A/N: Oneshot written for the NFA Is That Good or Bad? Challenge. We had to start with Tony hearing crying coming from Tim's apartment and go wherever we wanted from there. This is where I went for good or ill.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I don't make money off NCIS fanfiction...and it's really a shame.

Real Monsters Don't Wear Masks
by Enthusiastic Fish

"I'll...see you there, Tony."

"I thought your car was in the shop."

"It...it is. Don't worry."

Tim sounded strange...even for him.

"I'm not worried. Let me pick you up. It's on my way."

"No, it's not."

"It wouldn't be if I were at home...but I wasn't. It's no trouble, McGee."

"No. No, Tony. Don't. I'll get there on my own." Tim hung up.

Tony leaned back in his car for a moment. That had been about the oddest conversation he'd ever had with Tim before, and there had been some doozies. He hesitated for half a second before deciding to swing by on his way. It really was a straight shot from Tim's apartment to the crime scene. It would be silly to waste such a prime route by letting Tim be all noble. With a decided nod, Tony started his car. Tim would thank him later...

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony waltzed merrily up the stairs and down the hall. As he neared Tim's apartment, however, his pace slowed momentarily. Tim's door wasn't quite closed and...was that someone crying inside? Was that Tim? Tony pulled out his gun and edged toward the open door.

"I thought you understood! I thought you got it! I was only trying to protect you!" The tears were falling hard and fast from the eyes of whomever was talking. Tony could tell, and it was weirding him out because it was a guy talking.

"Landon...I do understand," Tim's voice came loud and clear...and full of fear as well. "You thought I was in danger, but I wasn't. It's just a story, that's all. It's not real!"

Oh, no! Not crazy Landon! Tony thought. How did he get out?

"You let them take me away! I was the only one who cared enough to watch your back. I was the one who took them out when I found out what they were going to do to you."

"They weren't going to do anything, Landon! They weren't. Those were two innocent men you killed." Tony heard a long sigh. "And it's my fault for making you think otherwise."

No, no, McGee. Don't start agreeing with the crazy man! Tony thought. He edged a little closer and saw the glint of a gun. Oh, great. Of course, the crazy man would have a gun. No wonder McGee sounds scared. Who was Tony kidding? He was scared out of his wits. Crazy people were hard to talk to. It was hard to reason with a crazy person like Landon, although Tim was certainly making a good effort.

It was rather like the last time they had seen Landon...when he was trying to kill Abby because Amy Sutton had said that Agent McGregor had to "go." They had teased him about it after they had all gotten over the worry about Abby being killed, but Tim had never really taken the teasing well. In fact, his expression always became a little closed-off. It was understandable, and even Tony had stopped teasing him for it. Now, however, he was being confronted by Landon again...and he had told Tony to leave him to make do on his own...and he hadn't made the slightest effort to tell him something was wrong.

"No, no, McGregor, you know that's not true. I saw the evidence of it! I saw it all!"

"It was a story, Landon! I wrote it. I'm not McGregor. I'm not even Thom E. Gemcity. I'm just plain old Timothy McGee. I'm a computer nerd and an NCIS agent...and I pretend that I can write novels." Tim sounded less and less sure of himself. Tony heard a long sigh. "Not even my friends think I'm any good at writing. I stopped writing this one. I don't know what to do with it. In fact, I want to throw it away, burn it and pretend I never had delusions of being an author...because people only get hurt by it."

Wow, McGee, just give him all the ammunition he needs, Tony said mentally, trying to figure out how to distract Landon without having him shoot Tim in the process.

"It's not just a story! I know it's not. It's so much more!"

"No, Landon," Tim said. "It's so much less."

Tony heard something else in his voice that he hadn't heard since Tim had shot Benedict. It was that questioning tone that said, I'm not worthy of such attention. He didn't like it, not in Tim's voice, not in anyone's really, but especially not in Tim's. If anyone was going to make Tim feel bad, it would be Tony doing it in the big-brotherly way he always did. It was not going to be some crackpot making Tim question his right to...well, write. Sure, they teased him about his writing, teased him about using them as models, but after the initial outrage, Tony had to admit that Tommy and Lisa and Amy had only superficial resemblances to their real-life counterparts. ...and he'd never admit it, but he wanted to know what happened next. He had never realized just how badly Tim had felt about what had happened.

"Don't say that, McGregor! You know that it's not like that! You know that those two guys were going to kill you, that Amy was..."

"No, Landon. Don't you see? It has nothing to do with them. It didn't even have anything to do with me, really. It had everything to do with you." For some reason, Tim's voice became laced with scorn. "You decided that your own life wasn't exciting enough so you had to pretend to be the hero of someone else's story."

"Stop it."

If anything, Tim's voice became even more scornful. "You killed two men who were living their lives and you did it because you're so pitiful that your life wasn't worth living. After all, you only work at a coffee shop. That's got to be boring. You can't get very far working in a place like that."

Stop it, McGee. Don't anger the psycho. Suddenly, Tony knew that Tim was doing it on purpose, although why he was doing it was beyond Tony's ability to comprehend, unless he wanted Landon to shoot him.

"Well, you're not going to live in my characters anymore. I won't let you because you can't live in that world if it doesn't exist." Tony heard footsteps.

"What are you doing?" Landon asked.

Yeah, McGee, what do you think you're doing? Tony edged closer to the door and saw Landon's profile and Tim at his typewriter with a pile of paper beside it: his latest novel.

Landon turned toward the door briefly and Tony pulled back, not willing to give up his edge for the moment. He just hoped he could figure out how to exploit it before Tim got himself killed.

"You can't have this world. It's a world I made up and if I decide to destroy it...it's gone!"

Tony heard an impossible sound: the sound of a piece of paper being torn to shreds. He couldn't believe Tim was doing that. He typed it on a typewriter, not a computer. He didn't have a saved copy.

"This is where I introduced those two men you killed as characters," Tim said, his voice harsh with emotion. "You can't have that." More sounds of tearing paper. Multiple pages were destroyed that time.

"Stop it! You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can! It's mine! Not yours! Mine! If I want it gone, it's gone! ...and I wish I'd never thought of it. I'd sooner be dead myself than let someone like you destroy another life! I won't help you pretend anymore, Landon! My name is Timothy McGee...and there goes the plot between my two characters. They didn't plan to kill McGregor anymore...because those pages are gone!"

"Don't do that," Landon said, his voice different, more intent. There was a shifting sound. "I said stop."

"No!" Tim's voice was now less controlled. "There goes all of chapter five! Gone! Like it never existed! Gone!" He sounded like he was ready to cry.

This was it, Tony realized. He couldn't wait anymore. He had to take action.

"Stop, federal agent!" Tony said moving into the doorway, gun aimed at Landon. There was Tim, blood running down one side of his face, tears running down the other. There was Landon, the gun held, not just as a threat, but with definite murderous intent.

"Put down the gun, Landon," Tony said.

"No, Landon," Tim said. "Why don't you just kill me and destroy the whole universe that you live in?" His eyes were wild. It was hard to tell which one was crazier...until you looked in his eyes. Where Landon's eyes were definitely crazy, Tim's eyes were full of terror...and pain. He knew what he was doing was risky, but he preferred it to the possibility of anyone else getting hurt. In that split-second look, Tony saw that Tim blamed himself not only for the deaths of those two men, for the near murder of Abby, but also for Landon's own departure from reality and was willing to die to stop it from going any further.

But not if I have anything to say about it. "Put down the gun, Landon. This isn't the way to solve anything, right? You know that...some part of you has got to know that."

Landon's eyes shifted to Tim as he tore up another page, giving Tony a chance to get closer. He swung back to Tony, but as Tim continued to rip page after page to bits, he couldn't keep his eyes on Tony.

"Landon, I don't want to kill you, but you are out-numbered" sort of "and you don't have many options right now."

"No, let him do it, Tony. Just let him. Let him see how much he can do without me around to make his world real!" Tim was angry, grieving, afraid and...probably on the verge of collapse based on the blood still oozing down the side of his face.

"Landon, put down the gun. Now!" Tony said, pulling the gun higher, taking aim. "If you don't, I will have to shoot you...and it doesn't happen like it does in the movies. Officers are trained to shoot to kill, not to wound. When we're under fire, we aren't trying to take prisoners. We're trying to save our own lives. Are you ready to die, Landon?"

The standoff held for about five seconds longer than Tony wanted it to and then Landon began to put down the gun.

"Good, Landon. Good choice," Tony said. "Toss it on the floor." He took another step...one step too close. He actually saw it coming but couldn't seem to react quickly enough. His finger seemed frozen on the trigger as Landon suddenly pulled the gun back up, his eyes crazed and murderous.

The gunshot seemed too loud for the room and Tony was waiting for the pain that came with gunshots...

He figured he must be dead...

Thus, it was a surprise when Landon's crazy eyes suddenly dimmed and he folded and collapsed to the floor.

Tony looked from the, now-dead, man on the ground to Tim who was holding his gun out. If it had been a movie, there would have been a theatrical curl of smoke coming up from the barrel. Tony wanted to say that, but something in Tim's eyes stopped him. Tim sank onto his writing chair, staring at the man he'd killed and shaking his head.

"You okay, McGee?" Tony asked, his own heart pumping blood at lightning speeds as if to prove it still worked.

Tim nodded.

"No question of him having a gun, this time," Tony said. Tim winced at the reminder. "I meant it as thanks, McGee. He would have killed me."

"I know."

Tony pulled out his phone to call it in when it started ringing. "Hey, Boss, before you start–"

"Where are you, DiNozzo? We have a crime scene to process and McGee isn't here yet either!"

"I'm at a crime scene, Boss. McGee just shot crazy Landon in his apartment."

"What?"

"Landon, the guy who–"

"I know who Landon is!"

"Well, he got out..."

"Two weeks ago," Tim said softly.

"What? You knew?"

Tim nodded. "They called me when he was released, just to let me know. They said he was better."

Tony looked askance at Tim but continued talking to Gibbs. "...so Landon got out and was here trying to kill McGee. I thought I had talked him down, but he was about to kill me and McGee shot him."

Gibbs was quiet for a moment. "Anyone hurt?"

"Looks like McGee got belted."

"He hit me with the gun when I opened the door," Tim said, still staring at Landon.

"...but he's...in one piece."

"Meaning that you think he's going to lose it and you don't want to leave him there by himself."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, Boss."

"All right. Ziva and I will call Lovitz' team to come and finish up here. We'll be at McGee's as soon as possible. You might as well cordon off the scene."

"On it, Boss."

"Keep an eye on McGee."

"Yeah, Boss." Tony hung up. "I have to make sure this looks all official so your neighbors don't think anything untoward is going on."

"Yeah," Tim said.

"I'll also get Ducky over here."

"Yeah."

"And maybe then I'll start table dancing on your writing desk."

"Yeah."

Tony suppressed a smile. "Yo! McGee!"

Tim tore his eyes from Landon's body and looked at Tony. "It was just a story," he said. "How did it end up like this?" He looked back at the body. "When I started...all I wanted to do was write an interesting story. Then, people liked it...not you guys obviously. I know you don't think much of it, but other people did." He smiled wistfully. "I liked it. I liked having people enjoy what I did. I liked being a little famous and having the money that came along with that. ...but it was always just a story, a novel. Not real. Even though I used people I saw as models, it was always fake, fiction. How could someone get so mixed up that he thought what I wrote was reality?"

Tony sighed, put his gun away and sat down on Tim's computer chair.

"Hey, McGee, this isn't your fault. Yeah, Landon used your story, but look, he was nuts!"

"Maybe he wasn't before he read Deep Six."

"Maybe, maybe not, but I doubt, no matter its questionable content, that Deep Six was enough to push him over the edge. Landon was certifiable. You didn't control his actions, not even he controlled his actions completely."

"Maybe I should have put on the cuffs."

"What?"

"Three people now have died because of my book. I actually killed one of them myself."

"Well, seeing as he was about to kill me, I'm hard-pressed to think you did the wrong thing."

Tim shook his head. "No, I know that's what had to happen, but how did it get to the point where that was the only option, Tony?" Tim looked at him with a pained expression. "How is it that I was able to write something that led to...to this?"

"You were right, you know, McGee. When you were talking to Landon and you said that it didn't have anything to do with you. It wasn't you. It really was Landon."

"How much did you hear?" Tim asked.

"Most of it, probably. I told you it was on my way," Tony said with a smile. "Did you want him to kill you?"

"No. I was trying to distract him while I got to my gun. I didn't think I could talk him down this time. It was different. Before, it was...bad, but...it was almost funny. I got him to stop because I said that Abby and...that Amy and McGregor were going to get married. This time...it wasn't the same. I could see that, and...all I could think about was that if he did kill me, he might just decide to kill all the other characters."

"Why didn't you tell us that he was out?"

Tim shrugged. "Didn't seem important...and I didn't want to bring it all up again. I didn't want the jokes to start up again. They said he had shown remarkable improvement. They were trying him at a kind of halfway house. I guess he wasn't as remarkably improved as they thought."

"Guess not."

"I didn't want Landon dead."

"I didn't either, McGee."

"I had a moment where I didn't even remember or recognize him. His face...it was like the worst Halloween mask you ever saw."

"The worst guys look like normal people, you know."

"I know...except in their eyes. That's where the...I don't know what to call it."

Tony sat back, remembering his own moments of confronting perps. "That's where the monsters are."

Tim nodded and then touched his head and winced.

"Hey, I'm supposed to setting up a crime scene. You have something to put on that?"

Tim started to stand. "Yeah...just..."

"No, you stay sitting, McGee."

"Towel in the kitchen," Tim said, not protesting the order.

Tony tossed him the towel and then ran out to his car to get his kit. Tim was content to sit on his chair while he set things up. By the time Gibbs, Ziva and Ducky arrived, Tony was bagging and tagging, having sketched the scene. Tim was still sitting on the chair.

Ducky moved right over to him. "My goodness, Timothy. It's not too serious, but you do have bad luck, don't you. First, a dog and then...by the way, where is Jethro?"

Tim winced as Ducky began to examine his head. "A dog sitter. I pay her extra for some nights when I want to work alone. I had some things to do tonight, and I didn't want Jethro in the way."

"You okay?" Gibbs asked from his position by Landon.

"I will be, Boss."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Good." He looked at the pile of shredded paper on the floor. "Don't throw it away," he ordered.

"What?"

"Don't throw it away. That's saying that it's your fault. It's not and I expect you to rewrite it."

Tim sighed. "Why, Boss?"

Gibbs got up and walked over. "Because you enjoy it, and you shouldn't let something like this take it from you. Got it?"

Tim took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. Got it."

Gibbs turned around to go back to the scene. "Besides, I happen to know that DiNozzo ordered an advanced copy."

Tony's eyes widened as Tim looked at him. Then, he grinned and winked.

"I just want to make sure you don't destroy my character."

Tim's face remained expressionless for a moment and then he smiled. "No, he's a hero, Tony."

Tony smiled back and said, "Well, that makes two of us. Let's call it even."

"Deal."

FINIS!