Team Gibbs, meet the Winchesters
An NCIS/Supernatural crossover story
Greetings and hallucinations, ladies and gentle-geeks, and welcome.
First, a surprise for myself: I never told a friend of mine that I had a blog. I mention this because it’s a reminder that not everyone is online 24/7/365. A lesson to us all: never assume. Now, on to my latest review. (Please keep in mind, there will be spoilers; you have been warned!)
Loretta Ross, the creator of the Auction Block Mysteries (beginning with Death and the Red-Headed Woman), had her own humble origins as a fanfiction.net contributor, under the profile name elfinblue. In 2013, she accomplished what few have before: merging two television series in one story without needing to change either; in this case, Supernatural and NCIS. The story is “When Worlds Collide”, and oh boy, do they ever!
The story begins when Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) wakes up tied to an old bed after being kidnapped by adult BEKs (or Black Eyed Kids, an urban legend). He wonders how he’ll escape when he’s rescued by two unlikely people, who were thought to be dead: the Winchester brothers, Dean (Jansen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki). The brothers make sure he’s free and safe before continuing the ghost hunt that led them to his prison. When Tony is returned to his team at NCIS, they begin researching ways to capture them. Special Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is interested, especially since his friend Agent Fornell (Joe Spano) challenged them to do better than the FBI. Meanwhile, because they know demons have targeted Gibbs’ team, Sam and Dean are determined to learn why as well as protect them.
Things get more dangerous when a pair of possessed Winchester lookalikes try to murder Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), the team’s forensic scientist. After the real Sam and Dean rescue her, they discover that demons are trying to use Gibbs to kill them. (They learn from their research that anyone who goes after or kills Gibbs’ people winds up dead.)
The Winchesters aren’t alone in their desire to protect Gibbs and his people while staying alive themselves. Dean is visited by ghosts of past agents, including Mike Franks (Muse Watson), Gibbs’ mentor back when NCIS was known as NIS. When they need to get into the NCIS computer system, they turn to their hacker friend Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day), who misdirects Gibbs and his team to Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano), formerly CIA and Ziva David’s (Cote de Pablo) ex. Two girls who pose as Sam and Dean are actually two wannabe hunters themselves, referred to by Garth Fitzgerald (DJ Qualls), the hunter who stepped into Bobby Singer’s shoes as creature researcher. Even Benny Lafitte (Ty Olssen), a vampire and Dean’s comrade from Purgatory, gets involved (and flirts outrageously with Goth Abby).
As Gibbs and his team dig deeper into the Winchesters, their associates, and their past, they discover a world of terror they weren’t aware of before. They decide that everything leading up to the destruction of Roman Industries and SucroCorp is the result of various domestic terrorist cells, which the brothers and others like them have been hunting for years. Because after all, what sane person believes such atrocities are carried out by ghosts, demons, vampires, and other supernatural things?
And of course, when demons are involved, including two damned souls from Gibbs’ past, you know the King of Hell himself (Mark Sheppard) will get involved somewhere.
Most fan-generated stories like this usually change some aspect of one universe or the other so they are more compatible. Loretta, however, managed to keep all aspects of the characters and their respective universes consistent, and even injected some meta-level humor. (When NCIS’ investigation leads them to Justin Farris, a former suspect in a previous case, he points them to his cousin Jimmy Novak, who’s now calling himself “Castiel” and claiming to be an angel of the Lord — all three roles played to perfection by Mischa Collins.) She did a beautiful job merging them together, having Sam and McGee (Sean Murray) commiserate over being the “younger sibling” in their mutual dynamics, Dean bonding with Tony over movies and cars, even Castiel giving Abby insight into her own family. And then there’s the interrogation scene between Dean and Trent Kort (David Dayan Fisher), cyclops of the CIA… Well, you really have to read it to appreciate it.
If you’ve kept up with one series or the other, and enjoyed them, you should read this story, give her some love, and share with others. After that, take a look at “Death Cab for Cutie”, a follow-up story featuring the NCIS: New Orleans team, when a vengeful ghost is gunning for Agent Christopher Lasalle (Lucas Black) for all the wrong reasons. I’m sure you’ll enjoy every moment of both stories.
As for me, I really should get her Auction Block series… But that will be for another time, I think.
Thank you for reading my ramblings, my dears, and I hope to hear from you. If you’d like to recommend a book for me to read and review, or even need me as an editor for your own work, please contact me on my Facebook page, for Just Write! Ink.
In the meantime, keep reading, keep writing, and never give up making your own magic. Be well, my dears.