Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 24

"I'll be there as soon as I wrap up here!" Fornell called as the NCIS agents and frost giantess headed to the cars, and DiNozzo nodded grimly.

DiNozzo and Hailstohm got in one car, McGee, Bishop, and Loki in the other. Loki was too tired to complain about not driving. He sat in the back with Bishop, still holding her.

"What did you do?" McGee asked, glancing back at Loki. "What did you do to Gibbs?"

"I didn't mean to," Loki said, still feeling horrified at what he had done to the former Marine. "It was a reaction, I had to do something about the bullet."

"Force-pulling the bullet out of Gibbs was a reaction?" McGee demanded.

Oh. That.

"No, that wasn't," Loki told him. "But he was dying. I needed to stop that."

McGee nodded and the rest of the drive was completed in silence. They pulled into the hospital parking lot, right behind DiNozzo and Hailstohm, and the five of them hurried into the reception area.

"How's Gibbs?" DiNozzo demanded of the receptionist, ignoring her startled looks at the blood on his face and his torn shirt. Her eyes tracked from him to Bishop, who had blood on her hands from applying pressure to Gibbs' wound, to McGee, who had blood on his face from where he kept rubbing at his eyes, to Loki, who had one bloody hand and burns on his skin from Flare's electricity, to finally land on Hailstohm, who had some burns but that probably wasn't what held the receptionist's attention.

"What happened?" she demanded, looking overwhelmed.

"We're with Agent Gibbs," DiNozzo said. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS Special Agent! He was brought in not that long ago, for a gunshot wound to the ribs?"

The receptionist took a deep breath, nodding. "They have him in surgery right now. I'll call a doctor to attend to your own wounds."

As she turned away, Loki waved his hand at Hailstohm and the illusion he had created for her reappeared, to help her attract less attention. All it did was make those already staring at the frost giantess jump with surprise as she suddenly looked like a regular human female.

Loki unfurled his fingers, realizing he still held the bullet in a death grip, the ridges on the projectile pressed into his skin. Placing the bullet in his belt, he followed the others into a hospital room where a doctor checked their wounds. He treated Hailstohm's and Loki's burns, as well as the nasty burn on DiNozzo's neck that Loki had failed to notice before, and cared for the scrapes and cuts they had gotten from the battle, including the cut on DiNozzo's forehead, apparently caused by the Ghost's knife when the agent tried to prevent his escape with Sniper.

How could he think of the Ghost amid everything that had happened? Gibbs was dying!

Perhaps revenge. Loki accepted that as reason enough for DiNozzo's actions – if he hadn't been so dazed, he would have done the same. He had tried to, before Sniper stopped him.

After cleaning up, DiNozzo, McGee, Bishop, Loki, and Hailstohm were conducted to a quieter place to sit and wait for news on Gibbs' condition. DiNozzo, who had taken charge in their leader's absence, called Vance and updated him before calling the others, prompting Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy to join their group within twenty minutes of the phone call. In tense silence, the small group sat huddled, waiting for an update from the doctors.

"Are you for Agent Gibbs?"

The entire group snapped to attention at that, all calling out hurried affirmations. The doctor held out his hands for silence. "Agent Gibbs is fine. Sore, but fine. We were going to operate, but couldn't find the wound or a bullet. Plenty of blood, but there wasn't a wound. There's been trauma, obviously, around the supposed area, but we're not sure what happened. But he's going to be fine. He'll need some rest, but he'll be fine."