Time Crisis: Ultimatum…

Summary: The World is in peril once more but the good guys can't seem to get any Intel, so they send in their best men… but it seems the bad guys have a new agenda; they want the heroes for their own judgements… and they've taken the whole world hostage to get them… (TC1, II, 3 & 4 combo – Evan B centred)

Warnings: This is an AU (alternate Universe) Fic, meaning it does not follow the script or story of the Games… Well it might do in some areas but that's purely coincidental because I've only ever played TC4 in the arcade. Also all translations were done online with an online translator. If you can speak the languages I'm trying to translate and if you know it's wrong, could you please let me know because we all know online translators are sh-bleeeeep-…Thanks!

Authors Note: And here is Chapter Eight! Twice in one year! I'm getting better at this updating thing…

As always, let me know what you think, but no flames please. If you have any criticism to make please do it politely otherwise I shall ignore your words. (It's happened before, I'm sorry to say, and I hadn't even posted any real chapters…)

Chapter Eight:

His shift had just ended and Tom had handed over the keys to his shift partner Jeanette for the night. She was a rookie standby agent for the VSSE just like himself and held all the same responsibilities as he did; mainly looking after Evan while he was off duty. Not that either one of them would say that in front of the full Agent. The fallout wouldn't be worth the hassle.

Jeanette had come from the streets. The VSSE had spotted her talent when a terrorist group had threatened the city she was in and they had commended her bravery in defending a crowd of locals in the mall. She'd been a valuable asset from the get go because not only could she fight like a street brawler, but she also had connections to the homeless and thief networks. It became apparent that before she'd been recruited, she'd been involved quite high up with the fabled Thieves Guild. Tom had always thought the Thieves Guild to have been an urban myth dreamed up by overactive imaginations and comic books but after having met Jeanette, the VSSE - and subsequently himself too - soon found out that the Thieves Guild definitely existed. And thankfully, through Jeanette, the Guild was tentatively allied with the VSSE. An agreement was drawn up that for continued support, the VSSE would fund several private relief vans around the areas for those who were part of the Guild or had the Guild's protection. In return, information gatherers and spies were at the VSSE's disposal. It also gave the Guild a leverage over some of their rivals and gave the homeless and freelance thieves an incentive to join the Guild. Both sides got a fair deal from the bargain.

And Jeanette was a funny lass too. She always had Tom smiling with her stories and carefree attitude. In fact, Tom had found himself thinking of her more often lately. And it was just a moment ago that Francesca had accused him of liking Jeanette in a 'prospective date' view and he hadn't denied it. A pink flush had crept up to his ears as he thought about it and he'd decided that he didn't have the wits to respond to Francesca's teasing. He'd dashed out of the reception doors just as Nadine, a young blonde slip of a girl, had been entering. She called out a greeting but Tom had been in such an embarrassed hurry that he could only throw his hand up at her in a quick wave before he disappeared down the sidewalk.

Nadine was the newest reception recruit. She'd been there for only two days before Evan had gone on his mission. The Frenchman and the new girl had met for all of five minutes before he was off on his heroic trip leaving Tom and his team to get the girl up to speed. She was quite the talented computer whizz and a fairly decent receptionist too. Still rough on a few areas but she was still in training and Tom had no doubts she'd make an excellent addition to the team.

He smiled to himself, despite his grumblings of never seeing any action, he really liked the set-up he had here. Everything ran smoothly and he was free to relax his diligent nature. Nothing ever happened here and he had finally let himself believe that nothing ever would. So it was a surprise to him when his pager beeped with an automatic message from Evan's silent alarm. It was so unthinkable that it took him a moment to process before instincts kicked in to play.

He was only a few steps down the street, but with a reflex he'd honed for years in the Britain's Secret Service force, he'd turned on his heel and was running back inside the building he'd just vacated. He was just about to respond to the call on his pager when out of nowhere, a black shadow erupted from the corner and knocked into him heavily. The sudden attack knocked the pager from his hand and the next thig he was aware of was the marble floor violently greeting his head and then everything went dark.

It took him a few minutes to realise that he hadn't passed out, but it was the lights in the building that had switched off. He was disoriented for a moment before his training spurred him on and he forced himself to focus on the situation. Tom quickly fumbled for his flashlight that was still in its holster next to his firearm. He pulled both out of their respective holsters. He slowly sat up, knowing that he probably had a slight concussion if nothing else, and quickly searched for any immediate threats. The reception was quiet and dark. The shadowed figure that had attacked him was nowhere to be found, and neither was Jeanette, Francesca or Nadine. This worried him more than he was willing to admit. He quickly searched the floor nearby and found his pager a few feet from him. It was in pieces.

Carefully, he stood up and assessed his injuries before deciding he was well enough to locate the spare pagers in the drawers under the reception desk. He moved silently, unsure if there was anyone hiding in the shadows again, waiting to pounce. No one attacked which he took to be a good sign and he dashed across the hall, all the while wondering what had happened and where Jeanette, Francesca and Nadine were.

His questions were answered moments later however when he swung his flashlight around the desk of the reception. There lying on the floor as still as the dead were Francesca and Jeanette. He rushed forward and checked for a pulse. Both were alive, just unconscious. However, one was missing.

The new girl, Nadine wasn't there.

Wesley and Alan had been enjoying a quiet evening in watching reruns of the baseball leagues they'd missed while away on their missions, when the call came in.

It wasn't uncommon for Wesley to frequent the Dunaway household considering the situation. Alan's mother, Annabeth Dunaway, (Annie to her close friends) was a charming and energetic old thing but the poor dear suffered from a mild to severe case of Alzheimer's. Alan just couldn't find it in himself to move out even though she had a live in nurse and carer looking after her every day. The thing is, it had become such a rare thing for Alan to see the woman focused in the present and rather than miss the moments just because he wasn't in the same house, he decided that for both their sakes he'd stay with her until the unthinkable. The doctors and carers - supplied by the VSSE's vast network of resources no less - were optimistic that she still had years of life left in her and for the most part she was happy and entertained. But there were days where she'd find herself trapped in the memories of his father's and sister's death which happened almost nine years ago.

It was always hard for Alan when she relapsed to those days. He and his younger sister Emma, had been very close and to have her and his father snatched away by death's finger so suddenly had been a very dark moment in his life. He held a very deep seated hatred for all drunk drivers because of it. But when Annie relapsed, it would be as though it had just happened and she would be inconsolable. It grated on Alan and brought up his own depressive feelings. It was nights like these that the nurse would administer a light sedative for the old woman and then Alan would be on the phone to Wesley asking for pizza, beer and a friend.

Wesley was never one to disappoint. He visited often for nights in with his partner, but it wasn't often that his partner called him up for nights like this. So it was with an equal degree of relief and anxiety when Alan had moved for his weapons cabinet before he'd even hung up the phone.

"Evan's silent alarm is going and there's no response via phone or the standby agent onsite. G's on his way there now but has asked for back up just in case." Alan said quickly and to the point before grabbing his jacket. It was all Wesley needed to know before he too was arming himself and donning his jacket.

"My truck's on the road." He said, pulling out his keys from his pocket where he'd stashed them upon entering the Dunaway house. But Alan had other plans.

"The jeep is faster and can carry more. Might need to split the scene quickly." He pointed out and Wesley couldn't argue with that.

"You ok to drive?" Wesley asked, eyeballing the beer bottle that was by Alan's chair. Alan glanced back at him, then down to the beer bottle.

"I'm good." He replied before leaving the room. Wesley checked the bottle, it was still full. His partner had opened the bottle hours ago and judging by the amount still in the bottle, had only taken one sip. Alan wasn't much of a drinker for many reasons, his diabetes being a big factor, but he still let loose once in a while – he just had to be careful about how much he drank in any one session. However, tonight had been a pretty bad one; Annie had relapsed to the night she'd been widowed and hadn't taken it well. Alan was in a dark mood and had immediately called Wesley for the usual. Inhibited or not, Alan wasn't in the best of minds and Wesley decided to keep an eye on the man tonight. If anything happened to one of their brothers on top of this…

Giorgio was never really one to panic. He'd been exposed to far too many dangerous situations over the years to be really affected by the darker side of life. Long before he'd joined the VSSE, Giorgio had been bounced around the inhumane terrors of a Mafia family feud and had come out somewhat normal.

So it was with a degree of surprise that he found himself battling a moment of panic when he pulled up outside his partner's building. The whole street was dark. There were no street lamps, traffic lights or any home lights glowing anywhere. The Italian man cut the engine to his bike and removed his helmet to look up. The giant building was dark and quiet. It was eerie, especially knowing that Evan needed help. He couldn't leave the kid for more than a few hours before he'd find some sort of trouble.

Giorgio quickly pulled out his phone and sent a coded message to the Head. He'd confirmed that something was going down here and that back up would be very welcome. Message sent, he decided to investigate. He put his phone away and pulled out his stainless Steel, Inox Italian Beretta, checked the ammo cartridge and the clicked the safety off before putting it back into the holster just under his left arm. He didn't want to alarm anyone if it was just a power outage but Evan hadn't answered his cell phone and the silent alarm was triggered which shouldn't have happened even with a power outage. On top of that the back-up generator wasn't on either which was unlikely unless it had been tampered with. All these separate facts told him that danger was afoot.

Giorgio glanced up the side of the building, picking out Evan's apartment windows and watched it for a second. Nothing moved or stirred and that worried him a little more. It meant that Evan wasn't in a position to get to the windows, which meant he was either hurt, or being held against his will. Giorgio frowned and turned on his heel toward the rear entryway. There was a set of doors at the back of the building which lead to a long vertical maintenance tunnel which ran along-side the elevator shaft. It was all ladders and small spaces but it was also deemed a worthy escape route for in case of fires. The fire escape served well for civilians but if anyone was holding Evan, then the fire escape and the elevator were the only entry points the intruder would be watching. This was just a serviceman shaft but it was also fairly unknown and would prove as his element of surprise. Giorgio keyed in the code for the lock, opened the door and steeled himself for a long and arduous climb.

"Hello little brother."

The words confused him. Evan didn't have any siblings. Well none that he knew of anyway. He'd been adopted as a child but that had been years ago. There'd been no record of his birth or biological family and he'd never had any adopted siblings either.

"I ain't your brother, Miss. I think you got the wrong guy." He replied evenly, keeping as still as he could. But her response confused him even more.

"Oh no silly, I've definitely got the right guy. I've done my research. The DNA tests all proved very positive." She replied, still holding the muzzle of the gun at the back of his head. Evan only had a brief moment to wonder what she meant by DNA tests before she was talking again. "You are most definitely and irrefutably, Evan Sinclair, my younger brother. Father is going to be very pleased. He can hardly wait to meet you Otouto." She added.

Evan's eyes widened in confusion even more. His attacker, sounded younger than he was and yet she was calling him her younger brother. On top of that, he knew the name Sinclair rang a loud warning bell but he couldn't think where he'd heard it from. Something else he noticed too was how steady she was holding the gun to his head. He'd felt no tremors or shaky movements the whole time it was pushed against his skull. There was no random movement or twitching and no hesitation. This girl had killed before and quite happily too.

"What do you want?" He asked, giving up with trying to reason with the girl. He kept calm and still so as not to antagonise her in any way. He felt her lean in close, a warmth radiated across his back and close to his left ear. His dead leg was no longer incapacitated so he braced himself to move, stitches be damned.

"I want my little brother to come home." She whispered into his ear. Her hand found his shoulder and that was all it took for Evan to spring into action. With lighting quick reflexes he threw his own hands up to his head and shoulder, gripping her wrists as he did so and at the same time pulled his weight forward into a tumbled roll. He manged to shift the gun away from his head and it fired harmlessly into the window, shattering it completely. The sound alone should alert his neighbours both above and below that there was something going on and he hoped that they would try to evacuate and not come to investigate.

Her body followed his controlled tumble over his shoulders and the angle forced her to release her weapon but just as he felt he had the upper hand, a blinding strike to his temple forced his head backwards and dazed him for a few precious seconds. Her wrists were free microseconds later and his were now in her grasp, her feet against the back of his chest. He shifted quickly, knowing that if she followed through with that move, both his shoulders and his wrists would be dislocated and that would disable him further. He twisted his body sideways and felt her feet slip off his back and under his armpit. The twist weakened her grip on his wrists and he allowed himself to roll again, twisting his own wrists in her grasp and reversing the move on to his assailant. She released his wrists to escape the fate and rolled backwards in a graceful gymnastic style tumble before coming to her feet. Evan mimicked the roll less gracefully but was on his feet the same time she found her footing.

They stared at one another for a moment in a stalemate. He took the time to study her, or what he could see of her anyway. With the lights off he couldn't make out much of her appearance and his assessment was further hindered by the strange outfit she had adorned. If the situation hadn't been as serious as it was, Evan might have laughed and asked if she knew Halloween wasn't for another couple of months. She was dressed up in a pseudo imitation of a ninja costume from the many movies he'd indulged in as a lad.

"Listen kid, I have no idea what you're talking about and I have no intentions of going anywhere with you so let's just say goodbye and be on our separate ways." He tried. He honestly didn't expect her to just agree and leave, she'd gone to too much trouble to get in here to do that but he was hoping to open up a dialogue and learn as much as he could whilst simultaneously stalling until backup arrived.

"Silly boy, I'm not leaving here without you. It took me a lot of effort and time to get to this point in my plan." She replied, "And besides, you'll miss the family reunion." She added with a chuckle. He couldn't see the bottom half of her face but he could imagine the sickly smile plastered there.

"Family reunion huh? And where is this reunion?" He asked, if he could leave a hint behind in case he couldn't escape then at least he'd have help not far behind. Giorgio wouldn't stop unless Evan was safe and home or one of them was dead. It was a comforting feeling, knowing that your partner had your back both on and off the field, especially when one in their profession tended to rack up the amount of enemies they had. There were bets back at head-quarters as to who would be targeted off duty first. Gary and David in Tech and Frank in Comms were going to be a little richer after tonight's ordeal.

"Naughty, naughty. I can't tell you." She said in a mocking tone of admonishment, "It's a secret." She added in a conspiratorial whisper. And without warning, her hand shot out toward his head. He ducked in the nick of time but couldn't counter the swinging kick that came up on his left. He felt it hit his ribs but used her momentum to roll out of it and shoot back up to his feet.

What he didn't expect was the knife in her hand which jabbed at his shoulder with a glint of light and at a speed he could only hope to achieve one day. The force behind the stab alone put him onto his knees, the pain kept him there. Another fast jab pushed the knife further into his shoulder and he cried out as the blade sunk deeper into his shoulder joint. The flesh wound was now a much more serious one and had disabled his right arm almost entirely. The new pain however, woke him from his momentary lapse and in a surprising move, he used his own weight to roll away from her. For some reason, even though she had him on the run, she stopped to watch him as he found his feet again and didn't move. He didn't attack but neither did he run. Something about standing his ground had piqued her interest and her curious eyes were trying to puzzle out some conundrum. Evan knew why he wasn't moving. In his current state, if he attacked her then he'd be under her control in minutes. She was skilled and he was injured before the fight, but now he had a disadvantage in the form of a knife in his shoulder. And if he ran, she'd just chase him down and the result would be the same.

His inactivity had sparked another stalemate.

He watched her as she watched him; predator vs predator. Both warring to force the other to become their prey. Evan was just starting to think that perhaps he could try reasoning with her again but as soon as he took a breath to start talking, all hell broke loose.

Light flooded the room, blinding both combatants for a moment and then mere seconds later the fire alarm deafened the occupants of the room. Someone had got the emergency generator going and now was trying to evacuate the building. His immediate thought was Giorgio. He didn't live that far away and with Evan's silent alarm going off, Giorgio would have been here by now.

His capacity to think further on that matter though was suddenly wrenched from his control with a hard uppercut to his chin. He fell backwards and landed his own coffee table with a loud crash, the impact knocked the breath from his lungs and he gasped awkwardly trying to force air into his lungs. It only lasted a few minutes before he could breathe again and he immediately tried to pull himself up to get a proper look at his assailant but she was quicker. Before he could even turn his head, a sudden pain hit the side of his head and he was out cold a second later.

Sharon Sinclair silently fumed inside her own head as she dithered for a moment. Her plan was not working. The generator was supposed to stay off so that she could get out of the building without any camera's catching her. The fight with Evan had gone on for too long, her little brother was a surprisingly good fighter and had some mediocre martial arts skills at best. For a high rise carpenter that was unexpected but for the history he had with the French coast guard, his fast reflexes could be explained but the gun and the hidden compartment was a mystery.

She stared at the unconscious man, debating on her next move. She was alone, so moving him now was going to be difficult, especially if the lights were back on and the cameras were operating. The only safe route of escape was the window and the seven storey drop. There was a corner where the outside security cameras wouldn't spot her easily and if she used the para-glider in her suit she could easily get away and assume another identity but she'd have to leave Evan behind. The para-glider wouldn't take his weight too. She sighed as she collected her discarded weapon and then knelt down to Evan's head. Her gloved fingers brushed against his swollen cheek bone gently.

"Until we meet again baby brother." She cooed before moving to the window she'd accidentally shot. She turned to face the room once more before allowing herself to fall backwards out of the window. In seconds she'd disappeared into the night and chaos below.

A/N: Well… that happened. What did you think?