I'd like to thank elegant malice for being my First Reader. They were extremely helpful in pointing out parts which sounded awkward or needed to be tweaked, improving the flow of this story tremendously. Yes, elegant malice is a "they". Like Loki Laufeyson, elegant malice can choose whether they wish to be male or female at any given time. And yes, elegant malice is my First Reader, not my beta. Perhaps you're here because elegant malice mentioned their insane beta June Ellie and you decided to check out my only proper story so far. If so, I think it's fairly obvious that having elegant malice beta for me would be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, as elegant malice is usually too busy making a fool of themself to beta for me :P
The only Time Crisis game I've actually played is Time Crisis 4. I played it twice in the arcade with friends. The first time was how I found and fell in love with the game, its story and its characters. The second time was with elegant malice, when I dragged them to the arcade to help refresh my memory on the nuances of the game. (For example, it was only on my second playthrough that I realised: In the prologue, Giorgio climbs down the stairs carefully like a sensible person. Evan just JUMPS RIGHT OVER THE BARRIER to the ground level.) My friends and I are all horrible at shooting games, so we spent more time accidentally blowing each other up with grenades than actually making any progress. Still, I've watched Youtube playthroughs of the other Time Crisis games to get a glimpse of their stories and characters.
All details and characterisations of the VSSE agents are either from the Time Crisis Wikia or my own inferences. As such, I'm not sure how accurate they are.
Gunfire erupted nearby as Agent Giorgio Bruno ducked behind a stack of crates. Cursing under his breath, he loaded another clip of ammo into his handgun. A routine surveillance assignment had somehow gone awry, culminating in an all–out assault on the VSSE headquarters. The other agents had scattered throughout the building, hoping to isolate groups of assailants by splitting up.
A nearby explosion, mingled with alarmed yells, cut off the gunfire echoing from across the room. Quick as lightning, Giorgio popped out from behind his cover…
…And barely avoided shooting his startled partner in the face.
"Geez, watch it old man!" Agent Evan Bernard smirked as Giorgio lowered his handgun.
"Says the kid who rushes headfirst into battle without checking his surroundings," Giorgio retorted. "You're going to get your head blown off one day if you keep this up."
"Yeah, whatever. Room's clear, let's head out."
"What's the situation?" Giorgio raised an eyebrow, following Evan out of the room.
"Comm lines are still down last I checked," the Frenchman replied. "Haven't made contact with the others either."
"I reckon they're probably a tad busy at the moment," the Italian drawled sarcastically. "Not as though they can't take care of themselves," he added as they rounded a corner.
"Yeah, well–" Evan's eyes widened. "Look out!" He lunged at Giorgio as a high–pitched beep echoed through the room.
An earth–shattering kaboom, and Giorgio's world exploded in a sea of fire and chaos.
Mercifully, oblivion soon followed.
The first thing that registered dimly in Giorgio's consciousness was his aching head. It pounded and throbbed, engulfed in an impenetrable fog that left no room for thought. He shifted slightly, biting back a string of curse words as pain seared through his body. His eyes snapped open, a choking gasp rasping from his throat.
Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet, gritting his teeth as a scream of pain bubbled up in his throat. Fortunately, the rubble and debris created by the explosion had mostly missed him.
He had to look for the others. They had all been somewhere in the building when the bomb went off. Most of them had probably been further from the blast radius, and VSSE agents could take care of themselves. But all the same, he had to be sure.
Painfully, he clambered over the pile of rubble obstructing his path. A sudden surge of dizziness washed over him and he momentarily lost his balance, sending a shower of debris cascading down the pile. Preparing to continue climbing, he noticed something which had been uncovered by the loosened debris: A familiar leather jacket, now soaked in blood. Eyes widening, he pulled at the debris near the jacket, revealing its owner.
Richard Miller, the VSSE's legendary top agent, was as alone in death as he had been in life. Now fifty, he still tackled missions alone using just a handgun, refusing backup or better weapons. The one man army's corpse was riddled with bullet holes, his face twisted in a grimace of pain. His trusty handgun lay discarded to one side, broken beyond repair. No peace even in death.
Giorgio swallowed painfully, forcing himself to continue moving. Climbing down the other side of the rubble, he lost his grip and slipped, only to have his fall broken by another pair of lifeless bodies.
Keith Martin and Robert Baxter. Seemingly the most ill–matched pair of partners in the VSSE. Keith's habit of cracking jokes even in dire situations clashed with Robert's excessively serious nature, leading to constant bickering. Yet the duo's formidable partnership was built on mutual trust, though neither would ever openly admit it. The agents' mangled corpses now lay in a pool of blood. Robert was still gripping his pistol tightly.
Fighting back a surge of nausea, Giorgio crawled towards where the exit should have been. Black spots danced in front of his eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision and nearly stumbled headfirst into a boot. The bodies were charred beyond recognition, but somehow their distinctive jackets remained untouched.
Alan Dunaway and Wesley Lambert. The Phoenix and the Pegasus. The duo had been best friends even before joining the VSSE and were virtually inseparable. Alan's fiery impatience complemented Wesley's calm and analytical nature, balancing out each other's flaws like two parts of a whole. Their corpses were overlapping. They'd probably died fighting side by side, trying in vain to protect each other.
Giorgio choked back a sob, trying to force back the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. He realised he was crying and hated himself for it, forcing himself to keep moving forward.
The dim light shining through the exit made it hard to see. Blinking away the tears obscuring his vision, Giorgio crawled forward.
He'd nearly reached the exit when he spotted Evan.
The kid was lying motionless in the doorway. At first glance, he appeared to be unconscious. Giorgio desperately reached towards him, intending to rouse him. Then he noticed the crimson blood coating Evan's face. The kid's glazed eyes were wide open, staring at nothing in particular.
Giorgio palmed Evan's eyelids shut, tears flowing freely down his face now. He hadn't thought much of Evan when the kid joined the VSSE and was subsequently assigned to be his partner. Evan's impulsive behaviour had irritated Giorgio, clashing with the older agent's calm and reserved nature. But the kid had proved himself to be a competent agent despite Giorgio's first impressions of him. Inadvertently, Giorgio had grown to care for Evan. Despite their line of work, the kid had a certain spark about him, always full of energy and life.
The lifeless corpse sprawled on the ground mocked Giorgio. Far too empty, far too still to be his partner.
Giorgio collapsed next to Evan's body, gasping through sobs and shaky breaths. He should be stronger than this because he was a VSSE agent and VSSE agents could take care of themselves, but HQ was never supposed to be in danger, was always supposed to be safe. All the others were gone, and he was the only one left, and this wasn't supposed to happen. The sickening smell of blood filled the room and he choked on it, bile rising in his throat.
Suddenly, it was 19 years ago again, and he was a frightened 10–year–old hiding behind a stack of crates, watching his family being gunned down by a rival mafia in a shootout gone wrong. Somehow, he'd been overlooked in the carnage and chaos. The authorities had arrived shortly afterwards to find him desperately trying to dig out his family's corpses. It took three police officers to pull him away from the rubble, still clawing away with his bloodied fingers.
The world spun, and he was simultaneously a terrified child and a seasoned agent. Forever cursed to watch everyone else die except him. Forced to remain alive, forever alone. He screamed, clutching his head as darkness swam at the edges of his vision once more.
Then there were millions of bugs swarming over him and he couldn't fight them off, couldn't get away. He cried out desperately as the bugs overwhelmed him, engulfing him completely.
"Hey!"
Giorgio bolted upright with a strangled gasp. The accompanying surge of adrenaline added to his disorientation. Everything was too bright, too noisy, too confusing.
A strong hand gripped his shoulder gently but firmly as he inhaled slowly, feeling his panic recede. Opening his eyes, he met Evan's worried gaze.
"You alright?" Evan let go of Giorgio, grabbing a cup of water and handing it to him.
Giorgio accepted the cup, sipping from it as he gazed around in confusion, trying to get his bearings. He was in the infirmary at HQ, arms heavily bandaged, hooked up to several machines beside his bed.
"What happened?" To his mortification, his voice sounded shaky, tinged with an edge of hysteria.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Evan asked, sitting back on the chair by Giorgio's bedside. Giorgio tried to sift through his memories, but his mind was filled with a jumble of chaos and death, leaving him unable to tell which parts had really happened.
Noticing his confusion, Evan asked, "Do you remember fighting the Terror Bites?"
Giorgio thought back, and the memories flooded in. He and Evan had been sent to the United States to investigate the theft of a top–secret military weapon by terrorists. The weapon had turned out to be an insect–like biological weapon codenamed Terror Bite. Working alongside Captain Rush of the US Joint Intelligence Division and their mission control, First Lieutenant Elizabeth Conway, they'd managed to destroy the Terror Bites and foil the terrorists' plot.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that they'd boarded the helicopter to return to HQ. "Yeah, I remember that," he answered. "Remember getting bitten by one in the final battle too."
"Well, as it turns out, the name Terror Bite was more apt than we realised," Evan deadpanned. "The Terror Bites carry a venom in their bite which causes vivid hallucinations. Most victims don't realise this since few survive being attacked by them."
"You passed out shortly after we boarded the helicopter. At first, I thought you were just sleeping, like the old man you are," Evan smirked slightly as Giorgio rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"But then, you started sweating and shaking, like you were having some sort of a fit," he continued sombrely. "We got you back to HQ and to the infirmary as quickly as we could. Had to run a whole bunch of tests on you before we could stabilise the venom and purge it from your system."
Giorgio swallowed nervously. "How long has it been?"
"You've been out for about three days," Evan replied. "It was pretty bad at first. You were all feverish and delirious, and we had to strap you down for the first day or so because you kept thrashing about. Also…" He hesitated, looking away. "Never mind."
"What? Spit it out," Giorgio snapped irritably.
"You… you kept screaming and crying out for people who weren't there," Evan admitted quietly. Giorgio turned away, squeezing his eyes shut in embarrassment. "Perfect," he spat.
There was a brief silence, then Evan put a hand on Giorgio's shoulder. "Hey. None of us think any less of you for it, alright?"
"You're always so calm and unruffled out in the field, but you're still human. Everyone has demons that haunt them in the night. It doesn't mean you're weak."
Giorgio's throat tightened painfully, but Evan wasn't done. "What were you seeing?"
Giorgio swallowed, turning to look at Evan. He could see curiosity and concern in the younger agent's gaze, but not a hint of the pity Giorgio was expecting.
"It was… everything went wrong somehow… HQ blew up and… all of you died…" His voice cracked, and he could feel tears pricking his eyes. "And I was still alive… forced to live when all of you were gone… alone again…" His already shaky composure crumbled completely and he sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Evan wrapped his arms around Giorgio comfortingly. "It wasn't real, Giorgio. It was just a hallucination. We're all fine, I promise."
Gradually, Giorgio's sobs subsided and he pulled away, wiping his eyes. "Sorry."
Evan shook his head. "Don't be."
A knock sounded on the infirmary door, causing both men to look up in surprise.
"Hey, can we come in?"
"That must be the others. They've been worried about you," Evan explained.
Giorgio hesitated, then nodded. "Door's open guys."
The door swung open, revealing a group of agents who had most likely been eavesdropping.
"Look who's rejoined the land of the living at last."
"Had a good nap, Sleeping Beauty?"
"Don't tease him Keith, there's nothing funny about this."
"You need to lighten up Robert!"
"Yeah, you're always so grumpy. How can you be a school bus driver when you have no sense of humour?"
Giorgio sagged back against his pillow, drinking in the scene in front of him: Keith and Robert bickering as usual, Alan and Wesley joking together. Richard standing slightly apart from the rest, smirking as he watched their antics. And Evan, still sitting next to him, grinning in relief.
He wasn't alone anymore. His world was whole again, even if it was filled with a bunch of annoying nutters clustered around his bedside. And Giorgio wouldn't have it any other way.
As mentioned, this is the only proper story I have so far. As such, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism/reviews about my writing :) Thanks!