“I can’t believe we’re working for the soddin’ military.” Spike muttered as they all stood in the elevator, waiting for someone to be the first to say something on their ride down to the second level where they were now based.
“Just suck it up and get on with it,” Gibbs stated firmly as they exited the elevator and walked round to where they could see technicians setting up desks for them. Gibbs just strode over to where his files had been laid out for organizing and took a picture out of one of them before moving over and pinning it to the wall with a sharp movement.
“Who’s mister happy?” Xander asked, nodding to the photo that showed a security camera image of someone grinning up towards the camera.
“Terrorist,” Kate explained. “Broke in here about a month ago, shot Gibbs in the shoulder after taking me and Ducky hostage in autopsy.”
“So you do get action round ‘ere then,” Spike grinned. “Thought I’d be bored for a second there.”
“Never have chance to be bored around here,” Gibbs paused, turning to Spike. “And what do we call you? Special Agent Spike doesn’t seem to fit.”
“Nah, can’t stand all that bollocks, Harris has it right, just Spike and Harris.” Spike grinned as Xander smiled over.
“You still need to wear your ID in the building,” Gibbs stated as Spike pulled out his ID badge reluctantly and clipped it to his belt, noticing no one else had theirs aside from Xander. “Hey, why don’t you lot have to show ID?”
“Because the security around here know us,” Tony said simply. “Give it a week or two and you can take it off as well.”
“Just do it,” Xander smiled, checking his gun and sitting on the clean desk that he’d claimed as his opposite Gibbs. “What’s the case then? Impaled marine?”
“Marine Corporal Grimms,” Gibbs read off a sheet of paper. “Found impaled on a wooden spike yesterday morning, something the matter DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, turning to see Tony had paled a little.
“Just never connected wooden spikes and railroad spikes before boss,” Tony explained, sparing a glance at Spike who was trying his best not to laugh.
“Get over it,” Gibbs just shook his head at his team’s antics, filing the strangeness away to ask later. “Ducky was due to start the autopsy at eleven hundred,” He paused, glancing at his watch, it was well after four now.
“Um, what’s that in real time?” Spike asked, raising his hand.
“Eleven am,” Xander explained. “Past twelve just keep counting up until you reach twenty four.”
Gibbs just smiled as he watched Spike nod before counting up using his fingers. “So it’s past sixteen hundred now?”
“Are you sure I can’t shoot him?” Gibbs asked, looking at Xander for permission.
“Not unless you want a mildly angered vampire on your hands,” Xander smiled. “You saw what bullets did to the vamps earlier, Spike’ll heal a lot quicker than they did, he’s faster and stronger as well.”
“Hand to hand?” Gibbs asked, turning to Spike for the answer instead of Xander.
“Wot?” Spike asked, looking around for clarification.
“He wants to know if you can fight.” Xander smiled, shaking his head, knowing that Spike was just seeing how far he could bait these new people before they snapped on him.
“Right,” Spike grinned unrepentantly. “Been brawling for over a hundred years, killed two slayers, yeah, I’m good.”
“Right, we’ll run through sparring tomorrow, I want everyone sparring with Spike and Harris at least once a day, get you all up to speed on what vampires are capable of if we’re going to be dealing with things like this on a weekly basis,” Gibbs paused, looking at a CD that Xander had thrown on his desk. “What’s this?”
“Full database of every demon in the DC area,” Xander smiled, nodding at the CD. “Along with strengths, weaknesses, other powers and how to kill them.”
“Good,” Gibbs nodded, putting the CD in the draw for later use. “Nice to know we’ve got all the information we need.”
“So what’s the story with him?” Xander asked, pulling out one of his throwing knives from his belt and pinning the picture of the terrorist to the wall between the eyes with an expert throw.
“We don’t know who he is, who he works for,” Kate rattled off everything that they knew about the strange terrorist that had got their boss so agitated over the past month.
“He’s not the case,” Gibbs stated, throwing a piece of paper over at Kate who caught it before reading it carefully.
“Our Corporal Grimms was an armourer attached to the ordinance maintenance center and Quantico. He was responsible for...” Kate paused, turning the page, “Weapons inventory and custody carts.”
“Makes sense given the way he died.” Gibbs stated.
“Impaled on a wooden spike makes sense for a bloke who moved weapons around?” Spike asked, puzzled at this.
“He didn’t die from the wooden spike,” Tony explained. “He landed on it after being shot in the chest with a shoulder fired anti-tank missile.”
“Ouch,” Spike nodded, grimacing at that.
“Blew a hole in his chest about two foot wide.” Tony continued to explain.
“I’ll ‘ave to remember that one,” Spike grinned at him. “Last thing I used was a chainsaw.” Spike continued to grin as he saw Tony edge away from him and take the desk closest to Gibbs. Kate took the desk next to him leaving the desk next to Xander for him.
“He was a boxer as well,” Kate noted, reading off the file. “Made the Quantico marine team three years running.”
“Looks like we’ve got our first place to look for answers,” Gibbs stated, re-holstering his gun before starting to walk towards the doors. “DiNozzo, you follow with Harris and Spike, Kate, you’re with me.”
“On it boss.” Kate simply smiled at Tony before jogging out the door after him, grabbing her gun on the way.
“Do I get a gun?” Spike asked, noting Xander and Tony both had one clipped to their belts.
“Do you need one?” Xander asked, raising his eyebrow at Spike.
“Well, no, but...” Spike started to try and think up and excuse as to why he could have a gun.
“Then no,” Xander smirked. “Come on you two; don’t want to keep Gibbs waiting do you?”
=/^=
The drive over to the Quantico base was quiet in both cars, while in Gibbs car he was busy thinking about his new assignment and how it was going to affect things while Kate was flashing back to the feeling of having Jack the Ripper hold a scalpel at her throat. Xander on the other hand was trying to stay sane as Spike and Tony argued constantly about the differences between rock music and dance music. After threatening to shoot them both in the groin, a threat that even shut Spike up for a bit he managed to drive the rest of the way to the base in relative silence.
“So, what’s the plan?” Xander asked as he got out of the car after parking it next to Gibbs’.
“You go with Kate and Spike, talk to the boxing manager, find out all you can about Grimms past, personality, the usual. Tony, you’re with me, we’ll get his records from personnel and meet you back here.” Gibbs smiled as Tony jogged over while Kate actually looked happy about being paired up with the new people.
“Anything we should look out for while we’re inside?” Xander asked, noting that Spike had dropped his ‘happy go lucky’ attitude and was all work now.
“Anything suspicious, enhanced senses right?” Kate stopped, turning to Spike who nodded. “Just let me know if anything’s out of place, marine base so there shouldn’t be drugs, alcohol, anything like that.”
“I ain’t a bloody sniffer dog!” Spike stated, amused and offended by the idea.
“Just keep your nose on the lookout,” Xander paused with a grin. “Smell out?”
“Sniff out?” Kate offered with a smile.
“Right, whatever,” Spike huffed, “This way right?” He asked before heading off towards where the gym was located.
“How did you know that?” Kate asked as she and Xander jogged over to catch up with him.
“Can smell the sweat and blood, not to mention hear the fighting,” Spike explained with a smirk. “So don’t make fun of the senses unless you want me to tell everyone when it’s that special time of the month for you.” He grinned as Kate faltered in her step, her jaw hanging open.
“It’s just Spike,” Xander smiled, not even breaking step. “You’ll get used to him eventually.”
As the trio entered the gym they could now hear and smell what Spike was talking about, there were two guys on the mat in full gear dancing around each other. While others were working on weights and punching bags in the corner, all in all it was a well stocked gym with everything marines needed to train upper body strength and stamina.
“You want to talk to the sergeant or shall I?” Kate asked, not sure of what the actual team dynamic was anymore, Gibbs was still in charge, that much was certain, but Xander had more of a command presence than either she or Tony did, and she found herself looking to him for guidance before she’d even thought about it.
“I’ll take it if you don’t mind,” Xander nodded. “That way you and Spike can have a nose around, chat to the rest of the people here, see if they know anything.”
“Sounds fair,” Kate nodded as she saw the sergeant walking over. Moving back she immediately let Xander take point so the sergeant would talk to him first, that would give the impression that her and spike were subordinates and allow them to move about freely while the sergeant kept his attention on Xander.
“Can I help you?” The sergeant asked, raising his eyebrow at the strange dress of two of the visitors.
“Special Agents Harris, Todd and Spike,” Xander nodded, flipping out his ID to the new NCIS one he had at the front of his wallet now. “We’d like to talk to you about Corporal Grimms.”
“I heard about that, this way,” The sergeant smiled as he led Xander back into the middle of the room while Kate and Spike took the side routes to look around the rest of the gym. “He was a good fighter and a hell of a marine,” The sergeant paused, turning to the ring. “Hands up Marino!”
“I saw his record, impressive.” Xander had to agree, his fighting record was damn good, and he had never been on report or even late for duty.
“If you two are going to dance, join the air force!” The sergeant called to the two fighters in the ring. “Let’s see some action in there.”
“You got a list of Grimms’ opponents I could take a look at?” Xander asked, watching the fight in the ring, confident that Spike and Kate would be keeping an eye on everything else for anything out of place.
“You think his death had something to do with his boxing?” The sergeant asked, obviously taken aback by the question.
“Just more names to rule out,” Xander nodded. “Everything’s on the table until it’s taken off.”
“Got a list in my office,” The sergeant said, staring at Xander. “That real?” He asked, nodding to the patch.
Xander just smirked, lifting up the patch so the sergeant could see the hole in the socket where his eye used to be. “Real as they come.”
“Damn!” The sergeant cursed, wincing. “This way.”
Spike watched Xander move off with the sergeant to his office, Kate was on the other side of the gym talking to a marine who was skipping, not his idea of staying in shape, but if it worked for the marine, what the hell. Looking around he saw a woman on her own, training on the sand bag, punching it hard as it swung freely in the air.
“Good technique.” He grinned, moving over and holding the bag tightly for her.
“Five older brother’s will do that for you,” She smiled at him before she noticed the ID clipped to his belt. “Sir!” She saluted crisply.
“Oh not that bollocks again,” Spike muttered, adjusting his shirt so it covered up the ID. “Do I look like a sir to you?”
“Yes sir,” The woman stated with a smile and an appreciative glance down at his tight jeans.
“Not what I meant.” He grinned at the woman’s reaction.
“You here about Corporal Grimms?” The woman asked, moving back and punching the bag hard a few more times.
“Yeah, nasty business that.” Spike nodded.
“Corporal McLain.” She nodded to him. “You have any idea what happened yet?”
“Working on it,” Spike nodded, memorizing the name for future reference. “You know him?”
“Seen him around a few times,” She answered punching out a few more times.
“What was he like?” Spike asked, bracing himself against the slippery floor mats as the woman punched the bag in another flurry.
“Good boxer, killer left hook.” She smiled at him.
“Out of the gym?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Good drinker,” She said quietly as she nodded. “Fair guy, never had a beef with anyone.”
“Good marine then,” Spike nodded as the woman stopped punching the bag and stood up straight to look at him.
“Yeah, solid,” She smiled at him. “If its ok with you I’ve got to...” She trailed off, nodding back to the showers.
“Yeah, fine, see ya,” Spike grinned as he watched her move off. “Sure I can’t join you?” He muttered, appreciating her tight jogging pants as she walked away.
“Women’s locker room is off limits Spike.” Kate announced from where she was stood next to him.
“What they going to do? Throw me off base?” Spike grinned at her.
“More like in the water,” Kate grinned back. “What you got?”
“Seemed like a good guy, fair, she said ‘solid’, whatever that means, never had a beef with anyone off base either.” Spike nodded as Kate translated that into civilian speak.
“So never caused any trouble, well liked, sort of guy you’d trust, matches up with what I got told as well.” Kate smiled; everything said this marine was everything that the reports said he was.
“You two ready?” Xander asked, walking over with a sheet of paper.
“Sure,” Kate smiled.
“Nothing here, just the usual stuff,” Spike nodded. “Guys pretty good though,” He pointed to the guy in the ring who was stood victorious over his opponent. “Wouldn’t mind giving him a go sometime.”
“We’ve got better on our base,” Kate grinned, the Quantico and Norfolk bases were sworn enemies in the ring, always the last two in the championships. Now she was tempted to see if Harris or Spike could try out for the team, that’d definitely give them a foot up for next year’s cup.
“I’ll keep that in mind Kate.” Xander quipped as he started walking towards the exit, Spike and Kate jogging to catch up with him.
“Got everything?” Gibbs asked as they walked through the door and found him and Tony leaning up against the car with a coffee in each hand, passing one to Xander he smiled as Tony passed his extra to Kate.
“Everything says the guy was clean as a whistle,” Xander nodded. “Got a list of his opponents, but nothing looks odd, I’ll check them out back at HQ if they’ve got our computers up and running yet.”
“I agree with Xander,” Kate smiled. “Everyone I talked to said this guy was a good marine, friendly, open...”
“Solid, whatever the hell that means,” Spike grumbled, annoyed that he didn’t get a mug of coffee when everyone else did.
“It’s a compliment, means they’d let him watch their back.” Gibbs explained, noting Spike pouting at the coffee. “Abby called, said she got a partial serial number from the injector cap I recovered.”
“You can have a bag of AB back at base,” Xander quipped, noticing Gibbs questioning look. “Heading back then?”
“Might as well, nothing out here,” Gibbs stated, getting in his car noticing that Tony got in the side door extremely quickly, leaving Spike to go round and sit in the back while Xander drove.
“We could have just taken one car,” Xander noted, nodding at where his car had ample room for five people.
“No way am I getting stuck in a car with DiNozzo and Spike, I’d kill them both.” Gibbs smiled, getting in his car.
“Can I at least maim?” Xander whined, causing Kate to smile at him as she got into Gibbs’ passenger side. “Please?” He asked as he watched Gibbs car start pulling away. “Please?” He asked one last time into the air, already hearing Spike and Tony arguing from inside the car.
=/^=
“What have you got for me Abby?” Gibbs asked as he strode into the forensics lab opposite the large room that had been dedicated for his new team.
“Good afternoon to you too boss,” She grinned taking the large cub of Caf-Pow that he offered her.
“Looks like a serial number,” Xander nodded from behind him, looking at the monitor that Abby was patiently working on.
“And to you,” Abby smiled at him. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Over in the main office, arguing with Spike about why Billy Idol stole his look from him,” Xander shook his head at the absurdity of the argument, but Tony had started it, while Spike was definitely going to finish it.
“Billy Idol stole his look from Spike?” Abby asked, amused at this new information about the vampire in their presence. “That’s so cool!”
“Abby,” Gibbs nodded to the monitor. “Work first; you and Spike can chat later.”
“Its part of one,” Abby nodded to Xander.
“The good part?” Gibbs asked, walking round the middle area of the lab to take a look at the larger image on the large plasma TV set up for high def images.
“The serial number indicates the manufacturer, the lot number and the year that it was built,” Abby explained to Xander. “We only have a partial, so we only have part of the picture.”
“The good part?” Gibbs asked again.
“The weapon that killed Corporal Grimms definitely came from the armoury at Quantico.” Abby explained with a smile.
“Someone’s stealing military grade weapons?” Xander asked carefully, hoping he’d interpreted this right.
“That’s my guess too,” Gibbs stated. “And why me, you and Tony will be heading to the Quantico armoury tomorrow morning. I want Spike and Kate to check out Corporal Grimms residence, see if he can sniff out anything out of place there.”
“Fair,” Xander nodded. “And tonight?”
“Tonight we get our new gear sorted and our office set up.” Gibbs stated with a smile.
“Ooh!” Abby bounced around, “I’ll order the pizza!”
=/^=
“No, you can’t hook an X-box up to the plasma Spike!” Xander shouted over as Spike looked in contemplation at the large plasma screen TV he had just fitted to the wall for them. Having enhanced strength definitely made things like that a lot easier.
“Does it at least get Passions?” He asked, turning to look at the group. Tony and Xander were sat on his desk munching their way through a second pizza while Gibbs was trying to get his computer working with some help from Abby.
“You watch Passions?” Kate asked excitedly.
“Oh yeah, did you watch yesterdays? Missed it to get down here for Harris,” Spike growled at the fact he’d missed his favourite soap.
“I taped it,” Kate smiled. “Always do, i’ll watch it later and bring in the tape for you tomorrow.”
“Cheers,” Spike grinned at her, moving over to help her shift her desk around into a more comfortable position, now they had moved all the desks so they were arranged in a pentagon, with the main plasma on the wall to the far side of Gibbs’ and Xander’s desks, the rest of them around the room facing each other with a space in the middle where Spike had set up the various printers and other gadgets that Red had sent down.
“You two can flirt later,” Gibbs nodded to them, snatching the last slice of pizza out of the box before Harris could get to it. “Is everything set up now?” He asked, looking around the room and checking they hadn’t forgotten anything, everything looked tidy and in working order. Their files had all been put away and Abby had set up all the electronics for them with help from Spike lifting anything heavy that she couldn’t manage.
“Looks like it boss,” Tony smiled at him, as he opened a fresh can of coke from his desk drawer.
“Then I shall see you tomorrow,” Gibbs smiled at them all. “Night all.”
“Night boss,” Tony and Kate called while Xander and Spike just nodded to him as he left the room after checking his side arm and coat.
“Now you can hook up the x-box.” Xander grinned at Spike who had already pulled the aforementioned x-box out of the bag he had carefully hidden behind his desk. He didn’t have a computer or anything else on his desk, just some papers and the regular stationary that came in the desk drawer. Didn’t see the point of it really, he was the muscle of the outfit, not the brains. He didn’t really know how to use computers effectively, so he moved his over to the forensics lab to Abby would have a spare if she ever needed it.
“That’s completely against regulations you know,” Tony nodded towards where Spike was plugging in the high def cables to the side of the plasma screen.
“Dead or alive four?” Xander asked, throwing him the game box.
“Now you’re talking,” Tony grinned.
“Beers and vodka in my bag under my desk,” Xander smirked as he watched Kate and Abby dive for his bag. “Mine’s a Bud.”
“Gibbs will find out about this you know,” Kate said out loud, obviously considering her actions as she hefted Xander’s heavy bag onto his desk.
“Party for tonight,” Spike nodded sagely. “Tomorrow the world might end.”
“He’s kidding right?” Kate asked as Spike smirked at her after catching the bottle of beer that she threw at him and taking the cap off with his bare hands. “Right?” She turned to Xander.
“Yeah,” He smiled at her as she sighed in relief. “Next apocalypse isn’t until July.” Xander and Spike just laughed at the faces of shock they got from Kate, Tony and Abby, it was a perfect Kodak moment until they started laughing along, thinking that it was a joke.
“Have you two found a place to live yet?” Kate asked when the laughter had died down.
“Hotel’s paid up for a fortnight, we’ll find somewhere before then.” Xander smiled, thankful of the second bedroom in the hotel now.
“With this pay check I can afford to get a better place finally,” Tony smiled, thinking about all the new things he could afford with the raise he got from moving to the SWIC, it was almost a two hundred percent increase in pay, even Kate had been gobsmacked when she saw how much they were getting paid now.
“I'll say,” Kate nodded in agreement. “No wonder the SWIC put you up in that fancy hotel, with paycheques like this; you must be all used to the good life.”
“Doesn’t bother me,” Spike said simply. “So long as I've got enough for smokes, beer and blood, I’m happy.”
“The simple things,” Xander grinned. “Can’t say I’m any different, as long as I’ve got a roof over my head and enough for the simple pleasures, I'm happy.”
=/^=
“Hung over?” Spike asked as he lounged back in the passenger seat of Kate’s car while they drove to Corporal Whatshisname’s house.
“You should have stopped me after we finished off the first bottle.” Kate groaned as she drove slowly, slapping Spike’s hand away from the stereo for the third time.
“Come on,” Spike grinned, unwinding the window and enjoying the feeling of the morning sun on his face. It was a hot day so he’d left his jacket back at the base, happy in just his pants and t-shirt. Xander had made him forgo his usual jeans, giving him black pants instead, saying they had to make the right impression now they were working on a naval base full time. “You did bloody well in that last round of strip poker.” He laughed at the glare that was sent his way.
“We never talk about that again,” Kate growled out effectively ending the conversation, if it had been anyone else they would have just stopped there from the dangerous tone in her voice, Spike just laughed harder.
“Harris was right,” He grinned, sticking his head out the window and enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing by. “This is going to be fun.”
He left Kate alone the rest of the drive, even paying for the coffee as they stopped at a shop on the way to the corporal’s apartment. Harris said to be nice to her, so he figured he had a reason, now if he could just figure out what that was. Tony was a laugh, after he got over his vamp fear he could see him joining him on nights out round the town. Gibbs was a laugh as well, he got the same jokes Spike did, the same dark humour, he was a lot like Harris in some ways, but more innocent in others. As they drove on Spike kept thinking back to how nice it was to work here, no one judged him for who he was, granted that ninety percent of the base thought he was just a normal person, but that was just perfect for him. He could blend in with everyone; no one thought different of him or shied away from him because he was a vampire. The truth would come out at some point he figured, but until then he might as well enjoy it.
“So, what we looking for ‘ere?” Spike asked as he got out of the car, sparking up a smoke to enjoy before they moved inside the house.
“You smoke?” Kate asked, eying him carefully as he blew the smoke out into the morning air.
“Yeah,” Spike fished the packet of fags out of his pocket. “Want one?” He offered, putting them back in his pocket when she refused.
“Strange,” She shook her head, leaning up against the car and enjoying her coffee while Spike smoked peacefully. “Anything out of the ordinary, drugs, money, weapons, anything that doesn’t belong there.”
“Right,” Spike nodded; happy to be part of a team again where everyone treated him like an equal. “Upstanding strapping marine, so anything that looks geeky or stupid then?” Spike grinned again at the glare Kate sent his way.
“Come on,” She said, smirking at him as she tossed her empty coffee cup into the bin, watching as Spike ground his cigarette out under foot.
As they entered the apartment Spike immediately started laughing. “What?” She asked, eying him cautiously.
“That rug,” He pointed to the blue and purple rug in the middle of the room with a glass coffee table on top of it.
“What about it?” Kate asked, looking at the rug. It was nasty, ugly design with a sort of ‘art deco’ finish to it.
“Bloody hideous, corporal whatshisface probably been watchin’ too much Queer Eye,” He grinned as Kate smirked at him. “‘Old up, he ever bring weapons home?”
“Never,” Kate said with finality. “Weapons are on base only; they don’t leave Quantico unless it’s an official transfer to another facility.”
“There was some ‘ere.” Spike said, pointing to the rug. “Can smell the cordite and oils in the rug.”
“Roll it up and we’ll take it to Abby for testing.” Kate nodded as Spike quickly moved the glass table off the rug before rolling the rug up and standing it by the door. “Anything else?”
“Just too much aftershave,” Spike winced after taking a deep sniff of the air. “Nasty stuff too, poncy, like CK one or sommet.”
“And what do you wear?” Kate asked idly, leafing through some papers on the desk in the corner of the room.
“Nothing, all me,” Spike smirked at her. “Anything on the ‘puter?” He asked, watching as she turned it on.
“Don’t know,” Kate said, tapping a few keys when the screen read ‘Boot partition not found’. “Wiped clean.”
“Bollocks,” Spike sneered. “Reckon Goth girl can fix it?”
“The man Billy Idol stole his look from,” Kate smirked at him, “Calling Abby ‘Goth girl’?”
“Yeah, well,” Spike trailed off as he wandered into the bedroom and started snooping around the closet and draws.
“Anything?” Kate called after a few minutes of her disconnecting the main computer tower to take back to Abby.
“Just some shirts that Graham Norton wouldn’t be caught dead in,” Spike smirked. “Reckon this place will be up for rent soon? Seems nice enough,”
“A dead man’s apartment...” Kate caught herself from saying anymore, noting that Spike technically was a dead man anyway. “Marine residence only, you’ll have to ask the NCIS director about where you can and can’t live.” She paused, thinking about what rules Spike actually had to abide by now, technically he was working for the Navy, but he was on SWIC payroll, things were definitely complicated. “Come on, there’s nothing here, we’ll take the rug and computer back to Abby for testing.”
“Still say it’s a nice place,” Spike took one last look around the apartment before swinging the rug over his shoulders and hefting the computer up under his arm.
“You need a hand with those?” Kate asked, watching in amazement at the show of strength.
“Nah,” Spike smirked as she opened the door. “I’m good.”
=/^=
“We can rebuilt it!” Abby shouted in a mock announcer’s voice from her place at the computer while Spike and Kate watched on in amusement. “We have the technology!”
“But not the time luv,” Spike smirked at her. “You can fix the damn thing then?”
“The hard drive was completely reformatted.” Abby explained, pointing to the desktop computer tower that was taking up a good portion of the lab desk.
“So you can’t.” Spike muttered, ready to punch the computer tower on the desk.
“Actually yes, when you write information onto a hard drive it’s written both electronically and magnetically onto a hard drive plate.” Abby explained.
“Right, what was that in English please?” Spike asked with a confused look.
“Even though it was reformatted, all the information is still here,” She tapped the side of the tower with a smile.
“And the rug?” Spike asked, looking around to see if the offensive blue and purple rug was anywhere in the lab.
“Running tests now,” Abby smiled. “The hard drive reconstruction should be done...” She paused for a moment as the computer beeped. “Now.”
“What do we have?” Gibbs asked as he strode into the lab.
“Wiped hard drive, Abby’s doing her thing now,” Kate smiled at Abby who returned the smile. “Spike found a rug he thinks has weapons residue on it, Abby’s running tests on that at the moment.”
“Show me.” Gibbs stated, moving round the lab to look at the large plasma screen on the wall.
“The hard drive was completely wiped, but I got everything back,” Abby smiled at him, bouncing a bit on her feet.
“Start with the most recently edited.” Gibbs stated.
“‘Ello,” Spike muttered, wandering over to where what looked like a fax machine was beeping and printing a report out. “What’s this?”
“Report from the tests on your rug fibers, give me a second,” She paused, bringing the image up that had last been worked on by the computer. “And I’m guessing we don’t need the report then.” She smiled, looking at the large screen on the wall that displayed the image she’d just opened.
“Wot? Why not?” Spike asked, annoyed that his ‘evidence’ was being dismissed so quickly.
“Because it says traces of cordite, cleaning fluids, gravel, sand, other particulates along with several scrapings from three different shoulder launching anti-tank weapons.” Gibbs announced, not even bothering to turn around.
“Dunno, says a load of long words and numbers to me,” Spike muttered, trying to sound out one of the chemicals in his head. “‘Old up, how do you know what it says?” he asked, looking up to see Gibbs staring at the screen on the wall, where a large image was displayed of the rug in question with three different types of bazooka on it along with the different sized rocket along side of each of them. “Right," He smiled, putting the print out back on the tray where it came from. "Should’ve seen that.”
“Now we know we can trust your nose,” Gibbs smiled. “Good job.”
“That’s a lot of firepower boss.” Tony announced from the door where he and Xander had just entered. “Can’t say much for the rug though.”
Xander just let out a low whistle as he looked at the different types of rocket in display, “Looks like a menu to go.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Gibbs noted. “Run down his e-mail accounts and phone records, I want to know everyone he talked to in the past month.”
Xander nodded, heading out the door back to his desk, followed shortly by Tony and Kate.
“And if I find out any of you have been drinking on premises again you’ll be looking for new jobs.” Gibbs yelled out as they made their way into their new office.
“You know, you can’t fire them anymore,” Spike grinned. “Duel agency crap and all that.”
“Can I threaten to feed them to you?” Gibbs asked with a smile after a moment’s thought.
“I’m good with that,” Spike smiled back. “So who is this bastard that shot ya?”
“No clue,” Gibbs stated honestly, smiling as he saw Abby watching the conversation between him and the vampire. “He took Ducky and Kate hostage in the autopsy room and wanted a chemical weapon that we had found in connection with a Mossad terrorist plan. He shot me before escaping.”
“Think you’ll find ‘im again?” Spike asked, leaning up against a spare desk.
“If I do,” Gibbs smirked at him. “You can have him for lunch.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of finding out what one of those,” Spike nodded to the smaller rocket on the left of the image displayed, “Does when fired at his balls.”
“Just not in the office,” Gibbs chuckled, shaking his head at Spike’s antics as he walked out of the forensics lab.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.