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Despite the late night, Gibbs and Tony were still the first two in the office of the extended MCRT. The extra time was not good for Tony’s mental health as it gave him time to wonder if he was just an encumbrance to Gibbs and the others. After all, if it wasn’t for him none of them would have to deal with any of this prophecy crap.
“Stop that thinking, right now.” Gibbs sent mentally and Tony swore it came through complete with a mental glare. “You have never been an encumbrance.”
Tony breathed a sigh of relief when McGee arrived. At least, now maybe they could find out something useful. Tony IMed McGee, “Did Abby tell you about your top priority?”
“What? No.”
“Go see if she’s in, yet. If she is, help her and whatever you do don’t tell anyone what you’re working on.”
“What? Tony? What’s going on?”
“Abby will explain everything.”
McGee shot Tony a look. Tony just tilted his head towards the elevator. McGee sighed, but headed for Abby’s lab.
“You know we should probably tell them why we’re looking into you know who.” Tony pointed out.
“Not now.” Gibbs grunted. It wasn’t safe to get into it at NCIS. Jenny hadn’t gotten where she was by being stupid.
Tony nodded, pulling out some cold cases. Though, right now, he wanted to take a trip to the Cat Kingdom. Doing anything was better than nothing, but he didn’t think vanishing during the workday would be a good idea.
He really wished they had more to go on. What tasks were the others going to have to complete? For that matter, what were he and Gibbs supposed to be doing?
Coming to work every day like nothing had changed was driving him crazy. They needed to be preparing or finding out more about their enemies, whoever they were, not working like nothing had changed. He was positive that there was something that he and Gibbs needed to be doing that they weren’t doing.
“DiNozzo. With me.” Gibbs barked.
Tony jumped, having been lost in thought and quickly followed Gibbs. Gibbs led the way to the parking garage and they drove to a secluded area.
“Text McGee. Let him know we’re going to be out of contact for a while,” Gibbs ordered.
Tony looked at Gibbs in confusion before he realized what Gibbs was planning. “On it, boss.”
He shot a quick text to McGee that they were going to be out of contact for a while and to keep a low profile and they’d check in when they could. He then turned to Gibbs, “You ready for this, boss?”
Gibbs just gave Tony a get on with it look. Tony took a deep breath and focused on his bond with Gibbs, so that he could draw him over to the Cat Kingdom with him. When he opened his eyes, they were in the castle of the Cat Kingdom.
“Are you ready, Tony?” Gibbs countered as he looked around at the Kingdom that he expected to be spending a lot more time in.
Tony may have abdicated to Sammy, but the prophecies were clearly around the two of them and he didn’t think a simple abdication would prevent that. After all, Tony was still the last one of royal blood. Plus, he was beginning to suspect that the Cat Kingdom would hold the key to many of the mysteries they had going on.
”For what?”
Gibbs shrugged. “Whatever awaits us here. You have considered that the message might mean we’re about to walk into a trap, right now, haven’t you?”
Tony blinked at that. “Actually, no.”
“Whoever started this killed the entire royal family. You only escaped because you were in the human dimension. Yes, we caught the supposed perpetrator, but even the prophecies say there is more than one enemy that you have to watch out for. Don’t assume you’re safe just because you’re in the Cat Dimension.”
”On it, Gibbs. Let’s go talk to the advisors and see if they have any more information on these prophecies.”
Rupert met them in the throne room and bowed, “Your majesty.”
“Cut the ceremony, Rupert. I told you to call me Tony.”
“We are so sorry for the escape.”
Tony waved his hand dismissively. “I’m not here about that. It happens. Just figure out how they were able to escape and do your best to plug the leak.”
“Why are you here then, King Tony?”
“We’re trying to make heads or tails of the prophecy pieces we’ve found so far and not having any luck. I was hoping you guys had dug up some more pieces or had some other knowledge of what we could expect.”
“I am not the best to help you. I do not know the histories well. There is one who can help you, but she is not easy to find.”
“Tell me.”
Rupert proceeded to describe an old cat, far older than any of the cats Tony had met so far, who apparently lived alone in her own castle. Her castle was in the middle of one of the hardest and most dangerous jungles that the Cat Kingdom had. Well to be fair, her castle itself was not in a jungle, but the desert it was in was surrounded by jungle.
It sounded like the desert wasn’t without its own complications, however, and they shouldn’t assume the hard part was over once they reached the desert. Needless to say it would not be an easy journey and they should expect many encumbrances. Quite possibly many months might pass in the human world while they went on this adventure.
Tony turned to Gibbs. “What do you think? Should we do it?”
“Do we have a choice?”
“Of course, we do. We could always go back to the human world. Everyone there might freak out if we go on this adventure as it will probably keep us away for longer than they expect.”
Gibbs nodded. “Let’s go back and have everyone over again. We can share the info from Penny and then explain our plans and put in for vacation from NCIS. We both have plenty of time. Then we can come back here and go on this quest.”