A/N: So many stories. It's difficult to decide which one gets priority on the "Must update!" list...
"No, Tony." Tim cut off his gregarious partner before the man could finish talking. "I'm not going to partake in your little scheme. I don't want 'death by office supply' to be listed in my obituary, thank you very much."
"Come on, McSidekick! Ziva will never suspect you to actually participate. That's what makes the plan so fool proof!" Tony whined across the room. The two men were currently double checking their crime scene while the rest of the team did their various duties back at the Yard.
"Not entirely fool proof since a fool created it." Tim shot back, smothering a smirk at Tony's put-out look.
"Fine. No pranking Ziva." Tony started to turn back to the closest he was looking through but stopped. "What about our Mistress of the Dark? Will you prank Abby?"
"Dear, god, Tony!" Tim finally let out a laugh, looking at Tony in disbelief. "I know April Fool's Day is coming up but what you've been suggesting is a death wish. Why don't you play the ultimate prank on the others and not do anything? They're all going to be on edge, anyway, expecting you to do something. Making them walk on egg shells all day long will teach them not to assume anything."
Tony paused, considering what Tim had just told him. Admittedly, he had never gone that route before. And Tim was right. The others were already starting to put their hackles up in expectation of the coming prankster's holiday. Letting them go on full 'Red Alert' for no reason would irritate them more than any trivial prank he could come up with.
"Alright, McThinker, no pranking Team Gibbs. But we still gotta do something. Who would be the most unsuspecting person in the Yard?"
"The Director?" A look of horror appeared on Tony's face at Tim's suggestion.
"And you called me foolish!" Tim shrugged, an innocent look on his face as he shut down the computer he was looking through.
"What? I was just answering your question."
"We will be head slapped into the next century if we prank Vance." Tim grinned with a chuckle.
"That's the genius of it, Tony. No one, not even Gibbs, would consider the idea of Vance being pranked by one of us. In fact, they're all wondering what you're going to do to me. Imagine their surprise when they find out we partnered together this year instead."
"Still. It's the Director you're talking about." Tony insisted, feeling a bit uneasy at the sudden role reversal between the two of them.
"If we keep it relatively low key, it'll be easier to do than if we pranked one of the others. Vance considers himself safe and that makes him the perfect target." Scrunching his face at Tim's logic, Tony closed the closet with a thud.
"Let's go, McGee. There's nothing new here. Maybe we'll have a better idea of what to look for after finding a few leads." Chuckling at Tony's avoidance, Tim nodded in agreement and grabbed his kit before following his partner out the door. He waited until they were in the car before saying anything else.
"So, Vance?" Tony winced.
"I didn't realize you were the more daring of the two of us, McEvil." Tim rolled his eyes, giving Tony an expectant look. "Ok, let's prank Vance this year. This is going to take a lot more planning than usual."
"We can start tonight. It's Thursday. The others won't bat an eyelash if we beg off hanging out as a group to have a pizza night since we'll most likely be stuck at work tomorrow and won't be able to do it then."
"Why do I get the feeling you've been thinking about this for a while?" Tony asked in an accusatory tone.
"Since when do I suggest anything without having thoroughly thought it over first?" Tim countered. "If I didn't think we could do it I wouldn't have suggested Vance."
"Well, what ever we come up with better make the head slaps worth it. When we get caught, and we will be, Gibbs is going to make our lives living hell for a while." Tony gripped the steering wheel tighter at the thought of having to face Gibbs' wrath.
"It won't be anything we haven't encountered before, when it comes to Gibbs. It'll be with Vance where we have to cover our asses." Tim insisted.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Tony rose his eyebrows at Tim's statement, being unable to lift a single eyebrow like Tim could.
"I've been giving Vance's kids some computer safety lessons. We exchange emails regularly." Tim replied simply as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You want to get his kids involved."
"Yep. Could probably get Jackie involved, as well, if the idea is good enough. What wife doesn't want to stick it to her husband every once in a while?" Tim's smirk came back full force. Tony shook his head with a disbelieving scoff. If they could convince Jackie to help them, all their bases would be covered.
"Alright. Planning starts tonight." Tony confirmed with finality.
-1-
When Tony and Tim walked off the elevator, they both froze at seeing Fornell, Sacks, and Kort in the Bull Pen. Surely seeing all three of them at once meant the apocalypse was coming.
"What are they doing here?" Tony hissed.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Tony." Tim replied in a wary tone. He pushed at Tony's back to get the man moving. "But we won't find out 'til we're over there."
Grumbling something about his good day coming to an end under his breath, Tony reluctantly starting walking to the Bull Pen again.
"And the twins finally arrive." Kort commented in his usual smooth tone and accessory smirk.
"Boss, what's going on?" Tim asked as if Kort hadn't said anything. Ziva quickly elbowed Tony, cutting off his retort before he had a chance to start saying it. Gibbs jerked his head at Fornell to explain the situation to Tim and Tony.
"Backlash from Rene Benoit's death has finally started to affect the other families. And not just the French. The Russians, the Italians, and the Irish are all up in arms. They're worried the French in-fighting will spill over onto them."
"I thought those three groups were all settled into their businesses and had nothing to worry about from the others." Tony pointed out. His face was stony from the mention of Rene Benoit. "The French families are relatively new to the scene compared to the others. All the older French families have either died out or retreated from the US. That should make the others more than able to handle them."
"The CIA has been unable to keep a steady hand on the Benoit family since Rene's death. Our plants just don't have enough pull to keep themselves in power for long. It's causing uneasiness." Kort supplied.
"You mean if a man outside of CIA control gets into power in the family, he may very well declare war on one of the other families. Or the Russians. Or Italians. Or Irish." Tim filled in all the blanks quickly, wondering what that had to do with NCIS.
"Correct, McGee." Fornell took over again. "With a threat of this magnitude, it's been suggested that multiple agencies get involved. If a war of the families starts it could take us years to end it."
"The case is being handed over to Balboa's team. We're taking over the Irish aspect of the operation." Gibbs butted in. "They've been relatively quiet compared to the others, which could mean a variety of things."
"NCIS is best at figuring out the unique cases and the silence of the Irish family is an odd one." Fornell continued, used to Gibbs' interruptions. "We think they have been starting to move a lot of their business to the digital world so having you work on that is best, McGee. You're skills with a computer makes you an important asset to the operation. Don't expect much field work with this, if any at all."
Tim nodded in understanding. Not many field agents had the same educational background as he did. And with at least four families in the Irish corner, his work was going to be cut out for him. It was pretty much guaranteed that he would be running back and forth between the various agency buildings in the foreseeable future.
"Where do we begin?" Tony asked.
"Everything we have on the Irish families is on its way here, DiNozzo. It's up to you guys to decide where you're going to start." Tony moved his focus over to Gibbs. He was assuming that since Vance wasn't there that Gibbs and the others had already met with the man.
"We're going to make sure all the FBI's information is up-to-date, then move on from there. You and Ziva are going to start at the bottom of the work ladder to see if any of them are recruiting more than usual. That will give us a direction at aim at. McGee, you know better than anyone where to start with the computer stuff. Vance has given you permission to fall back on Cyber Crimes since you're pretty much heading that aspect of the operation." Gibbs summarized.
"Our own cyber division is being pulled into this, as well, for the other parts." Sacks finally spoke up, directing his words at Tim. "Since we're covering the Russians and the Italians, they'll more likely be in a free-for-all than anything else. Leads could come from anywhere. If you need anything, go through me. I'll be the one directing our cyber teams in the directions we need them to go."
"Got it, Sacks. After I have a chance to go through all the files you guys have on the Irish families and delegate tasks to Cyber Crimes, I'll schedule a time with you for me to come over to the Hoover Building. I might be able to give you a direction right away." Tim mentally made a check list of everything he needed to get done right away, especially a few things that may help Tony and Ziva.
"Now that DiNozzo and McGee have been briefed on the situation, I had better get back to Langley." Kort said to make his exit. Gibbs and Fornell made no move to stop him.
"Wait." Tim stepped in his way, gaining the attention of all the others. Kort looked at him expectantly. "Jeanne Benoit. What is the Benoit Family's view on her?"
"Why do you ask?" Kort prodded. Tony's jaw clenched as he turned away from Tim, having hoped she wouldn't be mentioned.
"She's Rene Benoit's daughter, Kort." Tim snapped. "A member of a rival family or a disgruntled member of the Benoit Family may go after her in retaliation for something her father did since they can't go after a dead man. She's an innocent bystander in all of this. Is she going to need protection?"
"Protection has already been offered, McGee. Miss Benoit turned it down." Kort almost succeeded in hiding a frown. "It may have to do with her connection to the Murphy Family."
"Jeanne is fooling around with the Irish?" Tony couldn't resist asking, turning back. Kort shook his head.
"She's a close acquaintance of Mickey Murphy." Fornell and Sacks let out a few choice curses at Kort's words, confusing the NCIS MCRT. "Mickey Murphy is the Murphy Family's choice hit man. He has visited the Benoit household a few times over the years but I never got to meet the man. I was always sent out on business during his visits. The Murphy Family has been keeping any details about him secret and Rene Benoit seemed to agree on that."
"What do you mean?" Tim couldn't help but ask. Something was off.
"Mickey has a reputation of playing with his food before he eats it." Kort explained. "Other than Miss Benoit and blood members of the Murphy Family, no one alive knows what he looks like because Don Murphy won't allow him to meet outsiders unless he's ordered Mickey to kill them."
"Then how does Jeanne know what he looks like?" Tony pressed on.
"They met before he was formally recruited into the family. I don't know how."
"Wait, recruited? He's not a blood member?" Tim's eyebrow shot up.
"Yes. Mickey Murphy is the name he was given after joining the family. That much I know. But I'm sure the FBI files cover everything else. Like I said, very little is known. May I go, now?" That last question came out with a tone of sarcasm, which Tim rolled his eyes at as he stepped aside. Everyone waited until Kort was on the elevator before saying anything else.
"What wasn't Kort telling, Fornell?" Tim immediately went to the point. Fornell and Sacks exchanged looks before Fornell answered.
"He essentially told you everything we know about Mickey Murphy. He's Don Murphy's number one hit man. If you have Mickey Murphy on your ass then you've really fucked up. And you won't know it, either, until you're right about to die. Kort wasn't kidding about the man's reputation." Fornell shuddered at the thought. "Gossip from blood members of the Murphy Family who've attended his hits tells us that Mickey will introduce himself by his birth name when meeting his mark and won't reveal who he is until after he's already disabled the person from fighting back. They find it hilarious how easy it is for him to lull his marks into a sense of security before attacking."
"We should see how often Don Murphy has been calling upon his number one hit man." Ziva suggested, seeing a reason to join the conversation. "If everyone is on alert then this man may either be called upon more or less than usual. It all depends on Don Murphy's reaction to the threat from the French Families."
"I'll stick Keating on the computer trail right away." Tim offered. "If the Irish families are going digital then he might find something there."
Gibbs nodded in approval of how his agents have been handling their sudden shift in work and what they chose to focus on.
"Should head back to the Hoover Building, Fornell, to get your own base of operations set up. We'll be starting as soon as your files are all delivered."
"Probably. We need to go through everything the CIA has provided us about the Benoit family. I'll call later to set up a schedule for updates." Giving everyone a nod of farewell, Fornell headed off to the elevator with Sacks in tow.
"Alright." Gibbs returned to his desk. "You all know your tasks. Prepare what you think you're going to need for when the files get here."
Exchanging slightly overwhelmed looks, Tony and Ziva returned to their own desks to start calling contacts while Tim headed to the back elevator to go down to the sub basement.