FORCED 4

A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews that may not last longer. I know you're all dying to know what's the problem with Gibbs. I know people will enjoy things coming up for –

(Gibbs headslaps Fictionnaire)

Fictionnaire: Getting on with the story boss

Tony: At least I'm getting off lightly

Fictionnaire: Story ain't over yet Tony.

Abby: That's great. I'm really loving the intense confrontation with this story. Hope there's lots more action coming up. Don't like slow moving stories unless there's a romance in it. Is this going to be romance… Huh? Tell me, is it?

Fictionnaire blinks several times: Ah, no.

Abby: Come on just a little hint of one… (Turns on begging eyes)

Fictionnaire: Alright… How about Ziva and Faith Coleman? I heard Ziva has a lot of faith.

(Ziva gets that deadly look in her eyes and Fictionnaire runs)

Gibbs held his breath for an eternity. This action didn't go unnoticed by his senior field agent. At times, Gibbs cursed the very investigative skills that he admired in the younger man. The man next to him adjusted his shirt and waited while boring a whole into Tony with his narrow eyes.

"Fine," Tony hissed. There was something going on, but Tony couldn't find out what while standing this close. "I'll see you when you're at work Leroy," he saw Gibbs eyes narrow momentarily but he remained silent. Gibbs hated people using his first name even more than being called Sir. Something was definitely amiss.

Tony looked at them both before leaving. He wanted to get a close look at the person who was in Gibbs' basement without antagonizing the situation. It seemed that his boss was already on edge enough as it was. Tony drove to his place at a speed that Gibbs would have been proud of. He had only managed to unlock the door in time to go rushing into his apartment. There was nothing else on his mind except to sketch the man he'd seen as accurately as possible.

Try as he might, Tony could never get the eyes right when drawing. He checked the time and it was getting late. He wondered if it would be possible to convince Abby to meet him at NCIS and go through the facial reconstruction program. His watch read ten thirty and decided against that but would get in there early and start the search with her.

The ringing of his cell startled him out of concentration. He looked at the name on the small screen. "What is it McGee?" Tony asked in a tired tone.

"How did you know it was me?" McGee's voice sounded surprised and tired.

"Oh, gee Probie. I think my sixth sense has kicked in," Tony answered sarcastically. "What do you think? What is it Probie?" Tony asked

"Uh, yeah right," McGee responded. "We have a major problem," his voice sounded a little shaky and Tony rubbed his face in anticipation and annoyance.

"What is it McGee?" Tony asked. The conversation had quickly turned into a troublesome tone.

"When I was accessing the NCIS records database from Vance's terminal to find out the search options, a separate program had been activated and…" McGee began his longwinded explanation but was interrupted by the sound of Tony tapping the phone against his forehead in frustration.

"In English McGee," Tony said impatiently. "We're not all as technically advanced as you are," he tried to keep the anger out of his voice but he was losing the fight.

"Oh right, yeah," McGee stumbled over his words. "About that… When I was trying to find the file that Gibbs was after… Another program was activated and it contained a kill switch," McGee said.

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. McGee and Tony's version of English would never be the same. "Probie," he warned dangerously.

"Well searching the database from Vance's terminal flicked the switch and it wiped everything off the hard drive," McGee explained.

Shit! "How'd the 'kill switch' get onto Vance's computer? Had it always been there?" Tony asked. "And can the information be retrieved?" He hoped for a positive response.

There was a long pause on the other end. "I believe that the program had been installed and tagged to the database earlier," there was an even longer pause on McGee's end. "I doubt that Director Vance would have had it on. There's only one plausible suspect in this case," he cut himself off. McGee didn't want to say it.

"I don't think Gibbs has ever installed anything onto a computer in his life," Tony commented. "In fact I don't think he even knows that you have to install programs onto a computer," he added.

"Unless someone was walking him through it," McGee suggested. "Someone might have shown him how to do it," he added.

"Why?" Tony asked. It just all sounded too stupid to him. Imagine someone picking Gibbs to carry on these tasks. "Did you manage to get anything on what Gibbs was looking for?" Tony asked hopefully.

"I went through the recent search history from the computer but no results came up," McGee said cautiously. It seemed that Tony was annoyed enough as it was.

"Damn," Tony cursed openly. "You sound tired. Take the computer down to the lab and get home. I'll meet you in Abby's lab first thing," Tony took command.

"Gotcha," McGee responded and ended the conversation.

Abby's Lab: 0645

Abby, McGee and Ziva had waited impatiently for Tony to come. They'd gotten there especially early. He finally arrived with a coffee in hand. "Morning everybody," he said with a high level of enthusiasm. "Abs, I want you to run this sketch through and see if this man's face pops up in anyone's database," he continued on the same pace. "Now, if it does… I want a BOLO put out… McGee I want you to work your McMagic and get what you can out of this tower," he pointed to Vance's computer which was sitting on the table by itself.

"Hey, Tony," Ziva got Tony's attention.

"What?" Tony asked.

"How many damn coffee's have you had this morning?" She asked out of curiosity. "You seem extremely wired," Ziva checked him over.

"Yeah, I'm a little wired," Tony confirmed. McGee snorted. "Something tickle your tickle your McFunny bone McGiggles?" Tony asked. He couldn't figure out what McGee could be laughing at.

"Nothing," McGee tried to act dismissive.

"Spit it out, McGee," Abby wanted to know the joke.

"It's just a stupid quote," McGee said as he tried to back out of it. All eyes were impatiently waiting on him. McGee coughed once before continuing. "You know I'm really wired. What do you say I take you home and eat your pussy," he said.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?" He asked.

"Just a line said by John Borrowman," McGee's face turned from red back to normal.

Tony shook his head and left the lab with Ziva in tow. Abby swung around and punched McGee in the arm. "Whenever Tony goes to team leader, you always take on his personality," she couldn't help but smile.

"I do not," McGee defended himself. "It's just that him being wired reminded me of a John Borrowman line," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, like Tony," Abby responded quickly. "And careful I'm beginning to think you have a thing for John," she turned back to her computer. "You do know he's gay right?" McGee didn't see the big smile plastered across her face.

NCIS bullpen

Tony sat on the edge of Ziva's desk as they discussed the possible cases that Gibbs could have been after. "Well, I know it has to do with triple homicide," Tony stated. "Perhaps if we get any evidence out of storage," he suggested. His words were cut off by Ziva clearing her throat. Tony turned around to see Gibbs striding in, flanked by a young blonde haired male.

"Who is that?" Ziva asked as she stood up.

"Must be that Agent that Toothpick mentioned," Tony said quietly so that nobody else could hear. "Wonder what's so important that he's visiting here," he stood to his feet to await orders.

Abby rushed into the bullpen at her usual pace. She stopped in front of Tony and watched Gibbs and the New York Agent approach. "Just letting you know that everything is well under way," she said as Tony tried desperately to shush her. Abby eyed the visiting agent suspiciously.

"I'm Agent Joshua Spencer," the man reached out with his hand. "You must be Agent DiNozzo, Officer David and Abigail right?" Joshua said with a warm smile.

They all shook hands. Abby was reluctant and watched the agent walk to the other side of the bullpen and he talked intently with Gibbs. Occasionally, Gibbs would look in their direction and shake his head. The two went into a more secluded area. Abby felt an immediate distrust to Joshua and the young man just came across as hinky.

Several minutes later, Gibbs walked back into the bullpen without taking his eyes off Abby. His lips were pursed together as he approached her. Ziva and Tony watched in anticipation.

Gibbs knew he was going to hate himself for this. It had to be done. He was working on higher orders now. "Boss-man?" Abby felt the tension radiating from him.

Gibbs held his hand up to stop her from talking. "This isn't the first time this has come up Abigail. This Agent Spencer is high up in the New York FBI. I'm sure that you all have been told to offer him respect," Gibbs could feel his body shaking as he could hear himself speaking the next few words. "You're fired Abigail. Collect your things and leave," he said.

Everyone stood in stunned silence. Had they heard Gibbs correctly? Surely they couldn't have. "Boss?" Tony asked.

"You've been making people feel uncomfortable. It ends here… Pack up your fucking stuff and get out of the building before I call security," Gibbs spat out. "You have a problem with DiNozzo and Ziva? I can fire you two as well. Don't you ever think you're irreplaceable Tony because everybody can be replaced. What are you standing around for Abigail?" Gibbs asked. He turned around since he wasn't able to see the heartbroken face of his Forensic Scientist.

"Boss?" Tony asked in an extremely nervous tone.

Gibbs turned around and eyeballed him. "What?!" He snapped.

"Ziva and I have to gather some information about…" Tony was interrupted by the stare.

"Take McGee and do what you need to do," Gibbs answered.

Tony and Ziva watched Gibbs and the visiting agent leave the area. "McGee," Tony said into his cell after dialing his number. "Get to MTAC urgently," Tony ordered him with full urgency.

"Tony…" McGee had begun to question.

"MTAC now. Drop everything and get your ass into MTAC right now. Ignore EVERYTHING else," Tony ordered as he made his way up the stairs. He had heard this being done a few times and he hoped that it would work. With Vance being off sick and Gibbs seemingly taking charge but acting the way he is. Tony knew there was really only one course of action to take.

NCIS MTAC

"What is it, Tony?" McGee wondered what was so urgent once they met outside MTAC.

"We're going to do something major here. I'm going to need help doing it," Tony's eyes darted around to make sure that nobody else was listening in. "But this is like, above anything we've done. It could be dangerous and I want to make sure you understand that before I ask this… We're going to stand Gibbs down," Tony said. "I need backup."

"I am in," Ziva didn't have to think twice. The Gibbs in the bullpen couldn't have been Gibbs. "Gibbs would never have spoken to Abby like that," she added. McGee looked at her quizzically. "Gibbs said that she was fired and told her to pack her stuff and get out while using very colorful language," she said.

"What?!" McGee asked. Gibbs would never do that. "Ok," he said.

"Good. Now, I want you to delete Gibbs' codes off the system. I don't care how. Can you do it McGee?" Tony asked as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"How do you think you turned up dead on the system that one time," McGee smiled.

Tony gave him a quick stare. He did see the funny side of it though. "Alright, do what you do McGee," Tony said as he pressed his eyes near in front of the retinal scanner which allowed them to enter MTAC.

"Get me the CIA and Homeland Security on screen," Tony barked out the orders as soon as he entered. McGee sat down at a terminal in the dark corner. He didn't have to wait long until the feed was up. "Now, there's a face I haven't seen in a long time," Tony allowed a moment to joke.

The tall man on the left side of the screen turned around. "Long time no see Agent DiNozzo," Tom Morrow said. "What can I do for NCIS?" He asked.

"Director Morrow Sir," Tony said and then looked at the other. "Director Richards… I know this is highly unorthodox," he fought to make sure that his words were coming out right. "We have an issue here. I need for you to revoke Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' security clearance. He's been compromised. I'm not sure how or why but we are going to get to the bottom of this," Tony said.

There was stunned silence between the two men on screen. "We'll get it done," Director Richards said. His picture went off, leaving just Tom on the big screen.

"Is there something I should know… Or this department should know about?" Tom asked. There was still some concern over Gibbs.

"We don't know any specifics yet," Tony said and the transmission was ended. He breathed a sigh of relief and checked his watch. It was only quarter to eight and it felt like it's been a full day already. "That was the easy part," Tony muttered to himself. "Ziva with me," he looked over at McGee who was still typing away. "McGee. When you're done… Meet us in the bullpen. I can imagine Gibbs is going to be royally pissed," he muttered under his breath.

McGee, Gibbs, Tony, Abby and Ziva are sitting on the chairs with arms folded.

Fictionnaire: What? Are you lot really that upset? I brought a coffee machine that gives tea… Caf Pow, hazelnut creamer…

(Still silence)

Fictionnaire: Well ok… I'll just talk to myself and the coffee machine. Hello coffee machine. How are you today?