Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, Mass Effect, Resident Evil or anything else that may seem familiar about this story. This is purely for fun.

Day 4: East End of London, England, United Kingdom- 0948 GMT

"We should have asked Galsworthy about the gang's base of operations when we talked to him earlier," McGee remarked as the team walked along quickly, navigating the narrow streets.

"Couldn't have known," Nigel answered. "We were trying to find the Paladin, not the Whitechapel gang. We only asked what we had to at the time."

"Maybe." McGee frowned. He had spent too many years with Gibbs to believe that was a credible reason. "We still should have thought of it earlier."

"Well, when we find him, we'll make sure that he doesn't leave again until we're satisfied hes told us all he knows," Stephanie, who was leading the group, replied.

"Question," Giguère spoke up, his short legs moving briskly to keep pace with the rest of the group. "How do we know where the salesman finds himself now? Given desperation to leave, he may even have found away to quit London. Perhaps even Britain."

"He's still here," the Canadian responded. "And I have an idea as to where he is."

"And if he's not there, Stephanie?" Nigel asked. "What if you're wrong?"

"I'm never wrong." Stephanie turned and gave a confident smirk to the Australian, to which Maria responded with a snort. "I would've thought you would have learned that by now, Nigel."

"Assuming we do find him and he knows where the gang's base is," McGee said, "what's to stop him from alerting them that we're on the way?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Stephanie answered.

"But if it does?"

The CSIS officer turned and fixed him with a no-bullshit look. "We'll take care of it."

A slight shiver ran down the spine of the MIT graduate and he didn't press Stephanie as to what exactly she meant by that.

"Let's try and exercise all our options before it comes to that," Nigel interjected, apparently just at unease about her possible insinuations as McGee.

"But if it does," Maria said, "I'll get first crack at that fat bastard."

"The hell you will, Brazilian. You do that, you won't leave anything for the rest of us," Gage argued. "The first shot's mine."

"Fuck you, puto. No one goes over me and walks away. You try to screw me over, I'll rip you a new asshole."

"You don't have the guts to try."

"Oh really? Let's see if you still have yours after I'm done."

"Enough!" Stephanie interrupted, raising her voice to be heard over the increasingly loud ones of the two. She turned around to glare at the two. "We have bigger issues to worry about."

"Sure, whatever," Maria muttered. Gage merely grunted in response.

"What's the plan for when we find him?" McGee asked.

"To start, we'll make sure his bodyguards don't interfere in our questioning," Stephanie replied.

"I can do that," Maria said with a feral grin.

"So can I," rumbled Gage.

"Then we ask him where the base is. If he's smart, he'll tell us right away."

"And if he does not?" Giguère questioned.

A dark look came into Stephanie's eyes. "Like I said, we'll deal with it."

Canary Wharf, London, England, UK- 1001 GMT

"Tony! You bump me with your elbow one more time and I will kill you with this pen!"

"Oh, excu-uuse me, Agent David! Next time we're in a surveillance van, I'll be sure to stand instead of sit. That way I'll hit you with my knee instead!"

"I hope you try that. I have been looking for a reason to show you what a broken kneecap feels like."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Zee-vah, but someone's already beaten you to the punch on that."

"Oh believe me- you will be wishing it was a mere punch to the knee."

"No, I meant- okay, you know what? Screw it. I'm not going to bother telling you what that means. I'm going to let you find out the hard way!"

Thwack!

"Ouch!"

Thwack!

"Ow!"

"How about you two focus more on the schematics of that tower?" Gibbs said, the 'suggestion' sounding much more like an order. "You know, so we can figure out how to get to Rutherford without getting killed? After that, you can concentrate on how to inflict as much pain as you want on the New Dawn security forces. Until that point in time, quit screwing around and get back to work!"

"Got it, boss." Tony sighed as he returned to the building plans that Hathaway had provided for them.

"As I was saying before being rudely interrupted," Ziva said, glaring at Tony who stuck his tongue out at her, "we cannot get up to the penthouse through this side stairwell. It only goes up halfway and leaves very little room for cover."

"Memorize it anyway," Gibbs ordered. "We need to know every possible route in or out of that building. If we have to make a quick escape, we might need it."

"Yeah, being chased by a group of heavily-armed mercenaries would probably fall under that category," Tony said, making an asterisk next to the staircase in question on the sheet in front of him.

"I still do not like it," Ziva argued. "There is too much space on the upper floors to be fired upon. We cannot keep an eye in front of us and above us at all times. It is too risky."

"Well, what would you suggest we do, Zee-vah?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Call Shelia Rutherford, ask her politely if she'll tell her security to not blow our heads off the minute we enter the building and then ride the elevator up to her penthouse?"

Ziva fixed him with another glare. "No. But we need to avoid as much confrontation as possible. Skilled as we are, we are only three. There are likely dozens of security personnel to be throughout the building. We will run out of bullets long before they will unless we are careful."

"Rules out the front and back entrances," Gibbs replied. He was staring intently at the sheet in his hand, as though doing so would somehow intimidate it into revealing the best route for them. "Security's tightest there. Gotta find another way."

Ziva stood up. "I am going to see if I can see any other spots we could use to our advantage," she said, moving towards the back doors.

"Uh, isn't the whole point of surveillance to view from afar so you don't, uh, you know- get seen?" Tony's sarcasm came through once again.

Ziva turned back to him, a smirk on her face. "You of all people should know that I am never seen unless I want to be, Tony."

"Really?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Yes. By the way, you really should stop playing with your hair so much when you are standing in front of a vending machine. It is disgusting and it makes you look even more vain and narcissistic than you already are." With that, she deftly turned and walked out of the van.

Tony stared as the doors closed back up. "Can you believe that, boss? That she, of all people, would accuse me of vanity and narcissism. Me! Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"You really want me to answer that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without looking up.

"Meanwhile, she goes about blissfully mangling the English language and trying to win some kind of Snore-a-thon," the ex-cop murmured under his breath.

"You wanna point out the peculiarities of everyone else, Tony, do it on your own time," Gibbs said pointedly. "In the meantime, how about trying to come up with a plan that will get us up to the penthouse alive?"

Tony sighed once again before consulting the schematics once again. "I'm going to be seeing lines and boxes for the next few days if I keep staring at this much longer."

"You say something, DiNozzo?"

"No, boss." Tony turned his attention to the sheet. After studying it for a few moments, he said, "You know, if Rutherford was really as paranoid as Hathaway said she was, she's bound to have several escape routes planned."

"If so, then Park will know about them too."

"He could try to catch her leaving by one of them. Or when she comes back at the end of the day."

"Doubt it," Gibbs grunted. "Too many areas to cover at once. He'll want to get her in one place before she can get away. That means an offensive attack, not a defensive one."

"Any ideas where he'll plan to do that?"

"Rutherford's paranoia is such that she won't go anywhere too open or unfamiliar. She'll want any confrontation to be on her terms- to have the advantage." Gibbs looked at him. "She'll take refuge in the place she feels the most secure."

"Her penthouse."

"Yep. Probably where she'll keep her most elite bodyguards. And if Hathaway was right about Park wanting to avoid civilian casualties, where they're the least likely to be. It's the most obvious place he'd strike."

"Boss, not to discount your gut," Tony started, "but we know next to nothing about how this guy operates. What if Hathaway was wrong? We might end up in the middle of a huge firefight in the lobby right as the work day ends."

"You got a better idea, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.

Tony held firm. "I'm just saying that our information is really sketchy here, boss. We're running in the dark without flashlights- worse than Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs." Gibbs raised an eyebrow at this reference which Tony didn't seem to notice. "Besides, how do we know he'll even want to come with us? He's an assassin; they're not exactly used to working in teams."

"Thought you'd be used to working with assassins by now," Gibbs remarked, returning to the schematic in front of him. "You've had six years to practice."

"Yeah, but this is different. Ziva was an ally government-backed assassin. This guy kills for money; might be the only thing he's loyal to. How many of those have we come across over the years? There's a difference here, boss." Tony stared at Gibbs firmly. "Don't act like you haven't thought of it too."

"Never said I haven't, DiNozzo. But I don't have the luxury of running my own background checks on all these new recruits. We gotta use what we have right now. When the time comes, if Park decides his paycheck is more important than human lives, we'll deal with that then."

"You really think it's gonna be as simple as that?"

Gibbs looked up to stare at Tony. "Why don't you tell me, Tony? What about this whole situation is even remotely simple?"

"Look, boss, I'll be the first to admit that our job has never been a cakewalk but we were almost always the ones running it. Even for things that we didn't anticipate when we signed up- Somalia, Mexico- we were always the ones calling the shots. This time we've got Brewer and CSIS and everyone else telling us what we're up against. It's strange; 'hinky' Abby would call it. I just wanna make sure we're not rushing into battle without some damn good backup."

"Kinda late for wondering about that, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, although he agreed completely with his senior field agent. "If we wanted to keep things simple, we'd have undertaken this op ourselves."

"Should we have?"

Gibbs paused, noting that Tony had not asked him could they have. "Not sure how long it would've taken us to find everything out. Would we have discovered what was really going on? Maybe, maybe not. But we're here now. Nothing we can do to change that."

"But-"

"Look, DiNozzo," Gibbs interrupted, giving Tony a look that said 'you damn well better listen well'. "Since this op began, we've nearly been blown up. The naval yard's been destroyed. We basically got railroaded into working with a foreign intelligence service. The ones responsible for the abductions possess technology that's never been seen before. And the people who've been 'suggested' to work with us consist of a scientist who thinks killing civilians can be justified, a police officer who acts more like the criminals she was supposed to stop, a super-soldier with the mindset of a testosterone-driven teenager and two intelligence agents who would probably gun us down if they were ordered to. Now we've been ordered to bring along an assassin who kills for money, an elite warrior we know virtually nothing about and a mercenary who I wouldn't be surprised should be locked up for life in The Hague for war crimes." His eyes pierced into Tony's. "Now you tell me- do you think I would've agreed to any of this if I didn't absolutely have to, DiNozzo?"

"Um," Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "No, probably not, boss."

"Then quit wasting time dwelling on the should'ves, could'ves and would'ves. We are where we are because of the circumstances. Nothing we could've done to prevent that. Unless of course, you'd have rather been blown up at the naval base."

"No, boss." Tony sighed. "I guess I just don't want our team to become disenfranchised. Look at us now; you, me and Ziva are here while McGee is off with a group of rogues led by an ice queen. I don't want our team broken up again. It sucked the last few times and it sucks now."

Gibbs didn't respond to Tony's remark at first, but then again there was really no need to. He remembered all too well the last time the team had been broken up; Tony had been stationed aboard the USS Ronald Reagan as Agent Afloat, Ziva had remained is Israel, and McGee had been sent back down to Cyber Crimes. It was hell then and it had remained hell the entire time. He had no intention of letting it happen again.

"Yeah, it does, DiNozzo. But as long as I'm in charge, we'll all be here, working together just like we always have. Wouldn't agree to this op if we couldn't. We're still a team- we just have to work with a few new people and a different agency. As far as I'm concerned, NCIS is still in charge."

Tony gave a grin. "Does that mean I'm still your favourite?"

Thwack!

"Ouch! Guess not."

"What made you think you ever were a favourite, Tony?"

"Uh... my million dollar smile?" Tony said, giving another example of this. "I mean, I know I got a lot of good features, boss, but that one kinda stands out, I think."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Look at it this way, DiNozzo; out of all the people I'm supposed to lead on this team, no matter what happens, the only ones I know for certain I can count on are the ones who've proven I can count on them. And you should know it takes a lot of time to prove something like that to me."

"Yeah. Damn, how long did it take me to prove it?"

"Right after you took your first head slap."

Tony grimaced. "Oh yeah. Been trying to block that memory out, boss."

Gibbs barely suppressed a smirk. "Survived it though, didn't ya? Did a lot to earn my trust that day. And it's paid off, Tony. If I'm walking into hell, I need someone I can trust to have my six on my side."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You realize of course this plan has me walking into hell too?"

"Never heard you complain about it before."

Tony gave a chuckle. "Just like old times, boss."

"Damn straight." This time Gibbs allowed himself a small smirk.

Whatever the two men had been planning to say next was abruptly interrupted; the back doors swung open and in strode Ziva, who briskly closed them back behind her.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "That was quick," he remarked. "Is our little ninja not quite as patient as she once was?"

Ziva ignored him. "We are being watched."

"Hmm?" Gibbs looked up. "What do you mean?"

"There is a woman on the other side of the square who keeps glancing at the surveillance van," she explained. "She has also been robbing glances at Rutherford Tower as well."

"Stealing glances," Tony corrected.

"Whatever."

"You sure about that, Ziver?" Gibbs questioned.

"I know when someone is watching something, Gibbs. She is certainly not being conspicuous, but I am sure of what she is doing."

The senior agent rose. "Show me."

The three agents exited the van, Ziva leading them to the side that faced the towers. She nodded in the opposite direction. "The centre bench across the street."

Gibbs and Tony peered around the van in the direction she was indicating. In the place in question sat a petite, decidedly feminine figure wearing black boots and dressed in a long dark coat that looked to be either black or navy blue. Her hands were folded in her lap and a hood was pulled up over her head, making it impossible to see her face or any distinguishing features. Her head was also bowed slightly and it was not clear to Gibbs just which direction the woman was looking.

"How can you tell where she's looking?" Tony demanded; apparently he too was a bit confused. "I can't even tell what colour her skin is!"

"I have been doing this for a long time, Tony. Believe me; she has been looking mostly at the tower for the last couple of minutes, but has also taken several glances at the van."

"A tourist in trouble maybe?"

Ziva shook her head. "This is not a case of simply taking in the view. The way in which she shifts her glances- almost as if she is connecting us to the building in some way."

"Maybe she is," Gibbs replied.

Tony looked at him. "You think maybe she's spying for Rutherford?"

"One way to find out." Gibbs checked his side automatically to make sure his weapon was there. Tony and Ziva looked over at him. "You are going to directly confront her?" Ziva questioned rather incredulously.

"Don't really have the time for fancy ambushes," the team leader responded. "Stay here and keep an eye out. Be prepared to give me backup in case I end up needing it."

"You really think it's a good idea to approach her alone and directly, boss?" Tony asked uncertainly.

"Not a matter of it being a good idea, DiNozzo. Matter of it being the only idea right now." Gibbs didn't leave either of his agents the time to contradict him further and walked out from behind the van.

Tony and Ziva watched him go, both checking to make sure their own weapons were at their sides and ready for use in case they needed them. Tony sighed. "Sometimes, in these cases, I wonder if he does these things just to see whether he can actually be killed." He looked at her. "You ever think about that?"

Ziva's face said nothing, but her words left much to the imagination. "More than you know."

Gibbs approached the figure cautiously, his hand resting close to his side. He didn't walk in a straight line but rather in a slight curve, ready to make a quick move if necessary.

He was about ten feet away from the woman, ready to ask her what was going on, when she surprised him by speaking first. "Finally," she said without looking up; her voice flowed with a notable but not overly heavy exotic accent. "I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to break into your van to talk to you, Agent Gibbs."

There were very few times that Leroy Jethro Gibbs was caught off guard and found himself at a temporary loss for words, but this was one of them. "You know who I am?" He asked after a moment.

"Of course; I've only been waiting for you for six hours." She raised her head towards him and underneath the hood, Gibbs got a glimpse of a brown-faced young woman of decidedly South Asian ethnicity with a mischievous grin. "I was beginning to think you'd never get here. Not can you please tell your agents to put away their weapons and come over here? Miss Rutherford is not going to wait for you to come up with a plan to get into her penthouse."

A/N: Sorry for the wait. Please review and give me feedback!