lit_gal | Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My

Two chapters in two days, guys. Read 'em in order

Title: Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1
Characters: Gibbs, Tony, Jack
Rating: TEEN (Gibbs/Tony)

Summary: Tony had never heard of goa'uld or tok'ra or igigi, and he sure as hell didn't know Gibbs had a passenger riding around in his head, but if Gibbs thinks one little alien parasite is going to make him go running, he has another thought coming. He's Gibbs' second, and that means he doesn't give up on his boss.

Parts One and Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven

“Tony!” Tim called his name across the lawn.

“McNosy and my favorite ninja. Hey, that’s a great name for a TV series,” Tony said as he trotted over to them.

“Where have you been?” Ziva demanded. She did that a lot, but Tony just grinned and let it slide. She was highly ranked in Mossad, and he suspected she was used to calling the shots on the team. However, until her shots included asking questions before hitting, she would be low man on their totem pole.

“With Gibbs.”

“You found him.” Tim sounded supremely relieved.

“Of course I found him. This is me we’re talking about.”

Ziva’s gaze slid right past him and focused on the front door. “Where is he?”

“Working a scene,” Tony said. “A secure scene you don’t have clearance to enter,” Tony added the second Ziva’s mouth came open. Even if she had been a regular old probie, he wouldn’t have let her onto this scene. She had less than a year’s experience with processing scenes, and they didn’t need more feet in there complicating matters.

“What?” Tim pulled back. “We’re Gibbs’ team too.”

Tony felt a flash of guilt because he knew how much Tim still needed Gibbs reassurance to bolster that damaged ego of his. “Yeah, well we aren’t calling the shots on this one, so I can’t clear you to work it, and neither can Gibbs. You can tell Madam Director that the coincidences with Gibbs’ past weren’t coincidence. This is an Air Force investigation now, and they’re letting us trail along. Hell, if it weren’t for the fact that Gibbs seems to be the suspect’s target, these people wouldn’t have let us near the investigation. Some colonel Gibbs knew back in his covert ops days is running the show.”

“They let you into the investigation, but they will block us?” Ziva didn’t even pretend to hide her feelings.

“I walked into the middle of it and saw classified material before they could stop me. You, however, are very stoppable,” Tony pointed out.

Ziva eyed the door like she was considering running for it.

“Go back,” Tony said firmly. “Have Director Shepard give the Air Force a call and try and get them to share the investigation. Until then, these guys have the higher clearance. However, keep in mind that they’re keeping Gibbs as a material witness even if he stops cooperating. So the director has to be careful on this one.”

Ziva rolled her eyes. “Yes, she needs your advice on swimming in political oceans,” she said dismissively.

Tony sighed. “I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to cook that meal for the two of us,” he said.

She blinked at him, clearly surprised. Maybe she thought he had forgotten her offer just because he hadn’t brought it up in the last few weeks. She looked over toward Tim, and then she moved toward him, fast, pushing him back toward the house. Tony watched as the guards shifted to prevent her from entering, but she stopped near Gibbs’ car in the driveway.

“Tony,” she said in a low whisper. “I know I have made things difficult between us because I am not good at being a learnee, and I have much to learn with investigations. It sometimes annoys me that I must learn from one such as you.”

“Thanks,” Tony said dryly. Leave it to Ziva to make an apology sound like an accusation.

She glared at him. “But what I will say, I say not out of disrespect but knowledge. Gibbs has many things in his past which you are not prepared to deal with. If this is about his covert ops days, you should have me there to back with you. This is a world you do not know any more than I know of investigating without infringing on constitutional rights,” Ziva said, pronouncing the words carefully.

“Ziva,” Tony said slowly.

“I should be with him,” she said, her frustration making her words sharp.

“You should,” Tony agreed, “but you can’t be. And in case you haven’t noticed, there are plenty of covert ops guys around. They are doing the heavy lifting. The only way Gibbs talked them into this field trip was by pointing out that he would have a better chance of finding evidence than anyone else, both because of his field experience and because it’s his house so he knows if something’s out of place. Trust me, if it weren’t for that argument, we would still be safely tucked away in the center of a secure base with hundreds of soldiers between us and whatever this is from Gibbs’ past.”

Ziva narrowed her eyes. “You expect me to believe Gibbs was allowing others to search while he stayed at the base?”

“Well, there might have been a little verbal altercation with O’Neill and a cell involved,” Tony admitted. That was as close to the truth as he was getting. She still had her determined-ninja face on. “This is so far beyond my pay grade that I really can’t talk about it. Have the director try and work with the Air Force—that’s all I can tell you.”

“And you are staying with Gibbs?”

“They can’t get me to leave, and trust me, they’ve tried.”

Ziva frowned, but the hard lines faded from her expression. “Gibbs has been in many difficult situations with people greatly talented at making others dead.”

“Yeah, I noticed, Ziva.”

She gave him a concerned look. Leaning forward, she rested a hand on his shoulder. “Gibbs’ enemies abroad are far more dangerous—far more, how do you say… invisible.”

Tony sighed. They’d worked together for months, and she still assumed he was clueless. He’d be more upset if he hadn’t cultivated his own clueless façade very intentionally. “I know more than I let on, Ziva. Trust me, I know a lot more.”

“We should work together, both of us at Gibbs’ back,” she said.

Tony was tempted, but the fact that Gibbs would kill him made the choice a little easier. “Ask Director Shepard to get the Air Force’s cooperation.”

An Israeli curse flew out her mouth and she slapped Gibbs’ car hard enough that Tony flinched. That was going to hurt. Several of the soldiers had shifted into better positions to cover her, and Murray had out what looked like an alien gun. Subtle. Then again, Ziva wasn’t winning any subtle awards either.

“You act like I am an enemy, that you must keep Gibbs from me, but he chose me,” she snarled at him.

“I know that.”

“Then stop acting like I am good for nothing but to kill.”

“I don’t.” She had trapped Tony up against the side of Gibbs’ car, and Tony shoved at her. She pressed her lips together and didn’t move.

“Yes, you do. You act like a child or a jealous lover,” she snapped.

“I act like a man trying to have his partner’s back.”

“You do not have to cover Gibbs from me,” she said, and technically that sentence didn’t make a lot of sense, but Tony did understand what she was trying to say. In the past, maybe he had been a little suspicious of her and the specific circumstances around her joining the team. Maybe. Just a little. But things were different now.

“Ziva, I never…” Tony let out a sigh even as she glared at him. “Okay, perhaps I was a little mistrustful at first.”

“A little?” She crossed her arms.

“Yes, a little. You had some issues with us, if you remember. But this is not about trust. These people will never give you clearance without some serious political muscle forcing them to. Neither of us has that clout. More importantly, Gibbs ordered me to keep you and Tim clear of this mess. He has his guilt turned up too high.”

“But you he wants in there?” Ziva did nothing to hide her disbelief.

“No, he wants me out and safe too; however, I saw enough classified material that it isn’t going to happen.”

Ziva tilted her head and studied him. “Programs have contingencies for inadvertent disclosures, especially when the one who sees too much already has clearance.”

“Yes, the non-disclosure agreements,” Tony nodded. “The ones I refused to sign because if I did, they would force me to leave Gibbs, so instead I told them I wouldn’t sign and I threatened to make a very public fuss if they didn’t either release Gibbs or let me stay with him.”

For a long minute, Ziva stared at him, her lips slightly parted. “You… you refused?” she asked.

Tony nodded his head.

“You idiotic man-child,” she nearly shouted before falling back into more Israeli cursing. At least Tony assumed they were curses. That was the tone of voice she had going. “How could you put yourself in a such tight position?” she demanded. “Do you have any idea what people do to those who make themselves threats?”

Tony leaned close and whispered, “Right now, I’m a goofy threat. I may be a man-child, but it works for me, Ziva, and I will have Gibbs’ back.”

Ziva frowned at him for a second, but with a long sigh, she seemed to yield. “You will explain this to Tim.”

“No I won’t,” Tony said, “I’ll just order him back to the yard. Unlike some people, he listens to orders from goofy man-children.” She rolled her eyes.

When Tony turned to look over, he noticed soldiers shifting, and Murray had moved to a spot right next to the door. “Ziva, wait here,” Tony said.

“But—”

He was already racing for Gibbs’ house, ignoring Murray, who only watched him with one eyebrow raised. The guards on the basement had their weapons up, and they pointed them at Tony, but he ignored them. He focused on O’Neill, who stood on the top of the stairs looking down. “What’s wrong?”

Tony looked past him to see Gibbs standing in an artificial glow. “Gibbs?”

“Stay back,” Gibbs ordered him.

O’Neill caught his arm to keep him from storming past the guards on the steps. “Carter is doing everything she can to prevent them from locking on.”

“Who? What are they trying to do?”

O’Neill’s face was set in grim lines. Behind him, Tony could hear Ziva yelling, but she wasn’t coming any closer, so someone had successfully stopped her at the door. Good for someone; Ziva wasn’t that easy to stop.

“They’re trying to get a lock on him and beam him out of here.”

Relief flood through Tony’s system. “Oh thank God.”

Both O’Neill’s eyebrows went up.

“Taken is not dead, but it would be great if Carter could, you know, stop it.”

“And if he’s taken, how do you plan to find him?”

“If he’s taken, I plan to feel sorry for the asshole who takes him,” Tony said. Below, Gibbs gave a rough laugh.

“You’re dangerously uninformed,” O’Neill said. He touched his ear. “Carter, this is getting a little old.”

She said something that made O’Neill let go of Tony’s arm and lean forward to peer down at Gibbs. “She said something here is boosting the signal.”

“That would be the rings I just found installed in my floor,” Gibbs said. “They’re covered too well for it to be recent. Cases sometimes take us out of town or out to sea, so I’m guessing they did some redecorating.”

“Well crap,” O’Neill said. “Carter, we’re dealing with a set of rings here.” He paused to listen. “Yeah, I figured.”

“Makes it harder to block the signal, doesn’t it?” Gibbs asked.

“Exponentially,” O’Neill agreed.

Tony cleared his throat to get people’s attention. “Other than Lord of the Rings references that probably don’t apply, I am not understanding what’s going on.”

Gibbs gestured toward the floor. “There is a ring transportation device under me.”

“Well then, step off it,” Tony suggested.

Gibbs gave him a blistering look, and reached out. His hand hit something that made the air shimmer.

“Force fields? Really?” Tony asked. “Okay, what can I do to help, boss?”

Gibbs shook his head. “Rings came around after Samas’ time. He has no idea, and he doesn’t have time to try and research the tech. We wait for Carter.”

Tony looked at O’Neill, and for the first time, the man had some honest sympathy in his face. “She’s good. She’s working it, and she’s good.”

That wasn’t, Tony noticed, a problem.

“Okay, if she fails, what happens?”

O’Neill clenched his teeth until his jaw bulged.

Gibbs paced the small circle. “Tony, the chances are that they’ll never find me. There are too many system lords.”

“There are fewer than there used to be,” O’Neill said with a grin.

“Great, and does that help us right now?” Tony demanded.

O’Neill opened his mouth, but it was Samas who answered, his voice loud and booming. “Enough, Tony.”

Tony closed his mouth and looked down at Samas.

“You will not antagonize Colonel O’Neill. You will not endanger this planet by revealing secrets, and you will not endanger yourself—not for us. I understand your loyalty as well as I understand the unwavering loyalty of Gibbs, but you will gain nothing and lose everything if you persist in this course.” Samas shifted slightly and looked at O’Neill. “His loyalty is as unflagging is as his mouth is annoying, but before you judge him, look in the mirror.” Samas gave a little head tilt that made his opinion of O’Neill perfect clear.

“I don’t take orders from snakes,” O’Neill said.

“Then know that this is from Gibbs as well as me. He is simply less likely to say such words out of fear of having you ignore them or do the opposite out of an irrational hate. We both remember your illogical hatred for the Soviets, yes?”

O’Neill shook his head. “Don’t talk to me like you know me.”

“But I do. I had joined with Gibbs before we met in Columbia. Is that not the reason you came here to investigate, because you remembered what I could do? We slept in the same hut, shared food, shared a fire, all before you even knew what an onac was.”

There wasn’t a bit of emotion on O’Neill’s face, and Samas started up at him, equally emotionless. It was like watching a National Geographic show about two alpha males about to kill each other. Something made the floor of the basement vibrate so badly that dust particles rose into the air and tools slid off the tool bench and clattered to the floor.

“Shit, Carter’s losing the signal,” O’Neill said.

“Don’t take out irrational hate on a federal agent who did his job and did it well,” Gibbs said. Even through the veil of dust that swirled through the air, Tony could see the shift in body language. Gibbs had never been that direct with a compliment, and it was too close to a goodbye.

A metal ring rose from the basement and then another and another, and Tony eyed the distance between the landing and the top metal ring. It was entirely possible that he was about to make a fool out of himself and bounce off a force field, but he wasn’t leaving his boss.

Giving O’Neill a hard shove, Tony vaulted up to the rail and then leaped toward the narrow opening at the top of the rings. He was almost surprised when his foot hit the top ring and then he started sliding toward the inside. Power whined and Gibbs looked up, his face horrified as Tony fell straight toward him. Then they were both enveloped in a light, and Tony closed his eyes as he landed, taking both of them to the floor.

When he opened his eyes, he was mostly on top of a very cranky Gibbs, and the rings were lifting up and vanishing into the ceiling. That left them alone with a whole shitload of strange warriors who were pointing long weapons at them.

Tony rolled off Gibbs, but other than that, he tried hard to not move at all. These guys didn’t look like the joking types, so Tony showed them the flat of his hands.

“What is the meaning of this?” Samas demanded in a booming voice as he climbed to his feet. He spared Tony one truly withering glare.

One of the largest warriors stepped forward, his weapon pointed right at Samas’ neck. “You are a prisoner of the Lord Ba’al. You will yield or die.”

“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Tony muttered to himself.

Lions and Tigers and Igigi, Oh My

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