Gibbs sprinted into action, pulling the phone back to his ear, "McGee! Call an ambulance to get to my house, now!"

"Boss?"

"Do it!" he yelled, letting his phone fall to the ground as he hurriedly dropped to his knees before the broken man that had been tossed onto his lawn. "Tony?" he was unsure of where to place his hands. Tony was laying on his stomach; his face turned toward the street. All he could tell, in this dark of night, was that his clothes were damp with something; maybe blood. And his hands...seemed mangled and bloody. He was unmoving.

But he needed to check to see if he was even still alive...

Gibbs shakily brought his hand to Tony's neck, seeking out the artery that would give him his answer. But before he could feel it, Tony's body jerked, hard, and he let out a pained moan, that perhaps if he'd been more conscious, would have been a scream.

"DiNozzo! Tony, it's gonna be okay," Gibbs said, relieved that his agent was still alive, yet horrified at the mystery of what might have been done to him. He busied himself, checking for open wounds that might still be bleeding. Tony must have felt him pull up his shirt, because suddenly he was squirming.

"N-no! No, don't..."

"Tony, it's me," Gibbs cautiously laid a hand on Tony's shoulder, noting the flinch. "Not gonna hurt you. Just wanna make sure you're not bleedin' still."

"G- Gi'z...Gi'z, that you?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the sluggish slurring. "Yeah, Tony, it's me," he told him as he stood and made his way around Tony's body so that he could meet his eyes. But as he stooped down, his heart constricted in his chest. He couldn't help the breath caught in his throat and the anger that had instantly boiled in his blood, at was he now saw...

Tony's face had been sliced, repeatedly. No wonder he'd been slurring. One of the slices ran diagonally across from his left cheek, down across his top and bottom lip, and ended just to the right of his chin. None of them seemed life-threateningly deep. But the sight was horrific...

Tony's eyes opened and saw how Gibbs was looking at him. "No..." tears sprung to his eyes. "Don' look, 'oss...Gi'z...don' look at...m...ee," he cringed; having allowed himself to let his lips meet to form the word, was painful.

"God, Tony, what'd they do to you...?" he reached out to lay a gentle hand on the younger man's head, and felt him flinch again. But now he realized why. There were, what felt like, welts on his scalp...and spots of missing hair... The anger boiled again. "Who did this?"

"Mmm..." Tony squeezed his eyes shut, and moisture leaked from the corners.

"Tony, do you know who did this?" he asked, more gently, moving so that he could attempt to gently turn the agent over.

"M...monster..." he replied, allowing Gibbs to turn him onto his side. "Agh!" he gasped and pulled his arms into his chest.

Tony's hands looked worse now, in the streetlight above them. They were likely both broken. Gibbs swallowed down the bile. "Tony, who? Who's the monster?"

"Monster...I...I'm...a monster, Gi'z...I..m monster..." he let out a sob, and Gibbs was at a loss for words. All he could do was let the words sink in, as he kept a comforting hand on Tony's arm.

As he heard the siren in the distance, he felt the words come back to him. He leaned closer to Tony. "You're okay, now, Tony. Whatever happened to you, I'm gonna help you get through this. You hear me?"

"N...n..." Tony shook his head, not opening his eyes.

"You hear me, DiNozzo? You're safe now... I won't let anything happen to you. You hear?"

Tony made a choking sound before letting out a shuddering breath. But he nodded.

"Good..." he lightly squeezed his shoulder. "Help is almost here. I'll be with you." He didn't ask if he wanted it. It was not up for debate.

As the lights shone in the distance, reaching the corner of Gibbs' eye, he stood, retrieved his phone, and made his way back to Tony. He saw that the call was still in session, and put it to his ear as he crouched down. "McGee?"

"Boss, what happened? What's going on?" the younger agent's voice sounded panicked on the other line.

"Need you to call Ziva. Both of you need to get to my place. A car dumped Tony here and sped off. I want you to find everything you can."

"Dumped? Is he...God, Boss, is he..."

"He's alive, McGee," he reassured him. "But he's in bad shape. Need to go with him. So I need you both here taking care of this. Might as well call Abs and tell her to get into the office, asap." McGee was silent on the other line for a moment. "McGee, you with me?"

"Yeah...Yes, Boss. I'll...I'll call them. Boss? How...what happened to him? How bad is it?"

"I'll fill you in when I know more," he ended the call as the ambulance stopped beside them.

The EMT exiting the passenger door got to him, first. "Sir, are you Agent Gibbs?" Gibbs nodded. "Got the call telling us you needed someone here, but no details. What happened to him?" he asked as he crouched down beside Tony.

"Was dumped here," Gibbs replied. "Not sure what they did, or how long they had him."

"Sir?" the EMT looked at Tony. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Yes..." Tony replied. They waited.

"Sir, tell me your name, please."

"DiNozzo..."

"Agent DiNozzo," Gibbs clarified to the medic.

"Agent DiNozzo, can you tell me, other than your hands, do you know if anything is broken?" he asked. Gibbs watched the other medic come around with a stretcher.

"N...not sure... Can't...m...memmer..."

"Can't remember," Gibbs clarified, so Tony didn't have to try and say that again.

"Can you tell me what hurts?" the medic asked, as the other started taking his vitals.

Tony curled into himself as they touched him. His eyes squeezed shut and he let out a sob. Gibbs was immediately back beside him. "Tony, no one's gonna hurt you, here. I promised you that, didn't I?" After a moment, Tony almost imperceptibly nodded. "They need to know where you're hurting. They wanna help you, and in order to do that, you've gotta tell them... Where are you hurting, DiNozzo?"

Tony breathed panicky breaths for a few moments before replying, "E'rywhere...e'rywhere hurts..."

11 00 11 00 11

The ride to the hospital revealed several things. One of them being that Tony needed something to calm him down, which they gladly gave him. It allowed them to examine him a bit more closely.

Gibbs sat a bit away from the medic, just looking at Tony's face, now lit up in the bus. Who would do such a thing to him? Whoever had done it, intended to disfigure him; scar him for life...

Tbc...