my cricket bat, earlier. Can I have it back yet?" Jones interrupted, looking a little lost.
"Right, we needed to ask you about that. We found DNA on your bat that matched DNA found under our vic's fingernails. Who have you beaten with a cricket bat lately?" DiNozzo answered, quickly, back in agent-mode. He lost the demeanor though as he shot a bewildered at Gibbs. "I never thought I'd have to ask that one, Boss. This whole case is crazy."
"Um, well I guess the last big fight I pulled it out on was against the Purple Dragons when they jumped us in the sewers. You guys remember right?" Jones turned to his friends.
"Yeah, I remember," Raphael said. "Dragonface followed us underground when we were leaving Angel's grandma's place."
"She gave us cookies and pie," Michelangelo interrupted with a dreamy look on his face. "Ahhh, pie."
"Anyway, Dragonface and his goons jumped us and we were just having fun beating the snot out of them when Hun showed up. Casey, here, he saw red and went after the behemoth with the cricket bat, landed a good hit to, right in the face, bloodying his nose," Raph continued after he knocked his brother down.
"Yeah, and Hun got all mad and started shouting. He pulled out a sword and tried to go after Casey but Raph got there first and turned the hit so it stuck in a pipe instead of Casey and then water blew out the pipe and hit him, Hun, in the face which made him more mad so he swung again and then Raph dodged and the sword got stuck in the wall and then Leo did this awesome move where he kicked Hun in the head. By then the water was really gushing so we high-tailed it out of there and lost them in the maze," Michelangelo broke in again, over the top of his brother. Literally, he climbed over the top of Raphael to talk directly to DiNozzo. That started a fight that took the two turtles out of the discussion for the time being.
"Kids," Master Splinter sighed and smiled a Gibbs, offering to share the joke. Gibbs looked at DiNozzo and winked back.
"I also got a good hit on Dragonface, he was already bleeding because he tried to fight Leo with a rusty pipe," Jones added. "The night before that, I had just finished cleaning and polishing all my equipment. What?" he asked when all of his friends looked at him in surprise. "It takes a lot of work to keep them in fighting condition you know. I know you guys spend a lot of time caring for your weapons. Why can't I?"
"He really does take care of them," April said softly. "He had them all scattered across my living room; cleaning, oiling, polishing, and rewrapping the grips. I was cleaning up bits for days."
"A warrior cares for his weapons, so they will be his truest ally in battle," Splinter said, wisely.
"Yeah, come off it. Anyway, my point was that your killer has to be either Hun or Dragonface. Any other mooks would've had their blood on my hockey stick to," Jones insisted.
"You have issues, man," DiNozzo commented quietly.
Jones wasn't as subtle. "Dude, my best friends are a bunch of mutant turtles, I'm way past issues," he laughed.
DiNozzo considered this and nodded, but looked over at April who had been watching the whole exchange with a smile. "How in the world are you involved with these people? I mean, you look…"
"Normal?" April asked with a smirk. "Well, I first met the guys when they rescued me from my ex-employer's evil mouser robots, after they chased me into the sewer. I just fell into it, I guess."
"Baxter Stockman, right?" Gibbs clarified. "I heard he was in an industrial accident which burned his office and lab down."
"Oh, he survived that, the little cockroach," Raphael said, coming back. Gibbs didn't ask what he did to the other turtle. "He keeps popping up every time we think he's gone. He's even worse than the Shredder in that way."
"He's usually less of a man than he was though," Leo interjected, which made all of them laugh. Gibbs didn't ask about that one either.
DiNozzo was equally confused but covered it up by getting back to business. As distracting as the turtles were, they had a job to do and a murder to catch. "So Boss, now what?"
"Now, I call the rest of the team." Gibbs turned to Master Splinter. "Would you mind meeting a few more people?"
"How many we talkin' here?" Raph said, suspiciously.
"Four," Gibbs answered with a shrug. "I don't like keeping secrets from my team. I think we'll keep Vance out of the loop though."
"Why?" DiNozzo asked, but he didn't sound like he disagreed.
"Plausible deniability."
Splinter put his tea down and leaned forward. Gibbs accepted the scrutiny with grace. He knew how big this could be for these people, and though he had no intention of betraying them, they couldn't know that. Finally, Splinter nodded.
"Yes, we will meet your team, if you believe in them. They are your family, very similar to mine. Individually, we are weak, but together we will stand strong."
"Agreed. Come on, DiNozzo; we have some calls to make." As they got up and left the underground lair, Gibbs was grinning. This was certainly an interesting case and he couldn't wait to see Abby's reaction.