Summary:

"The Question is... are you going to be loyal to your country and let your agent suffer for you or betray it and spare him the pain?"

Or

Parent of a dead agent seeks revenge on Director Vance and Tony ends up in the crossfire.

I'm in fact alive!

Minor changes made 26.12.2022

The gala room was beautiful, the floors were so sparkly that Tony could see his own reflection on it. The music was upbeat and people dressed in their best outfits milled and chatted around the room. Waitresses walked around with food and drinks offering them politely to the quests and moving on.

Normally Agent DiNozzo would enjoy this. Maybe chat with a colleague from a different branch and enjoy the music. But today the packed room made Tony nervous. Today there were too many people to keep an eye on and way too many things happening around him to properly keep a count on. It was difficult to properly keep track of his director, what he ate, what he drank, who he talked to, and who was around. All in all it made his job so much more difficult.

If it was up to Tony, Director Vance would not be here today. He would be in a safe house with his family with more agents than Tony keeping watch. But it was not up to Tony and the man was too stubborn. Claiming that he would not hide when his family was in danger. That they had been in hiding for 5 months since the first threat was delivered and it was about time the bastard who dared to threaten his family was caught. And so to show he was not scared the director had decided that he would attend the agency's gala. Against all the regulations, it was just Tony in the bodyguard duty since the agency was stretched thin with cases.

It would be incredibly stupid to try and attack a party filled with armed senior agents and directors from all alphabets with their guards and whatnot. All of the staff has been carefully checked and noted by the FBI and the area was filled with security cameras. Yet it didn't ease Tony's nerves, his gut screamed that something was going to go wrong and so far his gut has always been right.

His eyes would follow Director Vance like a hawk, the waitresses' hands when they brought him a drink. Tony felt like he was a spring, ready to bounce if someone decided to attack. He had failed a director once. He would not do it again.

Tony watched as Vance drifted to the middle of the room and moved himself to follow. He smoothly dodged the other guests and waitresses, nodding politely when he made eye contact. There was a sudden pump on his road as he accidentally walked in front of a waitress, a mere shoulder check that had her apologizing profoundly as she took a hold of his elbow to balance herself. Thankfully nothing was dropped and he could continue his way towards Vance.

There were so many people, Vance had moved farther away and Tony could only barely see him. So. Many. People. Tony wasn't afraid of the crowds, yet it felt like the room temperature just skyrocketed, it was hard to breathe but he continued on. The room felt too big yet the walls felt like they were closing in. Was Vance getting further away? Was Tony even moving. The chatter felt like it got louder…

"Oh!"

There was a surprised yelp and something wet spilled all over Tony's suit. He had walked in front of another waitress(…or was this the same one..? Didn't he just walk past her?) and got wine spilled all over his suit. Tony tried to apologize but his mind felt heavy and tongue numb. It was like he was drunk yet he had not taken a single sip of anything all night. Something was wrong. The waitress was talking to him, a hand was on his wrist and he was being pulled somewhere. He needed to get to the Director, he needed help but his mind was foggy and the grip on his wrist held firm, the world was blurry and his legs moved on their own.

The chatter was left behind him as he was being dragged away. A firm hit to his head was the last thing he knew before everything went dark. He knew he should have followed his gut.

-ω-

Vance looked around the room. He could not see DiNozzo anywhere and doubted if moving away had been that good of an idea. It had been smothering, he had felt his agent's eyes on him all night and it was making the waitresses nervous. He was the Director. He could take care of himself for God's sake. Yet part of him felt satisfied with how well DiNozzo was doing his job. No matter how he might disapprove of that man's antiques at times DiNozzo was one hell of an agent when he put his mind into it.

So not seeing his agent around made him nervous. DiNozzo was good at blending into the background if needed but he had been in the corner of his eye all night and he had seen him start to follow him when he moved away. So where is his agent?

Sudden shouting at the other side of the gala room drew his attention from his wayward agent. Directors were being pulled away with their agents and Vance ended up getting dragged away with the wave of people.

People were pushed against each other as the shouting increased a gunshot made the movement more frantic. There was more shouting, agents trying to control the masses as protocols were put in action. Vance tried to get closer to see what was happening but a firm shove sent him against a waitress who swiftly took a hold of his arm to stop them from falling and getting stepped on.

Someone was talking to him, people moved in a blur, a hand on his wrist tugging him to the exit. Maybe DiNozzo found him? No, the hand was too petit. Why was it so hard to think?

The world grew quiet as a door was closed behind him. The world swam in front of him and his mind buzzed. His gut screamed to get away yet his body wouldn't obey. Pain exploded in his head, the world tilted and went black.

"No more hide and seek Director Vance. It's my turn to choose the game and I'm going to make you suffer."

Wanted to make this longer but it was a good place to stop.

Thank you for reading! Leave a comment and kudos those make me happy and come say hi on Tumblr and Instagram @pinxku22

Stay safe