Finally, here is the next chapter. I've been busy editing my other story (Batman/One Piece Crossover, you should check it out) so this one was put aside a little but I haven't abandoned it, I promise. Enjoy!

Thank you to gwencarson126 for your enthusiastic reviews. I'm glad you like it and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or TMNT.

Chapter 5

Between them, McGee and Abby fit everything they could into a van. Abby needed some stuff from her lab and McGee needed all the computing power he could get, apparently. Donatello promised he would share but since Gibbs couldn't tell his junior agent that a giant talking turtle promised to share his home-made, state of the art computer system, he just let the man bring what he wanted. Actually, Gibbs was more worried about Ziva. She had not responded well to the "I'll explain when you get here" line and according to Ducky she was packing more weapons than usual, some of which the doctor was certain were not legal. Gibbs decided not to split hairs since the turtles' weapons weren't exactly standard issue. Still, he'd assign DiNozzo to restrain her until she had a chance to come to terms with the situation, and not shoot anyone. Ducky trusted him though and looked forward to meeting his "new associates." He left the morgue in Palmer's capable hands and headed up with Ziva with no complaints or questions. Abby, who was driving up with McGee, also had no complaints but lots of questions. Eventually, Gibbs just decided to deal with the consequences later and hung up on her mid-question. He couldn't answer anyway. Even if he did, they would never believe him until they met the creatures in question. He shook his head and settled back to wait for the rest of his people. April had brought him a cup of coffee while he sat in the car and Michelangelo gave him some stale pizza. He appreciated the coffee and fed the pizza to a stray dog. DiNozzo was below, trying to write up a version of their statements that wouldn't reveal their identities without losing the pertinent information. Gibbs knew his senior agent would pawn off the job onto Ziva or McGee as soon as they arrived, but by then they would have a plausible outline to work with and Gibbs wouldn't have to worry about it beyond a head slap for abusing senority.

Finally, a van pulled in behind him and flashed its headlights. A minute later an antique car pulled in front of him, signaling Ducky's arrival. Gibbs wondered what convinced the other man to bring his baby all the way to New York. Good thing Master Splinter had already offered the warehouse to park their vehicles. Gibbs finished his coffee and got out to greet the rest of his team.

"Gibbs, what is going on? I don't like being out of the loop. I'm loopless," Abby complained.

"Yes, what is going on? Why did we drive all the way here?" Ziva looked around suspiciously. "Were you threatened?"

"No, Ziva," Gibbs tried to hide a smile. "Just follow me."

Ducky fell into step beside Gibbs without a comment beyond "Greetings, Jethro." McGee just kept his mouth shut and looked uncomfortable. He was probably running through all the possible problems that his active imagionation could come up with. Gibbs had to control a laugh because not even Tim could have guessed the truth.

Gibbs led them all into the warehouse where April was waiting.

"Were you followed?" she asked, nervously.

Ziva glared at her, but McGee promised that they were more than capable of losing a tail, if there had even been one. "I also disabled the GPS on the van and Ducky's car is old enough to not having any tracking on it. We're clean," he added proudly.

"Fine," April said after a deep breath. She was clearly nervous about sharing her friends with outsiders. "Two of you go get your vehicles and Casey will show you where to park. The other two, come meet the guys."

"I want to go first!" Abby exclaimed, waving her arm over her head.

"Ladies first," Ducky said with a bow of his head. He winked at Ziva who was still scowling. April shrugged and led Abby, Ziva and Gibbs into the strange elevator.

"Now, understand that my friends are unusual, to say the least," April explained a little as they descended, "but they are really great guys. They are technically teenagers, I guess, so take that into account but don't hold it against them and don't let Master Splinter scare you."

Abby was bouncing, literally, with excitement. "Oh, this is so mysterious! Ziva, isn't this cool!" she exclaimed, pulling on her friend's arm.

"We'll see, Abby," Ziva said carefully. She looked at Gibbs for reassurance.

Gibbs smiled. "They really are very interesting, but I think I like them," he reassured her.

"Why are we here?" Ziva asked. "What is so secret that we cannot tell the director?"

"Rule #6." He knew his team had most of his rules memorized, they usually only needed to be told once.

"Then why are we all here? This is more than two people," Ziva argued.

Gibbs grinned as the doors opened into the turtle's home. "Rule # 15: always work as a team." He took up the rear as April led the way out and into the middle of the open space. Ziva hesitated but followed Abby reluctantly.

The lair appeared oddly abandoned. Gibbs and April looked around in surprise. Up till now there had always been at least one active turtle in sight, and usually all four were involved with something noisy. Gibbs had doubted their ability to "Ninja Vanish" as Michelangelo described it, complete with a deep theatrical voice and finger quotes. Now, he believed it.

Tony joined them as they came to a stop in the open and Master Splinter came out of his room at a stately pace to address his visitors. "I'm sorry, but it seems my sons have developed a sudden case of stage fright. Give them a moment and they'll come around," he explained with a sigh.

Gibbs glanced at Abby and Ziva. Ziva was twitchy, like she wanted to go for a weapon. Abby had gone stock still, mouth open and staring at the human-sized rodent. Everything froze for a second, then Abby broke the silence and several things happened almost at once.

The gothic girl screamed and threw herself at the rat. The turtles appeared out of nowhere apparently worried about their father and teacher. Ziva went for her gun and Tony restrained her. Ziva threw Tony on his back.

Once time returned to normal, everyone realized what Abby was yelling. "Oh! I love him. He's so cute; look at his whiskers; he's better than my hippo; I could just hug him all day!" It came out as a rush of words that took a moment to understand, even for Gibbs who was used to Abby-speak. "Can I keep him?" That last one, they all understood.

"No!" all the turtles and April shouted.

"No, Abby," Gibbs said more gently as he pried her off the old rat. He looked like he was enjoying the hug, but she was ruffling his fur and wrinkling his robes. "We have a job to do."

"But, but," Abby pouted. "He could be my rat in the lab, not my lab rat, 'cause I won't experiment on him. Scouts honor. "

"I'm sorry, my dear," Master Splinter said gravely as he took her hand. "I must stay here with my sons. They are still young and have much to learn about the outside world."

"Oh my gosh," Abby exclaimed and grabbed him for another hug that made the poor creature huff. "You are the coolest thing ever!" She turned around and gaped at the turtles that she apparently just noticed. "Okay, one of five of the coolest ever! Wow, walking, talking turtles and a rat! I just have to hug all of you!"

The turtles had relaxed, giving into Abby's infectious joy. Ziva to, though she shot DiNozzo a dirty look. He just rubbed his butt and whined. Behind them, the elevator opened to allow Casey, Ducky and McGee out.

"Oh my word!" Ducky gasped and took a step back when he caught sight of Master Splinter and his sons, but he quickly regained his signature poise. McGee was not as lucky.

"Got another fainter!" Casey called.

"Yes," DiNozzo murmured. He was just glad he wasn't the only one to pass out from shock.

"Yeah, that happens a lot," Michelangelo explained as he went to help Casey pick up the poor probie and move him to the couch.

"True," Master Splinter agreed as he stroked his whiskers and chin wisely. "I believe I prefer this young lady's reaction."

It took time to make introductions and give the turtles' history again. Abby insisted on hugs with the turtles but only Mikey and Donny obliged. (Gibbs decided to give in and call them by their shorter nick-names, since they clearly preferred them.) Raph looked freaked out by the idea and Leo was trying very hard to remain aloof and mature. Gibbs gave them less than an hour before they gave in to Abby's puppy-dog eyes.

The rest of Gibb's team had varying reactions to the mutant creatures. Abby, of course, wanted to adopt them. Ducky took everything in stride and Mikey wanted to adopt him. McGee was overwhelmed but once Donny started talking computers, they both disappeared into their own world with a language that Gibbs couldn't decipher but April and Abby clearly understood. DiNozzo loved them and kept bringing up monster movies which led to lengthy debates with Jones and Mikey. Ziva, though, was not as easily drawn in to the turtle's light hearted atmosphere. She clearly didn't trust them, but Master Splinter had made it his priority to put her at ease. Gibbs restrained a grin as the old rat carefully handed the former Massod agent another cup of tea. Ziva was trying very hard not to smile.

McGee came out of his cyber talk long enough to rush over to Gibbs. "Boss, we have something," he said beckoning him to come to the computer console. Gibbs didn't want to touch the darn thing. With his luck it would explode or turn into something weird like a cappuccino machine.

"What is it, McGeek?" DiNozzo asked as everyone crowded around the computer screen.

McGee gestured at Donny to continue, while Abby grinned. The turtle took a deep breath and explained their findings. "Abby let me look at the scans she made of the large bruise on the victim. You believed it was caused by a shield, or a shell, but on closer inspection and by running the pictures through a different contrast program we found what really made the mark." He looked at McGee who pushed a button on the keyboard and brought up a 3-D image of the indentation, which had a very obvious shape. "It was a very large fist," he continued unnecessarily.

"We're looking for the Hulk?" DiNozzo asked skeptically.

"No, Tony," Abby said. "Donny has videos of them fighting with the Purple Dragons, specifically, Hun." She pulled up a video of the turtles fighting a huge blond man. All four turtles were hanging off the guy's arms without touching the ground at one point. Gibbs looked down at Raph who was standing next to him. The turtles weren't tall relative to an average man, but for comparison, this Hun was huge. "I froze an image of his fist and using Donny as a scale, I could determine the exact measurements," Abby continued. "It's a perfect fit. Hun punched our marine and when he got up, he stabbed him three times."

"Are you certain?" Master Splinter asked. "Will this be enough for the authorities?"

"Nope," Gibbs said and everyone looked crestfallen. Gibbs grinned as he continued, "But if we bring that man in for questioning, then we can compare a mold of his fist against the bruise and that we can use. It will give us cause to search for the murder weapon and when we find his sword, if it matches he will be convicted."

The turtles cheered, like the teenagers they were; though to be fair Abby and DiNozzo joined them. The adults, and rat, contented themselves with smiles. They had a plan now, a plan of attack. Finally, things were starting to make sense and come together.

Gibbs returned to the surface to call the director. He didn't have to leave but he didn't want Vance to overhear anything he shouldn't.

"Gibb," Vance answered.

"I'm calling with an update, Leon," Gibbs offered.

"I figured. Do you have a suspect?"

"Yes."

"Is it Jones?" Vance asked.

"Nope," Gibbs answered, letting the "p" pop a little.

"Then who?"

"A man named Hun, he's a gang leader in the area. We matched DNA from under the vic's fingernails to blood on Jones's cricket bat. Jones says the last person he hit with the bat is Hun," Gibbs explained, waiting for the awkward questions he knew he wouldn't be able to answer and hoping Vance wouldn't ask.

"Do you have proof other than a thug's word?"

"No, but Abby proved that a bruise on the dead marine came from a big fist, and Hun is a big guy."

The line went quiet as Vance processed the information. "There is more to this than you're telling me, isn't there?"

"Yes, sir," Gibbs saw no reason to hide that.

"Do I want to know?"

"No, sir," Gibbs promised.

Vance considered this and sighed. "Fine, I trust you. Bring in the gang leader, get whatever warrants you need. Let's put this one to bed."

Gibbs relaxed but didn't let any of it into his voice. "Yes, sir." He hung up and let out of a sigh of his own. Leon decided not to push, so he wouldn't have to lie to protect the turtles. Compared to that, picking up a giant gangster shouldn't be too hard.