*Chapter 15*

At NCIS Headquarters, the team worked diligently with contacting anyone who used to know Apocalypse as a child. They're particularly interested in finding those who made fun of him about his name Marien. The plan Agent Cole came up with is a long shot, but worth trying.

"Okay, thank you for your help." Tony put the phone down. "Yeah, big help that person was." He runs a line through the name. The list is a rather long list in which he has many more to contact. "How are doing over there?"

"I've gotten half-a-dozen answering machines." Ziva said. "I would rather be back in the field with Lewis than to be stuck here doing desk work."

"That's the privilege of being the boss. He can swap places with you if he wants." Tony commented. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure Gibbs is enjoying the field." He grins cheerfully and Ziva glares at him for it.

"I have a package for Special Agent Cole." A delivery man stated upon entering into the bullpen.

"Here." Samantha raised her hand. The delivery man approaches her desk.

"Sign here." He holds a form out for her sign.

After signing the form, the delivery man leaves. The sight of the package on Agent Cole's desk intrigues Tony. He wants to know what it is. He has to know.

Tony stands up and inches closer to Samantha's desk.

"You can open it if you want." Samantha said.

"Okay." Tony snatches the package. Ziva shakes her head at the sight of a grown man acting like a child opening a present. With the package open, he reaches inside and pulls out what's inside.

"I remember this thing." Tony stated at the sight of the familiar collar.

"What's that?" Ziva wondered.

"It's a specially-made shock collar we need to get around Apocalypse's neck in order to subdue him." Samantha stated. "It's the same collar he swore when at the prison, The Last Place on Earth. The collar does two things… It emits a high voltage shock and it helps increase the electrical signals in the brain, which for someone with Apocalypse's condition, is what we need to subdue him."

"If the plan is to get this around Apocalypse's neck, then we're screwed." Tony commented as he holds the collar and plays around with it.

"I never said it was a perfect plan." Samantha said.

"Hey, check it out." Tony said as he opens the collar and puts it halfway around his neck. "My wife bought me this collar for Christmas because she thinks I'm her bitch." He laughed. The collar's strong magnets cause the back end to close and lock around his neck. "Oh shit…" He tries to pull the collar off.

"Wait, Tony! Don't…" Samantha tries to say but it's too late. Tony receives a shock and falls to the floor.

"Gibbs isn't going to like the fact that Tony is lying down on the job." Ziva stated as she stands up and looks at the unconscious Tony lying on the floor in the middle of the bullpen.

"Well… At least it was on the default settings." Samantha commented. "He'll be fine in a couple minutes."

A minute later, Jamie enters into the bullpen and immediately sees her husband lying on the floor. Worry and concern set in.

"What happened to my husband?!" She kneels down to check on him.

"He stupidly put a shock collar on without knowing how it works." Ziva commented.

"He'll be fine though. Maybe feel a little flimsy when he wakes up, but otherwise fine." Samantha added. "I tried to warn him, but…"

"You're sure he'll be fine?" Jamie asked.

"Yes." Samantha answered.

"Okay, good." Jamie sighed in relief as she gently strokes his hair in a caring way. "Now where can I get one of these?"

"It'll set you back a couple thousand dollars." Samantha stated. "Or you can bill it to NCIS like I did."

"It'll be worth the cost to give it to him as a Christmas present. I need to keep my bitch in his place." Jamie said as she knows Tony mostly likely mentioned something along the lines of that. She knows him well.

Eleven minutes pass.

Tony awakes on the floor in the middle of the bullpen. The grogginess he feels is enough that he can't even lift his head at first.

"Ugh…" Tony sighed. "Okay, I'm never doing that again."

He slowly gets up and stumbles into Gibbs's desk, causing a couple things to fall off. One of things to fall off is a computer monitor which breaks upon impact with the floor.

"Oh no…" He looks around the bullpen. "One of you take the wrap for this."

"Not a chance." Ziva stated.

"Wouldn't be good for me when trying to get on Gibbs' good side." Samantha said.

"What are you talking about?! He doesn't have a good side." Tony commented. He looks to Jamie who is sitting at his desk working phone calls from his list. "Babe…"

"Don't babe me. I'm not barking up that tree." Jamie said. "By the way, the collar suits you perfectly."

"Take this thing off." Tony flimsily stumbles to Samantha's desk.

"Umm…" Samantha sighed slightly as she doesn't exactly know how. "Give me a minute." She grabs the instruction manual.

"Oh, come on!" Tony exclaimed as he wants the collar off from around his neck.

"You can always try taking it off yourself…" Ziva stated with a grin upon her face. "Again."

"Haha!" Tony chuckled sarcastically. "I don't think so."

Gibbs and Lewis step off the elevator. Their efforts to track Apocalypse proved to be unfounded after discovering the three bodies in the abandoned building.

"Nice collar, Bro." Lewis said upon entering into the bullpen. "I guess Jamie finally put you in the doghouse."

"Ha ha ha…"

"The collar is a good look for you, DiNozzo." Gibbs stated as he also enters into the bullpen. He stops in his tracks while Lewis sits down somewhere due to exhaustion. "Why is my stuff on the floor and my monitor broken?" He immediately looks toward Tony.

"I… I have a perfectly good explanation." Tony said nervously. He points to the side, toward his own desk where Jamie is sitting. "She did it."

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head. Due to the jolt of the smack and Tony scrunching his neck from it, the collar gives him a slight shock.

"Ah!" Tony cried. "What the f…" He sees Gibbs glare at him to refrain from swearing. "…I was going to say flubber." Tony turns back to Samantha. "Get this thing off me."

"I have to get him one those." Gibbs stated as he turns to his own desk.

"So the plan is to get that collar around Apocalypse's neck?" Lewis wondered.

"Yeah…" Tony chuckled. "It's a great plan, eh."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Lewis said sarcastically. "And maybe if we ask him politely, he'll put it around his neck himself."

With the entirety of the team in the bullpen, they start to discuss the long shot plan of how they'll get the collar around Apocalypse's neck.