Work Text:
In a forest in the middle of nowhere laid a dead petty officer. The team had been called out and Tony couldn’t believe it. There was even a castle about fifteen feet away. He thought he’d heard Ducky say it reminded him of Scotland, but they weren’t anywhere near Scotland.
Ziva and McGee were busy sketching and taking photos. Tony was bagging and tagging while looking for witnesses. Gibbs was talking with Ducky about the cause of death of their petty officer. They were all shocked when a woman in a ball gown stumbled into the crime scene.
“Tony!”
Tony blinked, “Peach?”
“You have to help me, Tony?”
“Of course, but what’s going on? Why are you here?”
“Don’t you remember my castle is nearby?”
Tony shrugged, “I hadn’t realized that was your castle.”
“You should visit more often.”
Tony scratched the back of his head, “Heh. You know how it is. Work.”
“DiNozzo. Who’s this?” Gibbs interrupted.
Tony looked between the princess and the rest of the MCRT. With a broad sweep of his hand, he introduced her, “This is Princess Peach.”
“Like the Mario character?” McGee furrowed his brow.
“Ah ha. That’s an inside joke.” Tony sheepishly rubbed his forehead.
The princess drew herself up to her full height in her pink dress. “My name is Princess Persimmon.”
“I understand now why you call her Princess Peach, but how do you know her?” McGee questioned.
“My first boyfriend was one of Tony’s confreres,” Peach piped up.
McGee and Ziva’s eyes boggled at this information. Tony shook his head at them as he turned back to the princess. “What’s happening?”
“The police arrested Roger for your dead petty officer’s murder.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything.”
“Ok. Don’t worry about it, we’ll get it all sorted out.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
They quickly wrapped up the crime scene and returned to headquarters. As soon as they were back in the bullpen, McGee and Ziva converged on Tony and started peppering him with questions about the princess faster than he could even answer them. “Slow down, guys. It’s not a big deal.”
“You know a princess, Tony!” McGee exclaimed, like Tony was insane for thinking it wasn’t a big deal.
“She’s just a normal person like you and I, Tim.”
“Come on, Tony. Give us the ground.”
“Dirt, Ziva. It’s give us the dirt.”
”Dirt, Ground, whatever. Just tell us.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Back to work,” Gibbs barked, interrupting the exchange.
Tony tossed him a nod of acknowledgement as he returned to what he was doing. He had to figure out what Roger had to do with their petty officer. The police had to have arrested him for a reason.
Tony didn’t for a minute think that Roger had killed the petty officer. In fact, the police shouldn’t have arrested anyone since it was an NCIS investigation. There was something suspicious going on and Tony was going to get to the bottom of it.
The first clue came when he realized that the police hadn’t bothered to tell them that the petty officer’s death tied into a bunch of other cases that they thought had been committed by a serial killer. All of the cases had the same lead detective and Tony had McGee start digging into his online life, finances, social media, etc. while Tony continued digging into why Roger had been arrested.
“Who’s this Roger anyway? Is he the princess’ husband?” McGee asked.
”No, he’s one of my frat brothers.”
“The princess is friends with all of you?”
“Pretty much.”
”So do you think he did it?”
Tony shook his head. “No, I’m pretty sure he’s being set up. I just don’t know why or how.”
McGee nodded and the bullpen grew quiet as everyone focused on their searches. Tony grew more and more frustrated as he stared at the information in front of him. There was something that he was missing. He could feel it. He just had no idea what it was.
It was times like this that he wished for his piano. There was something comforting about trailing his fingers across the keys. Wait… Keys… Tony rummaged through the files he’d found until he found the section on the keys.
“I think I’ve got it,” McGee announced, dragging Tony from his perusal of the evidence.
“What did you find, McGee?”
“It looks like the petty officer was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t have a true serial killer on our hands. Merely, someone very interested in keeping what they’re up to a secret and very bad at disposing of bodies.”
”What do you mean?”
“Every victim’s last transaction was at the same location.”
Tony jotted down a quick note about the keys before nodding. Before he could stand up, Gibbs barked, “McGee with me. Let’s go check out this location.”
“On it, boss.”
“You two keep going on what you’re doing,” Gibbs ordered.
Tony frowned. He’d planned to go with McGee, but Gibbs was the boss. He went back to his notes. He was pretty sure that the keys were important.
Roger didn’t have access to the keys, so there was no way he could have done any of the things they were accusing him of. In fact, the detective was the only one who could have done all of these murders.
Tony was pretty sure that McGee was right about the petty officer being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tony hadn’t figured out what the detective was up to, but it was only a matter of time now. Tony could prove that all of the evidence against Roger had actually been planted by the detective.
He felt pretty good until he realized just how long Gibbs and McGee had been gone without checking in. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Tony dialed Gibbs’ phone. When it switched to voicemail after ringing a number of times, Tony knew something had gone wrong.
“Ziva. Try Tim and let’s go.” Tony grabbed his gear and rushed down the stairs to the NCIS motor pool.
Ziva blinked and scrambled to grab her stuff as she followed Tony down the stairs. She finally got her phone out and called Tim’s number as she climbed into the car Tony had checked out. Tony glanced at her as he put the car in reverse.
She shook her head. “No answer.”
Tony frowned. That wasn’t good at all. He tossed Ziva his phone. “Call Peach. Tell her we’re going to need some backup. She’ll know what to do. Give her the address of the location that McGee and Gibbs went to.”
“We aren’t calling for NCIS backup?”
“No. That’s not the kind of backup we need.”
Ziva’s brow furrowed and she looked at Tony in confusion. Tony just waved at her with one of his hands, “Just make the call.”
Ziva did, but she continued to shoot Tony confused looks afterwards. Princess Peach had immediately agreed to send help, so Tony wasn’t worried and ignored the looks Ziva was sending him. The tires screeched as Tony swerved into a parking space at the designated location.
He gestured for Ziva to get out of the car, but wait to the side of the entrance with him. She blinked when two men showed up shortly after them. Both men wore coveralls. One had a green shirt and the other a red shirt. To make things even odder, they both carried pipes.
“Thanks for coming, Mario and Luigi. You know what to do.”
Ziva whispered, “Who are they?”
“Our backup.”
“What are they going to do?”
“You’ll see.”
They waited another five minutes or so before Tony gestured for Ziva to follow him inside. Inside Tony surveyed the place, amused at Ziva's shocked look.
"Why does it look like a bomb went off?" she murmured.
"That's just what happens around Mario and Luigi. We'll have to be quiet in our search. They can't keep everyone occupied forever."
Ziva nodded and they hurried to find any clues about Gibbs and McGee's disappearance. Tony was the one who discovered the secret passageway. They followed the hallway in a general downward direction, stopping at the bottom as they spotted a row of jail cells.
Surprisingly there didn’t seem to be any guards, but Tony wasn’t going to count his blessings just yet. They moved further down the hallway, checking each cell to see if it contained their missing agents. They found a bunch of other people in them, but no luck on finding Gibbs or McGee.
Tony frowned. He didn’t like the looks of this. He was sure that Gibbs and McGee would be down here. The fact that there was clearly something shady going on, but Gibbs and McGee weren’t here bothered Tony significantly.
”I don’t think there’s anything more we can find. We better get out while we still can.” Tony turned around and lead the way out with Ziva following behind him.
He peeked out of the secret passageway to see if the coast was clear and when it was, he quickly moved out of the store. He didn’t stop until he was completely outside and leant against the outside wall of the building.
Ziva paused next to him and asked, “What are we waiting for?”
“Mario and Luigi.”
“Why?”
“They should have more information on what exactly is going on here and hopefully they found Gibbs and McGee.”
“Why would they have found Gibbs and McGee or have information for us?”
“They’re our backup, remember?”
“But who are they?”
“Oh… Just a couple of plumbers.” Tony’s voice held a hint of amusement to it as if there was far more to the story than that.
Ziva glared, but said nothing. They waited for another ten minutes before Mario and Luigi stepped back out of the store, looking a little worse for wear.
“What happened to you?” Ziva gasped.
The two plumbers looked down before Mario shrugged, “Just a normal job.”
Tony shook his head in amusement, “What did you find out?”
“Gibbs and McGee are in special confinement and here’s the signed statement about their business model.”
Ziva boggled at that statement. “How did you find this out?”
“It’s just what we do.” Mario and Luigi waved as they left.
“Now, you see why they were our backup and not other NCIS agents.”
”What are we going to do now?”
“Put in for a warrant for their arrest and then come back and arrest them and rescue everyone.” Tony tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the car.
Ziva shook her head and followed him. Once they arrived at headquarters, they did exactly what Tony said they would and headed back out with Balboa’s team backing them up. Of course, the two suspects they were after must have been tipped off. The store was completely cleared out when they arrived.
Why was nothing about this case easy? Tony sighed as he stared at the empty building in frustration. Where could they have gone and what did they do with Gibbs and McGee?
”Search the building,” Tony ordered.
They split up and cleared the entire building, including the multiple secret passageways, but no luck. Ziva kicked a wall and snarled. “They were just here.”
“I know. We’ll get them, Ziva.”
“Where did they go?” she growled.
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Can’t Abby trace their phones?”
“Maybe. We’ll have to see when we get back to headquarters.”
“You’re going back already, Tony?” Princess Peach interrupted.
“Have to. There’s nothing here.”
“That’s because you only looked with your eyes.”
“Hey, we checked all the secret passageways.”
“But did you check the secondary buildings?”
“Uh no. What are you talking about?”
“Come with me.” Peach tossed a wink at Tony over her shoulder as she booty bounced out of the room.
Ziva raised an eyebrow as she looked between Peach and Tony meaningfully.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite sure. She’s married.”
”Hey Peach, I thought this building was owned by someone else,” Tony called out as they approached another building in the same parking lot.
“It is, but it’s a holding corporation for the people that own the first building.”
Tony frowned. He couldn’t believe they’d missed that in their research. Guess that’s what happened when McGee went missing during the early stages of their investigation.
Tony was happy to see that the detective and his partner hadn’t had enough time to evacuate people even further away and everyone was actually in this secondary building. Peach stayed outside while the rest of them went in with their guns ready to arrest everyone and free the hostages and victims.
McGee and Gibbs, however, weren’t with the rest of them. So while they captured their suspects, they still hadn’t found their people. “Search this entire area,” Tony ordered. “We need to find Gibbs and McGee.”
Balboa nodded and indicated that he would hold the fort here with his team. Tony headed outside and looked at Peach. “Any other bright ideas about where they might have stashed our people who were in special confinement?”
“Did you check their headquarters?”
“Not yet. Where is it?”
“We’ll need a car for this one.”
“Ok, let’s go. Come on, Ziva. Let’s rescue our people.”
“When this is all done, you better explain how the princess and her friends are so good at finding out information.”
“That’s not my secret to tell, Ziva.”
Ziva glared, but both Peach and Tony ignored her. Tony slid into the driver’s seat and Ziva was stuck in the back as Peach took the front seat to play navigator. Tony pressed down the gas pedal and they hurried across town to the headquarters that Peach knew of.
The tires squealed as they turned the corner into the headquarters building parking lot. “Do we need backup?”
“No. Headquarters just has a bunch of businessmen. If we can’t take them down, I’ll be very disappointed in you.”
“Just like old times, huh?”
“Yep. Only with less Goombas.”
“Don’t forget the turtles.”
“How could I? You were dangerous with those.”
Ziva glanced back and forth between Tony and Peach as her confusion was painted obviously across her face. Tony laughed and patted Ziva on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain it to you sometime. For now, we have a big corporation to take down.”
“Are we going to use force?”
“Nope. It won’t be needed here. Watch and learn.”
Tony gestured for Peach to go ahead of him. Peach nodded and pulled herself up to her full height. Her entire posture changed as she entered the building. Royalty practically dripped off of her.
Ziva followed behind still very confused about what was happening here. She’d never seen Tony act like this before nor anything like this in her NCIS career. As she watched, Peach walked up to the front desk and announced, “Princess Persimmon here to see Vice President Yakazaki.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I don’t need one. Just tell him I’m here to see him.”
“He’s not seeing anyone without an appointment.”
“Trust me if you don’t tell him I’m here, he’s going to make you regret it.”
The receptionist gave her a look and Peach just drew herself up taller with one of those I am so superior looks that mean girls practiced in the mirror. With a sigh, the receptionist dialed the vice president’s office. “Sir, there’s a Princess Persimmon here to see you.”
“Send her up.”
The receptionist glared. “You can go on up.”
Princess Peach smiled. “Thank you. You’ve been such a doll.”
She then led the way to the vice president’s office. “Do you have pictures of them?”
“Of course.” Tony pulled a team picture out of his wallet.
“Good. I’ll take that.” The princess took the picture out of Tony’s hand.
Tony nodded as they followed her upstairs. “Let her do all the talking once we get there, Ziva. In this instance, we’re her bodyguards.”
”Got it. Strong and silent type coming up.”
They marched into the vice president’s office with Tony and Ziva flanking Princess Peach.
“This is a hostile takeover,” Peach announced.
“What? You can’t do that,” the vice president protested.
“Then tell me what I want to know before I’m forced to do exactly that. You know who my father is. You know I have the power to complete a hostile takeover of this company.”
The vice president frowned. “What do you want?”
“I need to know where these two men are,” Peach demanded pointing to McGee and Gibbs in the picture.
The vice president paled and immediately started stammering, “I don’t know where they are.”
“You’re lying.”
“Please. I really don’t know where they are.”
“Just tell us the truth. We already have the president under arrest. If you help us, you can take over the company yourself.”
“He’ll kill me.”
“Are you really more afraid of him than me?”
“Uh…” the vice president’s eyes widened in fear. “You’re both scary.”
“Only one of us will be able to make your life a living hell and I hope you’re smart enough to know which one.”
“Ok. Ok. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
”Good. So where are they?”
“Detention level 4. I’ll have someone take you there.”
Princess Peach crossed her arms and waited, tapping her foot impatiently. The vice president picked up the phone and called someone up. When the person showed up, the vice president ordered, “Take them to Detention Level 4.”
“You got it, Sir. This way please.”
“Are they really just going to show us to McGee and Gibbs?” Ziva whispered to Tony as they followed.
“Probably not, but we’ll see,” Tony murmured back under his breath.
Tony was surprised to find that Gibbs and McGee were actually in a cell in Detention Level 4. “Damn, you’re good,” Tony congratulated Peach.
“It’s all about how you wield the power.”
The cell was opened and Peach was shoved in, but Tony and Ziva both reacted and took down the guards before they could be shoved in. “What were you waiting for, Gibbs? I know you could have broken out of here anytime you wanted to.”
“Proof.”
“Oh we have plenty of that. Now, come on.”
Gibbs nodded and the entire soiree walked out of the building. They returned to NCIS headquarters and Tony nodded towards interrogation. “Balboa should have the culprits in there.”
“Get me up to speed, DiNozzo.”
Tony went through everything that had happened while the two were captured and Gibbs nodded before heading into interrogation. McGee meanwhile was staring at Tony like he had two heads. “You, Princess Peach, Mario, and Luigi accomplished all of that?”
Tony shrugged. “It’s what they do best.”
“Sometimes I really don’t understand you, Tony.”
“That just means you have more to learn, Padawan,” Tony patted McGee’s cheek softly and just like that everything was back to normal.