When Tony stopped the car he looked to his right. Gibbs had his eyes closed and seemed to be asleep.
„Jethro?“
„Mhm?“
„You need to eat something. We’ll have to walk a bit.“
Gibbs opened one eye to look at Tony sceptically.
„If you don’t have an eatable gun I don’t think there is anything to eat.“
Tony rolled his eyes and got out of the car. He opened the back door and took out his bag. He kneeled next to the open passenger side door and started to go through his bag.
„Rule #1: Always have provisions with you, no matter how short the mission seems to be.“
„But rule #1...“
„Agency rules, Jethro. Ah huh!“
Finally he had found the chocolate bar.
„Chocolate?“
Gibbs frowned as Tony held out a piece to him.
„It will power up your energy reserves. At least until we’ll get something real to eat. I’m sure Lenny has something.“
„Lenny, sounds trustable.“
„Well, would you prefer if I lead you to Agent 4193 IL?“
Gibbs sighed and slowly got out of the car.
„Your name?“
„Nope, I’m Agent 0372F. Well, that’s the short version, my nickname, so to say...you’re fit enough to walk? We have to get into the middle of that wood.“
Tony pointed at the forest down the small hill.
„Lenny has an airport in the middle of a forest?“
„Nope, but there’s the cabin of a friend, who happens to be dead, therefore I’ll borrow his car. With that we’re going onto the landslight where Lenny lives. I really hope they haven’t gotten to him yet...oh! Maybe Al has something eatable in his house!“
Gibbs frowned a bit deeper as he followed Tony into the dark shadows of the huge trees.
„Is he dead like Kate, or is he dead like you?“
Tony stopped shortly and then turned to Jethro.
„Well, to be honest, that’s more or less the same.“
„What? NO! That can’t be true! I saw her body! I saw the blood. Ducky did the autopsy...“
„Yeah, very good effects. I thought it was cruel to confront you with her death like that. But if it's any help, I had no idea that she’s alive until Ducky told me that he’s doing the autopsy on a doll.“
Gibbs stared at him with his mouth hanging open.
„But I saw him doing it.“
„You did? He ever lifted that blanket in your presence? I mean, further than the face? Did you even want to take a look? It was convenient. They wanted Kate on another mission and they wanted Ari to be dead. That Ziva shot him was a surprise though. I thought I’d have to do it.“
„You weren’t there and I never told you that Ziva shot him.“
Tony shook his head.
„Jethro, I was supposed to protect you. I was there, with a rifle aiming at Ari’s head even before you had entered the basement. She shot just the moment I wanted to pull the trigger. Gotta say, it served me pretty well. Would have been more difficult to cover it up if the shot had come from outside through a window.“
Tony started to continue their way but Gibbs remained nailed to the ground.
„Jethro, we’ve got to keep moving. You saw how quick they are in following our tracks. That’s a stolen car, it’s only a matter of minutes until they know which car we have. Every minute we wait we risk that they find us!“
The easy, humourful man was gone and Gibbs saw steely professionism, with a hint of fear.
„I wish I could just sit down with you and tell you everything, but I can’t. I have to make sure that you’re save and then, maybe, I can tell you everything I know. But for now you have to trust me and follow my orders without question.“
Gibbs nodded unwillingly and followed Tony into the heart of the forrest. The cabin of Tony’s friend didn’t seem as if someone had been there for ages. Tony, unimpressed by the state of the cabin went on towards it.
„How long is he dead?“
„A couple of days. Monday, I think.“
Gibbs gave the cabin another strange look.
„He was a bit paranoid...well, given that he was killed I don’t think paranoid is the right word. Anyway, he was very precautious.“
Inside the cabin was just as shabby as from the outside but Tony went straight to a torn easy chair and pushed it up, what reveilled a secret passage way into the ground.
„As I said, very precautious. Close the door behind you.“
Bewildered Gibbs followed down the ladder into a room which seemed to be build completely out of steel. Different types of equipment Gibbs had never seen before beeped or squeeled or blinked in their respective holds.
„What is all that?“
„Em...most of it I have no idea. Al always was a little strange when it came to electronics...I recomment to not touch anything.“
Gibbs pulled back his hand and put it into his pocket.
„He’s been in the agency?“
„Nooo, I met him some time ago in Germany. It was the first time he had visited his hometown since he had fleed the country in 1941. Hitler wanted him to build something, but Al wasn’t that kind of German so he went away. I think that’s why he thought he was followed. Although, Hitler’s dead for about sixty years...“
Tony went on around the room, taking one thing or another and placing it in his bag.
„I don’t think we’ll find something to eat in here, though.“
Gibbs stopped at a wardrobe. He tried to open it but it was locked.
„You don’t have to try. Al asked me to try and open it. Nothi...“
Tony’s mouth hung open as Gibbs opened the door and looked inside.
„How did you do that?“
Gibbs shrugged slightly and pointed at the lock.
„I picked it with my kit. Wasn’t very difficult.“
Tony stared at him and then grinned.
„Nasty bastard! Sure, if you look around the room you expect it to be locked with some techno-shit but no! A simple lock!“
Tony stepped next to Gibbs, their shoulders brushing. But Tony didn’t noticed because he had found a letter, which he took out.
„He left me a letter...“
Gibbs frowned.
„This says, Michael.“
„Yeah, he thought my name was Michael Müller...well, he knew it wasn’t my name, but that’s the name I used when I met him.“
Tony opened the letter and started to read out loud.
„Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Michael!
Du hast es endlich geschafft meinen Schrank zu öffnen. Leider bedeutet das auch, dass ich tot bin. Naja, wir wissen ja beide, dass ich damit gerechnet habe. Hier sind einige Gerätschaften die dir möglicherweise bei was-auch-immer behilflich sein könnten.
That’s great!“
Tony looked at Gibbs who had the ever present frown on his face.
„What’s great?“
„He left me some of his stuff, well, not that I couldn’t take what I want but apparently he had enough foresight to tell me what they are for.“
„So, what did he leave you?“
Tony took another look at the letter.
„It all sounds like stuff from a James Bond movie...A laserkugelschreiber...a pen with a laser...well, not the biggest of his inventions...Zahnmikrophone...mikrophones for teeth?...wireless earpieces...Wärmebrille, glasses reacting to body temperature...and a couple of other things...this says it’s all in a bag in the wardrobe?!“
Gibbs turned to the furnature and received a black backbag.
„Well, that’s that. You don’t mind taking it, do you? This bag and the sport bag with the rifles are quite enough already.“
Tony turned without waiting for an answer and strode to the other end of the room.
„Ah, yes, a real beauty!“
He announced before he pulled off blankets and reveilled a kind of car Gibbs had never seen before.
„It does have something of a batmobile.“
„A what?“
Tony threw Gibbs a look.
„Batmobile. Batman? I had some time for watching movies.“
He shrugged and got into the car.
„Em...Tony, I don’t wanna ruin your enthusiasm...“
‚Though that’s probably the wrong word‘ he added inwardly,
„but we’re at least eight feet under the ground. How do you wanna get the car up there?“
„How are you going to get your boat out of your basement?“
Tony chuckled at the dumbstruck expression of the older man.
„Well, Al thought a bit more about it than you did.“
He took the remote control that lay next to the driver’s seat and pressed a button. Immidiatly the car was moved upwards. Above them the ground opened and a moment later they were on ground level.
„Fucking unbelievable!“
Gibbs exclaimed and Tony grinned. He put on his sun glasses and accelerated.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony gets some more equipment.