Chapter Three

Will knocked on the professors door when they finally located it. Knocking twice they waited a minute before hearing shuffling and a crash from behind the door. Tony's eyebrows furrowed as what sounded like a struggle was happening behind the door, widening his eyes at Will who got the hint to move, Tony moved back before running at the door and kicking it open.

There was Professor Hammond, throat slit on the floor, grabbing at his new wound in an attempt to stem the blood flow. His attacker was standing above him, dressed in black leather with a hood that was so deep that they couldn't tell if they were male or female. They looking shocked at the two men's entry but quickly regained their senses and attempted to flee through the window. Tony immediately set after him.

"Stone, call for backup!" He shouted as he jumped through the window, trying his best to avoid any of the glass but was unfortunate enough to catch his arm on a piece. He ignored the pain and landed smoothly on the grass on the other side of the window, not faltering in his pace as he gained on the attacker. He grabbed his gun and held it to his side as he ran.

"Freeze scumbag!" He shouted. The criminal turned swiftly into a nearby alleyway and Tony followed, not giving thought to any danger that might befall him, he just wanted to catch this son of a bitch before he hurt anyone else. He put on an extra burst of speed, thankful for his sporting days in his younger years, they were about to help him here. He was about to tackle the killer but was hit in the side with something heavy.

He went flying into the alley's wall. Hitting his head on the wall with a loud crack, he slumped over and watched with bleary eyes as the killer got further and further away. What had hit him? He wondered as he tried to get up, but with weakening limbs it was growing increasingly difficult to even remain awake. He felt something warm dripping onto his neck, he must have hit the wall harder than he'd thought.

He ignored it though and forced himself up. He wanted to know what it was that hit him. Managing to get his feet underneath him he stumbled onto the wall in front of him. He looked up and noticed a pair of eyes glinting at him in the dark. This must have been what had hit him, his killer wasn't working alone. Tony grabbed at his gun holster before realising that it must have fallen out of his hand when he fell. Looking around he quickly located it on the floor and lunged towards it, aiming at where he'd seen the eyes.

But they were gone.

Tony blinked rapidly to get rid of the fast appearing black dots in his vision. He grabbed his phone and rang Will.

"DiNozzo?" Will's voice flowed through the phone. "DiNozzo are you okay? Tony? Tony?!"

Tony swallowed, his tongue felt very heavy all of a sudden. "I'm gonna need some help." Was all that he managed to say before the phone fell from his grasp. The wet feeling on the back of his neck had gotten worse so he put his hand up to it, pulling it back he saw that it was covered in a red liquid. Blood he realised, his blood.

He heard footsteps pounding, and when did he fall to the floor? He could hear Will's voice through the phone still, shouting his name and it wasn't long that the footsteps grew closer. They stopped in front of his now still form, he wasn't unconscious but damn his head hurt and the light was hurting his eyes. Something touched the wound on the back of his head and without his knowledge his hand balled into a fist and hit whoever it was that touched him. He heard an oomph and opened his eyes and when did they close?

The man from the lab was crouched in front of him, hand over his stomach as he cradled it, obviously not expecting the punch from a seemingly unconscious DiNozzo. Tony looked at Agent Gibbs, the same man that he had gone toe to toe with earlier that day and knew that he could trust him. He just knew.

And with that he finally fell into unconsciousness.

Gibbs sighed as he looked down at the downed Detective in front of him, however much he may have disliked the man he knew he had to get him to help. Luckily he knew that he had been followed into the alleyway, sure enough other police officers were crawling around and thankfully there was a paramedic that was just crouching next to DiNozzo's form.

He watched in silence as the paramedic discovered the gash on the back of DiNozzo's head that was pouring out blood. He knew that head wounds always bled more than other wounds and until he was told otherwise he was going to assume that it wasn't as bad as it looked. He got that confirmation pretty quickly.

"We need to get him to a hospital. It doesn't appear to be that deep but there could be some internal damage that we can't see." The paramedic radioed his team and it took seconds for a stretcher to appear. DiNozzo was carefully moved onto it and Gibbs felt secure enough to go further down the alley and find out what had happened.

Tony had just woken up in the hospital when Will walked in. He blinked blearily but immediately tried to sit up.

"So you hit your head on the wall and passed out." Will deadpanned as he looked around for a nurse.

"I didn't pass out." Tony muttered, his mouth feeling very dry. He took the water Will offered him, sipping slowly. "DiNozzo's do not pass out."

Will smirked. "Okay you didn't pass out." He sobered up. "Did you see who attacked Professor Hammond? And can you remember how you hit your head?" Tony nodded slowly.

"I didn't see the killer, but I know how I hit my head. There's at least two of them Will. I got barreled into while I was running and got sent packing into that wall." He rubbed his head slowly. "I can tell you that the one who hit me was male and about two hundred pounds of muscle." He strained his memory but frowned. "That's it, it was too dark to see anything else. I remember his eyes but-." He stopped and rubbed his brow.

Will felt bad for his partner lying there in the hospital bed looking quite un-DiNozzo like, and lent over to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, we're gonna catch the son's of bitches that did this."

Tony perked up when a thought occurred to him. "What happened to Professor Hammond? Is he still alive?" By the grave look on Will's face Tony didn't really require an answer to his question. "There has to be a connection with the two murders, first the student now the professor. Seems like someone may have a grudge against that study group." Tony mused, feeling a headache coming on. Where were the nurses with the painkillers. He's take them and then sign himself out.

"Might not be the study group." Will said. "Could just be coincidental."

Tony shook his head. "I don't believe in coincidences."

Will sighed. "Well I'm going to have to get some more evidence before we can find anything to help us, I'm gonna head down to the lab and see if our ballistics report is in yet. If it isn't we're just going to have to wait." He saw Tony's look and hurried to continue. "I don't like it either but with no leads and more evidence to process what can we do?" Tony opened his mouth but Will wouldn't let him talk. "No I don't want to hear it, we're going to do this by the book."

Tony huffed and crossed his arms over his chest before picking up his glass of water again and taking a sip. His throat was feeling very dry after the small amount of talking he had done.

"And you," Will continued. "are on sick leave for two weeks. I'll try to come by with some files but you know what the Captain's like with confidentiality, ever since one of the newbies forgot some of his files on the train." They both rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Newbies."

"Yeah but you and I both know I'm not going to be in here for long." Tony was about to continue but was cut off once more when a nurse came in. She hadn't expected him to be awake and smiled uncomfortably at the two.

"Mr DiNozzo, you're awake." She shuffled over and checked his vitals and gently grabbed his head to check on his wound. "The stitches are healing nicely and I'm happy to say that there is going to be no permanent damage." Tony nodded and watched as she changed his IV.

He waited until she was finished before he asked. "I'd like my release papers please." Will ran a hand through his hair as he saw the nurses shocked reaction. Why couldn't Tony actually stay in the hospital for once? He must have banged his head harder than he realised.

"Tony." He sighed.

"What Will? You heard the nurse, there's no permanent damage and I'd like to recover in my own home." Tony gave him a look.

"Mr DiNozzo, are you sure? It's recommended for those who have suffered from head trauma to stay in the hospital for at least two days." He cut her off.

"I'm sure." She opened and closed her mouth but took one look into his eyes and shook her head, going off to fetch the papers. He nodded in satisfaction, getting up from the bed surprisingly easy in Will's eyes. He had seen Tony last night when he couldn't even lift his head off his chest but this was Tony and he bounced back from anything wanting more.

That wasn't always a good thing. Will moved forward just in case Tony needed any help but his help wasn't needed as Tony walked into the bathroom and changed into his normal clothes, not that he couldn't pull off this hospital gown because he could. It was just a bit breezy for his liking and walking down the street in it was not on his to do list.

"Will I'm not going to take the sick leave, look at me I'm perfectly fine." Tony commented as he walked back into the room. "It's just a couple of stitches I didn't even break anything this time."

Will huffed. "This time."

"And." He continued as if Will hadn't said anything. "I'm pretty sure I know where we can find a lead."