Kara woke in a strange bedroom, with an aching head and a queasy stomach, and confused memories of singing loudly and badly in Kryptonese. She looked around, trying to remember where she was, and noticed her costume on a chair by the bed. One of the walls was covered in bookshelves, including several copies of Deep Six: Rock Hollow, and she realised that she must be in Timothy McGee’s apartment. A clock on the bedside table showed 9.05 AM; there was a folded note on top of it: Kara,
Abby says to tell you that you’re a lightweight without your powers; you flaked out after four beers. She and Ziva helped you to bed, and found some of my sister’s spare clothes that should fit you. No urgency about returning them.
Ducky seemed to think your hands were healing well last night, so I hope that you’ll be feeling better when you wake. I’m going to have to head in to work pretty early, if I’m not around please make yourself at home. There are some spare toothbrushes in the bathroom cabinet, also Alka Seltzer if that’s any use to you.
You’re welcome to hang out until you’re ready to travel; if you leave before I get back just make sure that the door locks behind you.
See you soon, I hope
Timothy McGee Kara climbed out of bed, discovering that she was wearing panties and an MIT T-shirt, and pulled on a dressing gown. Her costume smelled slightly of beer, her hands were still cut under the tape but the wounds were almost healed. None of her powers seemed to be working, but she was sure that time and sunlight would fix that.
*
Abby slurped some Caf-Pow, looked at the scrap of bloodstained gauze that sat in a Ziploc bag on her desk, and thought about temptation. It would be so easy to run the analysis, and Kara would never know... but of course Abby would.
“Did you log the chain of evidence for that?” As usual Abby jumped at Gibbs’ sudden arrival.
“Not exactly.”
“Then it’s worthless.”
“Oh, come on, Gibbs, aren’t you just a little bit curious?”
“We have real cases to work, Abby, not to mention the final write-up on Luthor.”
“Okay... I guess I was probably going to do this anyway.” She dropped the bandage into a biohazard waste bag, and threw it into the incineration bin. “Though it would have been really interesting to see how compatible we are.” She clicked on one of her favourite programs, and generated images of a child that might result if Gibbs and Kara were the parents. “So cute...” When she turned to show Gibbs the picture he was gone.
*
“Okay, Elf Lord,” said Tony, leaning back in his chair, “you planning to sneak home for a nooner with Kara?”
“Nooner?” asked Ziva.
“He means sex,” said Tim. “And no, Tony, unlike some people here I don’t automatically think of sex with a woman I respect who doesn’t appear to be interested in me. However hot she might be.”
“Especially when she can throw you into orbit once she gets her strength back,” said Tony.
“That might possibly be a factor.”
“Men are pigs,” said Agent Lee, passing by with a stack of file folders.
“Oink!” said Tony, then “Ow!” as Gibbs slapped the back of his head.
“Finish the reports!”
*
“NCIS agents aided by the FBI, Superman, and Supergirl have completed their investigation into the murder of Lex Luthor,” said Annabeth Schott.
“A full report should be forthcoming in the next few days; briefly, the preliminary findings state that Luthor died as a result of brainwashing by a Kryptonian artificial intelligence which apparently perceived him as a threat.”
“Yesterday NCIS and FBI agents took part in questioning it, and subsequently helped Superman and Supergirl to destroy the Arctic base where the AI was located. During the operation the base’s power supply exploded; the blast was equivalent to a small nuclear weapon. Supergirl suffered minor injuries but is expected to make a full recovery, Superman and the agents are unhurt. Superman will be continuing environmental cleanup in the area for the next few days, and no fallout is expected to reach inhabited areas.”
A forest of hands rose. “Norman first, then Janice.”
The New York Times reporter asked “NCIS, is that like CSI?”
“Only if you’re dyslexic. It stands for Navy Criminal Investigative Service. Janice, then Peter...”
*
“So,” said Tony, “did you and Ziva find out, when you were putting Supergirl to bed?”
“Find out what?” said Abby.
“Is she a natural blon... owww! That’s cold!”
“You need to change your trousers, Tony. And don’t forget you owe me a Caf-Pow now.”
“You spilled it on me deliberately!”
“You deserved it.”
“He usually does,” said Gibbs, smacking Tony’s head again. “Got a report for me yet?”
*
“I keep thinking that I should be mourning him,” said Clark, “but the reality is my father died with Krypton. I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to please an echo of an echo of the real man. I’m actually relieved that it’s over.”
“It leaves you with some problems,” said Bruce Wayne. “You don’t have secure communications and there’s nobody to make super-strong clothes for you and Linda, or for your son when he’s ready for them.”
“I know.”
“Good thing I happen to own a satellite phone network, three synthetic fibre plants, and nearly a third of Gotham’s garment industry. You aren’t the only one with costume and communications issues...”
*
Showered and dressed in a selection of Sarah McGee’s clothes that more or less went with her boots, Kara put the rest of her costume into a grocery bag, tied her hair back in a pony-tail, put on dark glasses, and left the apartment, making sure that Butch stayed inside and the door locked properly. After walking in the sun for a few minutes she turned back suddenly, and accosted the only other pedestrian in sight, a woman in her early forties with a coiled wire running from her ear to a bulging pocket in her jacket. “Excuse me… are you following me?”
“Yes, Miss Zor-El. Gina Toscano, Secret Service.” She produced ID.
“Okay, so why is the Secret Service following me?”
“We’ve been told that your powers are temporarily out of action; the Director assigned us to make sure that you’re safe.”
“That’s good of you. Okay, maybe you can help me with something. My cousin ought to think of picking me up sooner or later, but he doesn’t know where I spent the night and we’ve just trashed our communications system, and I don’t have any money. Any chance you could get me a lift to the Navy Yard?”
*
“Hey, Ducky,” said Tony. “Could I get a concussion from being slapped on the back of the head too much?”
“Oh, I doubt it,” said Ducky, “unless Jethro was unusually annoyed. Although I did know a man in Glasgow, now was his name Perkins or Peterson? Patterson, that was it. Anyway, he was slapped by an angry girlfriend, hit his head on the corner of a shelf, and spent three months in a coma. It was quite fascinating, a textbook example of a subdural haematoma, and by the time the poor chap came out of it his girlfriend had moved to Bombay, or as they now call it, Mumbai. I expected that he’d be unhappy, but… oh, I nearly forgot, would you like me to check?”
“Check what?” asked Gibbs, coming into the morgue.
“Oh, I was talking to young Anthony. Poor chap seemed to think he might have concussion. Now where did he go? Hasn’t collapsed, has he?”
“I just saw him in the corridor.”
“Never mind then.”
*
“Oh, Tony,” cooed Ziva.
“Yeah?” Tony was lying back in his chair, and had his eyes closed.
“Kara’s here and she was thinking that she would like to get close and personal with you.”
“With me? Really?” Tony sat up fast.
“That’s right,” said Kara. “Ziva wants to see some Klurkor moves, it’s probably easiest if I start off by sparring with someone else while she watches…”
*
“I used to work with an agent who looked a lot like you,” said Gina, “A guy named Simon Donovan. He was killed a few years ago. Any relation?”
“Not that I know of,” said Gibbs, wincing as Kara slammed Tony to the mat again. “You look like a CSI I met once in Las Vegas, any connection there?”
Gina shook her head. Tony lurched back to his feet, rubbing his ankle, and Kara circled then suddenly stopped and said “I think we’d better leave it there.”
“Tired already?” asked Tony.
“No, but my cousin is here.” Superman was in the doorway, talking to Abby.
Suddenly a cell phone started ringing. Gibbs listened for a second, said “On it!” and headed back upstairs, shouting “Gear up; we’ve got a dead sailor in the Mall!”
“Gotta go,” said Tony, limping after him. McGee waved as he followed them out of the door. Ziva pecked Kara’s cheek, and ran to catch up.
“Okay,” said Kara, looking a little lost. “I suppose we were just about done.”
“It beats long drawn-out farewells,” said Superman. “And you can always come back when your powers are recharged.”
“You can be sure I will,” said Kara, shaking hands with Gina and kissing Abby good-bye.
* “Traditionally science toys are aimed at boys, but BalliToy’s new line, Linda’s Laboratory, will be aimed very much at the female pre-teen and teen markets, with an initial launch of twenty modular kits featuring innovative science projects with a feminine slant, supported by software and books. Many of the sets can be combined for more complex projects. BalliToy CEO Larry Powers said ‘When we saw Ms. Lee’s presentation it just bowled us over. Educators just love the experiments she’s come up with, and the kids are over the moon, they can’t seem to get enough of them. I’ve learned more science playing with this stuff than I ever did in high school. We’ll be launching in time for Christmas 2009 with twenty kits; then releasing five new kits a month for at least the next two years.’ California-based designer Linda Lee was not available for comment, but is believed to have earned a six-figure advance…”
Toy Retailer magazine, December 2008 * Hardcover Fiction 1. ALIEN BONES: A KATHY REICHS MYSTERY, by Temperance Brennan. 2. FALLING BLOOD, by Constantine Weber 3. THE CHINA ACCOUNT, by Terry Forrest 4. DEEP SIX: ARCTIC ANNIHILATION, by Thom E. Gemcity. 5. DRACULA’S DAUGHTERS, ed. Charles Wells.
Daily Planet best sellers, February 2009 *
“When you consider that there are more than fifty percent more sailors than marines,” McGee said the following May, “I can’t help thinking we see too many dead marines.”
“One is too many,” said Gibbs, staring out over the crime scene. “Go get coffee.”
McGee didn’t know his way around Los Angeles very well, but earlier they’d passed a Starbucks a few hundred yards down the street. Half way back he noticed a blonde girl in shorts and a tight white tank top roller-skating down the sidewalk towards him, with an excited puppy following her on a long lead. She swerved left, McGee swerved right, the puppy dodged between his legs, and somehow they ended up sprawled on the ground, with the girl on top of him and the coffee spilled in the road. He was very conscious of her warm body pressing against him. “Sorry about that,” she said as she got back to her feet, “Here, let me give you a hand.” She reached down and pulled him up.
“I think it was my fault.” He rubbed the back of his head where it had hit the sidewalk a little too hard. “I’m pretty sure it was me,” said the girl. “Hey, I owe you a couple of coffees.”
“That’s okay,” said McGee, “I’m working, I get expenses; I’ll just buy a couple more.”
“Then I’d better walk back with you, just in case you’ve got a concussion or something.”
“There’s no need, ah…”
“Linda.” She put her arm through his. “Linda Lee.”
The End
End Notes
The Kryptonian words used at various points come from the Kryptonian info web site http://kryptonian.info/vocabulary.html I have not attempted to make the speech grammatically correct.
Most of the background used in chapter III comes from the most detailed summary of the Supergirl movie I could find: http://www.supermanhomepage.com/movies/movies.php?topic=m-supergirl I've borrowed the term "survival zone" from DC comics since it was not used in the movie, and changed a few details to make the different movies work better together.
The Ron Troupe / Lucy Lane / Sam Lane relationship mentioned in Chapter VI is based on the comics, while omitting most of the baggage that comes with it, such as Lucy's role as an artificial "Superwoman." Cat Grant is based mainly on the version in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Thanks to Joshua Richardson for pointing out the most likely cause of the navigation error, also in Chapter VI.
Martha Kent's personality is based partly on Superman Returns and partly on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
The Midnight Show and Johnny Nevada are from DC comics. Batman used the Matches Malone disguise several times in the comics. The version of Batman in this story is post Batman Begins, pre The Dark Knight, but for story purposes Batman has already had run-ins with several famous Bat-villains.
Riddles used in chapter IX (but not their answers) come from the 1960s Batman TV series: Q: What is it that travels on all fours in the morning, on two legs at noon, and three at twilight. A: A man. Q: What is it that's always coming but never arrives? A: Tomorrow Q: What do you throw away that keeps returning? A: A boomerang. Q: How many sides has a circle? A: Two, inside and outside
Abbreviations etc. used at various points MCRT - Major Case Response Team, the NCIS team led by Gibbs. IAFIS - Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the FBI national automated fingerprint identification system. FCE 28260 - as described, it is an experimental drug targeting the hormones responsible for male pattern baldness. BOLO - Be On the Look-Out. Bulletins posted by law enforcement agencies to give local police departments etc. the details of wanted fugitives.
Axis Chemicals, mentioned in chapter XII, appears in various DC comics and the 1989 film Batman; it is usually mentioned as the place where The Joker falls into a vat of chemicals and is disfigured, but this does not appear to be canon for Batman Begins / The Dark Knight.
Tony DiNozzo returned to the USA after the episode Agent Afloat, first transmitted on September 30th 2008.
Gratuitous crossover references in chapter XIII:
Nigel, the rock star with the accident prone drummer - This is Spinal Tap
"…check out the pizza, Lester. There's like seven different kinds of cheese!" "…working at the Buy-More until something better comes along..." - Chuck.
"…and you are so an insensitive jerk, Logan, coming to a party in a 'Kneel Before Zod' t-shirt when there are people from Metropolis here…" "…do that in Idaho, they'll lynch you." "…no, he used to be Sheriff but he was fired after the murder, now he's a…" - Veronica Mars NB: General Zod and friends destroyed the town of East Houston, Idaho.
"…so Dawn turns to Celeste and says 'yes, we look alike, but on me it looks good!'" - Buffy and Six Feet Under (Michelle Trachtenberg played Dawn in Buffy and Celeste in 6FU)
"…sold his Cyberdyne shares and invested in Zeiratech, he's doubled his money…" - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
"…P3 is so over-rated…" - Charmed
"…statistical analysis based on flocking algorithms to find…" - Numb3rs
Mark Harmon (Gibbs in NCIS) played Simon Donovan in The West Wing. Gina Toscano (West Wing) was played by Jorja Fox, who also played Sara Sidle in CSI. The NCIS double episode Legend, set in Los Angeles, ran at the end of April and early May 2009.
This turned out to be the first story in a very long series, but most of the sequels are not NCIS crossovers - you can find the full series through the links below:
At Archive of our Own At Twisting the Hellmouth (with additional art)
Acknowledgements
Given that all Superman movieverse fanfic draws on the same relatively small body of work it will be no surprise that some ideas that have previously been used in other stories have found their way into this one.
In particular the secure Kryptonian communications links mentioned at several points derive from Mr. Beeto's Family Reunion, one of the first really long Superman Returns stories I read. This story also gave me my villain, in a throwaway line about "HAL running things at the Fortress;" that was meant as a joke, this story takes it literally.