Well, i made a right mess of posting this chapter before, here is the actual chapter...enjoy!

Chapter 12

"Did you get anything from her?" Gibbs asked Ziva over the phone an hour or so later.

"No." Was the short clipped answer, if Ziva couldn't get anything, Gibbs doubted anyone else could.

Cursing, Gibbs disconnected the call and turned back towards the rest of the team.

Ducky had been watching patiently while Gibbs had been on the phone, the curse from his friend's lips gave Ducky a horribly cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He was hoping he wouldn't have to try and convince Tony that they would have to take the chip out themselves.

Tony's condition hadn't changed, except for Tony no longer wanting to look at any of them, which in its self was odd. Usually, after finding a beaten Tony after other missions he'd have at least a half decent smile on his face, even if it was a guarded, exhausted one.

Here, however, they seemed to be right in the middle of a strained standoff.

Having showed most of what she had done to him, Tony had proceeded to put his shirt back on, even with Ducky's protests. Tony wouldn't let any of them near him, he was skittish and looking around as if expecting her to come back.

None of them knew where to place themselves, anytime they did get close to Tony he would tense up then wince in pain at the movement. They needed to get him out but so far that didn't seem possible, not without removing the damn chip themselves.

And neither of the Agent's in the room had the heart to do it; Tony had been through enough as far as they were concerned.

A tense silence loomed around them all, Tony was wavering, eyelids drooping with exhaustion; that was, until, Gibbs decided to speak up.

"Tony?" Yet still Tony wouldn't look him in the eye so he settled for the small head movement that signalled he was at least listening.

"Did she have a control for the chip?" Tony merely nodded then stopped listening; looking distractedly around the room, as if trying to remember what was going on by taking everything in again, even though he hadn't moved a muscle.

Something was missing, Tony could feel it. Yes, he was confused and jumpy but lucid thoughts still bounced around his head. Then, Gibbs' voice was back disturbing him again.

"Tony?" He tried to remember what he'd been asked and remembered something about a control of some sort. And he remembered her breaking something weeks ago. But his words came out quiet and apprehensive, and not quite coherent.

"She said that would happen if I didn't listen. Little tiny shards of metal, broken, and then thrown away." Tony paused for a moment and stared at something beyond Gibbs.

"Just like Ann." The stare and the voice sent shivers around the room. Then Tony simply blinked, as if he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary and looked towards the team.

Then Tony's eyes glazed over as if remembering something.

x-X-x

Eve hovered over Ann maliciously with a knife in hand.

Ann had just finished on the phone when it was knocked out of her hand with a forceful punch from Eve, sending Ann sprawling to the floor.

The glint of murderous rage in her calm eyes made Tony look away from her, he knew something bad was about to happen, he could feel it.

He got up slowly, against protesting injuries, hoping that Eve wouldn't notice him move.

Too late.

The next thing Tony knew was a slash of pain to his back as she spun around behind him and had the knife against his throat, the knife cutting lightly into him.

It took a moment before he realised that he was now on the floor and watching Eve walk up to Ann who was still unconscious.

Though not for long as Tony watched Eve stalk up to her former friend, crouch down and with the knife she had just cut Tony with, stab right through Ann's hand, pinning her to the ground she lay upon.

Ann screamed a horrid, agonising scream.

Well that was one way to wake someone up Tony thought and then looked away from the scene before him. He couldn't watch the person who had helped him be murdered right in front of him when he couldn't do anything about it.

Screams chased the darkness in his vision as he kept his eyes shut.

Then the screams simply stopped.

And Tony made the mistake of looking towards the shocking scene.

How someone could do that to someone else was beyond him.

x-X-x

McGee had paled on the words and looked around to see whether anything could prove what Tony had just said.

He really hoped that he wouldn't.

It was too gruesome to think about, though the look in Tony's eyes told the story of horror that had occurred within this house.

And from the looks that Gibbs and Ducky were sharing it was about to get a whole lot worse for Tony.

"Anthony," Tony startled a little at the soft voice but inclined his head towards the doctor speaking his name, "we need to get the chip out."

Tony seemed interested but didn't attempt to move towards them.

Gibbs had left this part to Ducky, knowing that his own emotions wouldn't allow for the calming tone Ducky was speaking in.

Even Ducky's actions seemed awkward and unpractised now; nothing was right about what they needed to do now.

"Tony, do you understand what we are saying." Things were desperate if even Ducky was using Tony's preferred name. It seemed like a strange question to ask someone who was as lucid as Tony seemed but they had no idea of his mental state at the moment.

Tony, in response, looked deep in Ducky's eyes, the first time he'd done so in the past couple of hours and nodded. The elder man though, was shocked at the bleakness staring back at him. He questioned whether Tony really understood and was surprised when he laid himself down and removed his shirt again.

Silence descended around the room.

They all knew that this had to be done without medication.

And strangely, Tony seemed to be the calmest there, lying silently on the ground.

Something was definitely wrong here...

TBC

Again I know it's a short chapter, but I'm still working on it. Enjoy.