A/N: Right. Okay, hi, everyone. -heh heh- Nervous laughter. Okay, so, if this ISN'T your first nosirrah story, and you are one of my faithfuls, I am SO SORRY for my lack of updates (if it is your first, HI! and oh yeah... disregard this first chunk) Honestly. I've been in a bit of a writers block (happens) and then last night I got a dream for this idea (THANK YOU DREAM FAIRY) and I think it's one of the best so far. So Enjoy.

Note to all: It starts from the middle of the story, so, bear with me. Don't give up. It's going to be so AMAZING. Seriously. LOL.

A quiet urgency of adrenaline pulsed through Tony as they fought their way through the pile of debris on the floor. Broken chairs, glass, bundled up sheets, clothes and trash all mixed together and spilled our across the dank room. They cleared the first floor, then turned on the staircase leading to the basement. Tony and McGee share a nod, and Tony goes down first, trying not the squeak the stairs too audibly.

In one fluid movment, Tony kicks the door down with a smash. The urgency roasting in the pit of his stomach is suddenly replaced by a flush of rage. Ziva is lying on a tiny dirty cot, gagged and ziptied to the metal frame. A man stands above her, dressed oddly in blue scrubs, laughing quietly to himself and stroking her cheek. Before he can stop himself, Tony launches himself at the man.

"Tony!" McGee cries in astonishment, looking desperatley from Ziva, to Tony on top of the man, who is beating the deranged doctor. Crunches of joints and bone echo around the small basement. McGee rushes forward and grabs Tony shoulder, but he is ignored. Now McGee has to use all his strength to pull his parter off the bleeding, but laughing man. McGee renches him up at last, and turns Tony to face him. "Ziva needs you right now." he whispers and then proceeds to pull up the other man and slam him against the cinderblock wall. Tony blinks at Ziva, whose eyes are squeezed shut.

Tony reaches for her face, but Ziva shrinks away with a little shriek.

"Zi...?" Tony whispers, hand back now. Ziva shakes her head, eyes still shut. "Ziva, it's me." he pulls open a knife to cut her restraints; the zip ties snap open. With the noise, Ziva flinches back again. He gently tries to remove the bundled white cloth in between her teeth. Ziva finally opens her eyes, which are wide, pupils dialated with fear. She gasps for air as she takes in Tony.

"T-t-t-Tony?" She finally stutters.

"Yeah, we need a bus and police car at-" McGee barking orders into his cellphone cause both the agents to jump, one more than the other.

"Zi..." Tony breathes, unsure what to say. Her eyes are stained with tears and dirt, along with little razor blade scratches on her cheeks, neck, and jawline. The brown eyes that stare back at him are unfamiliar. Lost.

5 days before

The 6 women leered out over the bullpen from the plasma television. 2 FBI agents, a petty officer, three Pentagon officers, and a police officer. All dead. Same MO, and everyone was working on it. And when they say everyone, they mean everyone. Infact, the team could not remember a time NCIS had been so full. Different faces began trickling in and out of every familiar NCIS haunt. Police officers were caught in Abby's lab, FBI agents in autopsy. Everything was a little off, but they were slowly merging together. Seeing that the petty officer was the first found dead, the three agencies agreed to work together after the first FBI agent and police officer were found dead.

An unfamiliar face sits at McGee's computer, as another dictates information to him from a nearby desk chair.

"Rollins, Tobey..." Ziva nods as she walks past, then takes a seat at her own desk. The two, both FBI agents, nodded back. A jittery Police Officer flew in suddenly, someone Abby had apperently gotten ahold of. She was clutching a huge CAF-Pow and humming a techno song.

"Hello, Ziva." The woman giggled. She was young, short and wiry, had large green eyes and spiky black hair.

"Katie." Ziva said sharply. She was in a bad mood. The police officer sighed sadly then made her way to Abby's lab. Ziva huffed herself as (finally) a familiar face came in.

"Someones in a bad mood." Tony commented slyly as he slid into his own chair. She arched a thin eyebrow at him, but didn't dignify the comment with an answer. He scoffed. "Well, unlike some people, I actually found something."

"Hmm?"

"Our serial killer left a partial on one of his victim's shoe."

"Abby knew that two days ago." Ziva retorted.

"Oh-ho-ho, that is true, probette, but she did NOT know that the partial is matched to another on the FBI agent Lopez."

"Yes...she did. She just told Gibbs half an hour ago. I was there." Tony frowned.

"Oh."

"Look. Tony. I got the sketch of our murderer."

"You think a serial murderer who tortures and then kills government women would be a little smarter and not have any witnesses." Tony said as Ziva pulled out the sketch.

"This is the man that Lopez was last seen with."

"Name?" Ziva shook her head. "The press wants something, Ziva."

"You think that is my fault?" Ziva growled loud enough for the two other agents to glance over at the pair. It was true, the case was a press hotbed at this point. She rolled her eyes. "We do not even have a suspect." she said, more to herself than to Tony. "McGee already put the BOLO out. This is an absolutley battling case."

"Baffling." At this, Ziva sighed. "Look, the guy had to have slipped up somewhere. Maybe we're not looking at this right." Tony said. Ziva began pacing as he watched her.

"Serial killer. Same MO everytime. Not feature focused-" she nodded at the women, all who were very different looking "it seems only government employees are his target."

"MO is..." Tony interjected, and began tapping a pencil against the palm of his hand. "torture of almost every possible mindset before a single bullet to the right temple. Water boarding. Slicing. He know the...the mentality of the entire scheme. And of course, we have the pictures." with a click of the pointer, six different pictures flew up. All the same, just a singular shot of the woman's face, which was covered in tiny little razor slashes, eyes swollen shut, lips shredded. Ziva shuddered as she looked at them.

"We need to catch him before this happens again." She said quietly.

A/N: Well? Did you like it? Hate it? Either way (or somewhere in between) review! Alert! All that magical stuff.