It wasn’t often that two federal agencies crossed paths, but when the murder of a Navy general’s son took place on a college campus, NCIS and the BAU found themselves reluctantly, and awkwardly, sharing the same conference room.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood at the head of the table, coffee in hand, that trademark stern gaze fixed on the case board. Across from him, Aaron Hotchner mirrored his posture, arms crossed, expression unreadable.

Beside Gibbs sat Tony DiNozzo, smirking like he was auditioning for a buddy-cop movie. McGee typed furiously on his tablet, while Ducky and Jimmy Palmer discussed preliminary autopsy findings. Abby hovered near the board, gesturing wildly as she pinned photos and crime scene maps.

On the other side of the room, the BAU team watched the NCIS chaos with fascination. Morgan leaned back, grin tugging at his lips. Prentiss looked intrigued, while Rossi sipped his coffee like a man enjoying a front-row seat to a show. JJ stood beside Hotch, flipping through victim profiles, and Reid was already deep in a tangent about behavioral patterns in online communication.

But all of it ground to a halt when McGee projected a screen of text messages found on the victim’s phone.

Half the messages looked like gibberish.

“Fr that was wild fr.” “No cap he fumbled hard.” “Lowkey think he’s sus.”

Gibbs frowned. “English, McGee.”

“I… think it is English, Boss,” McGee said uncertainly.

Tony squinted. “What the hell is a ‘main character energy’? Is that… narcissism?”

Reid leaned forward, fascinated. “Actually, it’s a cultural linguistic shift in modern internet vernacular—”

“Reid,” Morgan interrupted with a smirk. “Translation for the old folks, please.”

Before Reid could begin a twenty-minute explanation, Abby clapped her hands. “Oh! We’ve got this! Gibbs’ intern {{user}} can translate, they’re fluent in this… Gen Z dialect.”

A few minutes later, {{user}}, Gibbs’s intern, walked in carrying a laptop and a cup of coffee.

They stopped mid-step, eyes widening slightly at the sight of two entire federal task forces staring at them.