Title: Legends (5/?)
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; Part four is here


Tim stretched out his legs comfortably and studied his former colleagues as Ducky walked everyone in the room through the details of the autopsy. Vance had the look of someone whose brain was being forcefully rearranged;Tim gave him points for perseverance. Ziva sat with Tish and Martha, obviously evaluating each piece of evidence as if she were working a regular case. Abby was keeping her bouncing to a minimum, sucking up all the information and probably figuring out what tests she could run on the tissue samples. Tony seemed to take it all in stride, but Tim knew he was in for an epic interrogation. Basically, after the first moment of shock, they had all settled into their usual patterns.

But Gibbs... Gibbs was different. Gibbs had not been surprised. At all.

He tapped the implant behind his right ear. Mimi, he subvocalized, let's look for any connection between Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs and the Captain. No matter how slight.

Trouble?

Probably not, but let's make sure.

“So you're saying that he was electrocuted before he died,” Vance said to Ducky.  “Torture?”

Ducky nodded. “They were planning to work on him for a while, hanging him by the wrists like that, but they didn't know they were not dealing with a human. They killed him almost immediately.”

“Question is,” Tony said, “why? One why and one what, really. Why was he passing himself off as a Navy captain and what was he killed for.”

“That we can help with,” Jack answered. “A little background first. There has been a small colony of Thal on Earth for about two hundred years. They look human enough not to raise suspicion, so they blended into the population, took human names, and settled down to farm and raise all sort of livestock. Before someone asks, they are pacifists, although they can fight if they have to. Torchwood keeps an eye on them and helps wherever we can.”

He turned to look at the screen, now displaying a head and shoulders shot of the dead man. “A few weeks ago, this Thal contacted us. His name, by the way, is Michael Sexton and he runs one of the largest organic farms in the Eastern seaboard.”

Jimmy gave a startled squeak. “Sheesh. I buy all my produce from Sexton farms!”

“And so you should. Thals are fanatical about quality in everything they do.” Jack told him. “Michael told us that the Thals living in the United States are being subjected to a campaign of terror by a mysterious someone calling himself or herself Liam.”

“Liam?” Ziva asked sharply. “Are you sure?”

“Certain.” Jack gave her what Tim called the captain's death glare. “Do you know who it is?”

She gave as good as she got. “One of Mossad's best agents was codenamed Liam. As far as I know, he was killed while tracking a Russian gang of plutonium smugglers.”

“Irish?”

“On it, boss.” Tim turned back to the terminal. “Let me see what I can find.”

Ziva snorted. “Why would a Mossad agent turn blackmailer like that?”

“Maybe he went into business for himself. Maybe his killers decided to use his name to throw suspicion on Mossad. Maybe the name is a coincidence.” Jack held up a hand to stop her reply. “We'll find out one way or another.”

Tim decided to hit Interpol first. He had planted a neat little rootkit in the network server at their Singapore office that would let him send a query to any national police database in Interpol's member states. If the Russians didn't have anything, he could launch to Mossad from there by way of Bolivia. Mimi could have done it in seconds, but he liked to keep his skills current.

While he worked he kept an ear on the conversation going on behind him. Abby was reporting on the results of her tests on the rope used to hang  Sexton.

“I found blood and skin on the rope. The forensic guys also found it on the railing. Whoever tied him up and threw him over the railing got rope burns on his palms. And before you ask, Gibbs, he was human. I've started a DNA search.”

“That'll take a while,” Tony said. “So let's keep going with explanation. What happened after Sexton contacted you?” he asked Harkness.

“We told him to sit tight and wait for us, but that same night his life partner, Captain Nicholas Chandler, was murdered. The body was dumped on Michael's doorstep. The next morning I got a text from Michael telling me that he knew who Liam was and asking us to meet him at the Hays-Adams hotel here in DC. I think we broke every speed record getting here but he had already disappeared. Then Irish here got the bright idea of monitoring your communications.”

Gibbs spoke up for the very first time. “Because any case involving a navy officer would come to us.”

The approval in his voice gave Tim a small, quiet thrill, and then anger almost boiled over. Gibbs had known he was good at his job, and he could have grown even better, but he had pushed Tim away and allowed him to be harassed by the other members of the team until he had chosen to disappear in the middle of the night. And now the bastard had the nerve to approve of him. His fists clenched on the keyboard

Work,  he reminded himself. Jack was counting on him and it was Jack's approval that mattered. He recited the A'ael submission to duty litany as he deliberately unclenched his fists. He was looking through the data coming in from Singapore when Mimi spoke up, sounding uncharacteristically subdued.

Tim? I looked everywhere, from two years before Gibbs' birth to present. There was nothing to suggest that Gibbs and the Captain had ever crossed paths. Then I realized there was a place we wouldn't usually look in. So I did.” Her brief hesitation was enough for Tim to know what was coming. L.J. Gibbs is listed as a prisoner on the Valiant for the last three months of the year that never was.