*Chapter 3*

McGee lies in his bed tossing and turning while half asleep. He hears a noise, as if someone else is in the apartment. McGee reaches to the nightstand and opens it. The weapon is gone; the NCIS issued sidearm is no long in his possession. The doorknob to the bedroom turns. McGee's heart races as he's too scared to even move from the bed.

The door opens. McGee sighs in relief as he sees Jamie at the door.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Jamie said as she enters into the room. She sits on the bed.

"How did you get in?" McGee wondered.

"I knocked on the door but you never answered. I got worried and picked the lock."

"What we went through three weeks ago, it… I don't know. For some reason I can't stop thinking about you." He said. There's a brief pause. "Jamie, I…"

"Shh…" Jamie places her finger against McGee's lips to quiet him. "It's alright, Tim."

Jamie leans forward and gently places her lips onto his. As they kiss, both of them start to take off the clothes of the other. After a minute, Jamie shoves McGee down. She places one leg over McGee and sits on top of him.

Jamie moans softly as McGee penetrates inside of her. McGee puts his hands on Jamie hips and the two of them begin having sex.

After a minute, Jamie slows down to a full stop. She looks down at McGee.

"Oh my God…" Jamie said in the realization that what's happening is wrong. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not?" McGee asked.

"Because..." Jamie begins to say. McGee blinks for a second. When his eyes open, he sees the creepy carnival puppet from the Saw movies directly in his face. "Cause I want to play a game." The creepy voice said.

McGee wakes up with his heart racing. He breathes heavily; almost to the point of causing hyperventilation. McGee throws the bed covers back only to find he wet the bed.

"Dammit…" He sighed.

McGee gets up, turns his body to the side and sits on the edge of the bed. Of the recurring dreams he's been having the past three weeks, the one with Jamie occurs the most. And it always ends with the creepy carnival puppet.

A sudden excruciating pain in his left shoulder almost causes him to pass out. After fixing the sling that supports his arm, McGee recalls the incident of how the injury occurred. Almost losing his left arm was probably the most frightening part of the incident three weeks ago. Since then, the shoulder has had multiple surgeries to repair the tendons, muscles and connective tissue. And it hurts him constantly.

McGee takes a deep breath and grabs the bottle of prescription pain medication from the nightstand. He opens the bottle and stuffs two pills into his mouth. Lastly, he takes the glass of water on the nightstand. With a big gulp of water, McGee swallows the medication.

Meanwhile, at NCIS Headquarters, the team has only just started discussing the situation of the escaped prisoner. Fornell hands a flash drive to Samantha.

"Who may I ask is Apocalypse?" Ziva wondered as she never heard of him until now.

"Only one of the scariest psychopaths of all-time." Tony answered. "He's like a Terminator version of Halloween's Michael Myers." He notices the confused expression on her face. "Nevermind… He's a really really big, scary guy."

"Apocalypse…" Samantha begins to say as she puts information up on the plasma screen for the others to see. "…born October 23rd, 1971 in the city of Eugene, Oregon. He was a disturbed boy who often sought refugee in his comic books. It's suspected he was abused by his parents as a child. When he reached puberty, the boy all the other kids made fun of grew to a massive size. In 1988, he murdered his entire family the night of Christmas Eve. He was seventeen-years-old at the time." Pictures of the gruesome crime-scene are now on the plasma. "He also broke into every house on his street and murdered those families as well. The rampage lasted for seven years up and down the western seaboard; California, Oregon and Washington… He was finally apprehended in 1995 where it took twelve bullets to bring him down; ten of which were in the torso."

"Case study?" Gibbs muttered softly to Fornell.

"She wrote her thesis on him." Fornell replied.

"The only physical weapons he's ever used are large objects; desk, stove, refrigerator, furnace, motorcycle, etc. But the preferred weapons of choice are his hands." Samantha continued. "In 1986, a new Marvel comic's villain debuted; Apocalypse. He became infatuated with the villain." Pictures of the boy's room are now on the plasma.

"Whoa…" Tony said in surprise at the pictures of the boy's room.

"When he had the psychotic break in 1988, he took on the persona of his obsession by becoming Apocalypse." Samantha said. "He also adopted the merciless philosophy of the Marvel villain; only the strong survive and the weak must be destroyed. It's his mission to cleanse the world of the weak so the strong can prevail. But the man is driven by the underlying force to find the only surviving member of his family; Marien Greyson. He'll stop at nothing until the remaining member of his family is dead. And he'll destroy anything and anyone who gets in his way."

"I thought you said he murdered his entire family." Ziva stated in confusion.

"He did." Samantha said. "Apocalypse is so out of touch with reality that he believes Marien Greyson is still alive. And it's true, Marien is."

"But that doesn't…" Tony begins to say.

"Apocalypse is Marien Greyson, DiNozzo." Gibbs stated.

"That makes perfect sense why kids made fun of him and he eventually snapped." Tony commented. "The man has a girl's name."

"In the years of trying to apprehend Apocalypse…" Fornell begins to say. "…Twenty-seven cops, twenty-two state police and eighteen FBI agents were killed. Not to mention the large amount of civilian casualties." There's a brief pause. "The prisoner is not to be taken lightly or underestimated in any way." He looks to Samantha. "Show them."

"The following footage is from a surveillance camera outside a parking lot in Seattle, Washington, 1994." Samantha presses the play button. Everyone watches the video playing on the plasma screen. "An adult, male grizzly bear wandered into Seattle at night looking for food. The bear's one mistake was attacking Apocalypse."

They all watch as Apocalypse fights with the bear. After a three minute fight, the bear's left arm is broken. They watch as Apocalypse manages to get on the bear's back. He grabs the mouth of the bear and opens the jaw like a clam until it breaks.

"Ugh…" Ziva is disgusted by the video.

"Pfft! I can do that too." Tony commented. Gibbs smacks him on the back of the head. Samantha looks on him wondering what that was about. "It's a sign of affection." Tony said with a smile.

"Would you consider it to be affection if I put my boot up your…" Gibbs begins to say.

"Shutting up, Boss." Tony said.

"Evidence is going to pile up with this one, Gibbs. As will victims..." Fornell said. "Half of all evidence and victims will be sent here. I expect you to share all findings." He continued. "We need to find Apocalypse by any means possible. I don't care how or who does it. But we need him off the streets."

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs tries to get his attention. Tony looks at him. "Call your friend Lewis Matheson." He walks toward the back stairs.

"What are you doing, Gibbs?" Fornell asked.

"You said we're to apprehend the prisoner by any means possible." Gibbs said as he stops on the back stairs on route to the Director's office. "I'm going to get Lewis temporary authority to carry a gun."

Gibbs continues up the stairs. Fornell is slightly confused as to who Lewis Matheson is as he's never heard the name before.

"Who is Lewis Matheson?" Fornell asked in curiosity of not knowing who the person is.

"A highly trained, ex-Navy SEAL who is now a civilian." Tony replied as he dials Lewis' number. "He can help. Besides, he has much more experience with Apocalypse than we do."

While Tony contacts his friend. Gibbs talks with the Director. The others discuss aspects of the case as they wait to get fully operational on the NCIS side.