Title: Legends (4/?)
Author: Merucha
Characters: Tim McGee, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, plus the usual Torchwood and NCIS suspects
Rating: Some chapters definitely not safe for work.
Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Summary: After the events of Bloodbath, Tim McGee accepts a offer from a total stranger
Author's Note: A few weeks ago I was watching some NCIS episodes and came across Bloodbath. I hated both Abby and Gibbs in it. I hated the humiliation of making Tim kneel all day for something that was someone else's fault. I fumed for days (I am a bit obssessive about things from time to time). Then, a few days ago, this popped up. As usual, AU like nobody's business.


Part One here; Part two here; Part three here

Tony watched  the MTAC geeks file out, most of them looking curiously over their shoulders at the assembled group. He commandeered the aisle chair on the fourth row from where he could watch the whole room. If the look on Vance's face was any indication, they were in for a hell of a briefing.

Gibbs was harder to read. He had on what Tony privately called his sniper's look; the calm that came when all the planning was done and all it remained was to take the shot.  But underneath that there was something like shock, and that scared Tony out of his mind.

“Doctor Mallard, Doctor Palmer, and Doctor Jones are on their way.” Vance said. “Mr. Jones, MTAC is all yours.”

“Thank you, Director.”

The young man took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He was wearing a wide, thick leather cuff. Tony heard a faint snap as part of the leather folded back to reveal a metal plate studded with buttons. Jones tapped them in a short one two – pause – one two sequence. A few seconds later all the workstations, which Tony had seen locked down and secured a few minutes before, turned themselves on. Masses of what looked like data scrolled up, too fast for the human eye to read, and then all the screens, including the large one, showed a large red T made out of locking hexagons.

Jones stepped back. “Irish, would you do the honors?”

Tim grinned and slid into one of the chairs in front of the workstations. Tony noticed he had taken what had been his usual seat four years before. He watched Tim's hands fly over the keyboard. If Tony was any judge, Tim's skills had gone from amazing to spectacular. He looked around. Vance and Ziva were clearly impressed. Gibbs' face hadn't changed... no, it had, though you'd have to know what to look for.

Tony's eyes narrowed as he looked from Gibbs to Tim and back again. He gave a soundless whistle. Now that was one for the books. Damn. No wonder the boss had walked around like a bear with a sore tooth for four years.

“Hello, Tim.”  The voice coming from the speakers had a little of Jones' Welsh lilt but it was purely female. “All clear. Their security is crap.”

“Behave, Mimi.” Tim swiveled his chair to face the room. “Mainframe has optimized your network, Director. She has also neutralized several Trojans and a rather neat little program that was rounding down payroll figures and skimming the leftovers. A penny here and a penny there and it's adding up to real money.”

Vance gaped. “That was your computer?”

“Mimi considers that particular appellation an insult. She is an organic construct  and is sentient within the parameters defined by the Shadow Coalition.”

“The what?” Vance asked.

“Long story. “ Tim waved towards the door. “Hey, Ducky!”

Tony looked over his shoulder.  Ducky was walking in arm in arm with the stunning Doctor Jones, and if the amount of whispering and giggling was any indication, the flirting had been hot and heavy.  Behind them trailed Jimmy and Abby, one looking bewildered and the other one sulky.

“Timothy, my dear. So nice to see you again.”

“Jack,” Doctor Jones grinned at her boss. “Ducky has been telling me the most interesting stories about you.”

Harkness started to say something, but Ducky held up a hand. “Don't you try to sell me on the father story, Jack Harkness. Estelle and I had a number of very long talks before I came to the States.”

“I was just going to say hello!”

For some reason the phrase sent all of Harkness' team into fits of giggles. Harkness ignored them. Walking to the bottom of the stairs, he held his arms wide. Ducky kissed Doctor Jones' hand before releasing her and walking straight into them.  As the men hugged, Tony caught the whispered I missed you,Graeme from the Torchwood leader. Interesting.

Vance cleared his throat. “We should move along.” He stopped, looking uncharacteristically confused. “Question is, where do we start!”

Doctor Jones joined Jack in front of the big screen. “Perhaps we can start with the facts. Tim, ask Mimi to upload the video. Ducky, maybe you should handle this part of the briefing.” She grinned at him. “You've gotten over the shock.”

“You forget, I've known Jack for a long time. He tends to make one shockproof.”

The T on the screen was replaced by a view of the autopsy table. Ducky, Martha, and Jimmy were gathered around the corpse. Ducky talked through the preliminaries then made the incisions and opened the chest.

“What the hell?”  Jimmy jerked back from the corpse. “That's impossible!”

“I'm afraid not.” Martha answered as she prodded around the chest cavity. “Our victim is a Thal. Humanoid, but not human.”

Both men stared at her as if she had grown another head. She sighed.

“The evidence is on the table, gentlemen. One heart with only three chambers. Four lungs.  No equivalent of the human liver. Alimentary canal does not have a stomach as such. Can you think of a human who could live to adulthood with such internal arrangements?” Both men shook their heads. “Exactly. Not human.”

“You're saying he's from another planet,” Jimmy sounded like he wanted to argue. “An alien.”

“Got it in one, Doctor Palmer.” She smiled at them. “Welcome to Torchwood, gentlemen. The train to your new reality departs now.”