NCIS Navy Yard

Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America

"Where’s Abby?" Gibbs demanded, entering the bullpen from the elevator.

Tim McGee snapped to attention, looking up from her computer. "She’s not in her lab?"

"No, she’s not," Gibbs growled, doing a three-sixty to look at the other woman on the team. "Ziver?"

"She never came through here," Ziva David replied, shaking her head. "I haven’t gotten a call, either."

A chirp suddenly came from behind Gibbs, and he slowly turned to look at the final agent of the team, who was looking very interested as he looked at the most recent text on his phone. "DiNozzo?"

Tony DiNozzo looked up, waving his phone. "She had to go out for a while. She’ll be back as soon as possible."

Gibbs sighed, shaking his head. "One day, I am going to be seriously mad at her."

***

The Pentagon

Washington DC, United States of America

"You’re sure he’ll see me?" Abby asked Clint worriedly as they pulled up to the front of the Pentagon.

"Cap?" Clint asked incredulously, then chuckled. "Steve will accept anyone as long as you have a good reason to be here."

He waved to the front entrance. "Go on inside. I’ll park and find you."

"Thanks."

She opened the car door and got out, closing the door behind her. Clint waved, then drove off towards the parking lot.

Abby turned on her heel and looked up at the front of the Pentagon. From what she had heard from Clint on their way over here, Captain Steve Rogers had reapplied to the Pentagon in the Army division.

Smiling, she headed inside to check in.

***

The phone rang in his office, and with a sigh, he picked it up. "Captain Rogers."

"Sir, there’s a woman from NCIS here to see you."

Steve Rogers sat up a little bit straighter in his chair. "NCIS? Wouldn’t she be here for the Navy division?"

There was some quick conversation, then the receptionist spoke back into the phone. "No, she’s definitely here to see you."

Steve narrowed his eyes. NCIS was an agency similar to the FBI. Had Clint been caught? "Send her up."

"Yes sir."

He put the phone back in its cradle, going back to typing away on his computer.

He had only been typing for a few minutes when there was a quiet but insistent knocking on his office’s door.

Steve looked up to see a woman with black hair tied in pigtails standing there, looking a little nervous. Her black coat reached her knees, and she looked a little flustered. "Captain Rogers?" she asked.

She sounds nervous, too, he thought, standing up. "That’s me, ma’am. Who’re you?"

"Abby Sciuto," she replied, looking around. "Is it OK to talk in here?"

"That depends on what we’re talking about," Steve answered, coming around the desk to walk up to her. "Why’re you here on the Army division side?"

"Captain."

Steve stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar man come up behind Abby. "Clint?" he asked.

Clint nodded, stopping at Abby’s side. "It’s something you want to hear."

Steve looked from his fellow Avenger to the NCIS scientist, then nodded slowly, stepping back. "Lock the door behind you, then."

***

Abby sat down as Clint closed and locked the door behind her. Steve closed down whatever he had been working on his computer, then sat down and looked at her. "What is it you need to talk about?"

"Something’s happened to Three," Clint replied before Abby could even open her mouth.

Steve blinked, his face draining of color. "What?" he asked sharply.

"Wait, Three?" Abby asked, looking from the Captain to Clint in confusion.

Steve gave her a small smile. "In the Avengers, each of us has a number designation. We use them often in combat, just so we don’t have to say our actual names." He looked at Clint. "Natasha is Three."

Abby swallowed, nodding. "Oh."

"What exactly happened?"

Abby took a flash drive from her bag, then looked at Steve. "Is it OK if I use your computer?"

Steve nodded, standing up. "It’s fine, ma’am."

Abby plugged her drive in, then started watching the files come up. "There was a case that NCIS was working on. The murderer of two Navy SEALs was a familiar figure that Nat recognized. She never told me who he was, but she was scared to death by him. I had never seen that look on her face before."

She pulled up the picture. "And then Clint recognized who this guy was."

Steve took one look at the picture, then his gaze hardened as he looked up at Clint. "You’re joking."

"She’s not," Clint replied bluntly. "Did you get the message from Four or not?"

Steve nodded. "I got the message. I didn’t know it was Loki."

"The radiation wasn’t coming from him," Abby piped up, pulling up the results of the blood sample. "It was coming from Natasha."

Steve shook his head, then began to pace. "So, Loki murdered two Navy SEALs for no apparent reason. Then NCIS gets involved, which has Natasha on their team, one of the highest of the Avengers. He’s able to poison her, and then what happened?"

"She went to confront him," Abby replied, closing everything out. "And when the rest of the team came, he amplified the radiation. She’s lying comatose in a hospital as we speak."

Steve stopped with sudden recognition, pointing out of the window. "That warehouse right there, right?"

Abby took a look, then nodded. "They said it was right outside the Pentagon."

"I saw them come." The torment on Steve’s face was obvious. "I saw them pull in, and I didn’t even go to help."

"You couldn’t have known better," Clint told him, coming to the Captain’s side. "Natasha has a mind of her own. She never told me she was even part of NCIS, let alone working on a case that had Loki involved."

"I still wish I could’ve been able to do something." Steve sighed, looking reluctantly away from the window. "All right, so now we have to worry about Loki. What’s the first thing we do?"

"Figure out where the other three currently are," Clint advised, nodding to Abby. "Do you know where they are?"

"Um." Abby rummaged through her bag again, then pulled out the note Natasha had left her. "This was what was in the back of the photo she had."

Clint and Steve took a look, then both of them simultaneously started snickering. "What?" Abby demanded.

Clint shook his head, smiling. "OK, I’ll get Four over here if you guys figure out a way to jump Five."

"Deal," Steve laughed, standing up.

"OK, I’m confused," Abby commented, looking at both of them. "Who’s Four, and who is Five?"

Clint grinned. "Four is the very nice Dr. Bruce Banner when he is not Hulking out on any of us."

"And Five," Steve added, starting to laugh again, "is the very interesting Tony Stark when he is not being overly sarcastic on anything."

***

Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Steve Rogers. :) So all of the Avengers are beginning to get together, and NCIS is scrambling to find Abby. Who's gonna succeed first??