Q

[quartermaster_q]

"Q could do it," Tanner had suggested, prompting the young Quartermaster to look up from what he was doing and frown deeply.

 

"He certainly could not," the fluffy haired boffin replied blandly, shooting Tanner a look, then returning his attention to his laptop. "Besides, I don't go into the field without double-o seven."

 

It wasn't even official work they were talking about. Q Branch had simply gotten wind that a certain soviet agent was in town, apparently not on business, and at some point had started talking about how useful it might be to bug his personal laptop before five worked out he was here and got to him first. It had started off as light banter, a joke even, but it had gotten more and more serious as the time passed. Serious enough that someone had opened the man's file and had started reading up on the agent in question.

 

"It's not the field, it's a bar," Hopper, a young tech, chimed in. "Besides, you're just his type. Go in, have a flirt, bug him, then get out."

 

Q scowled, but it was obvious that they weren't going to let up- And really, it wasn't a terrible idea. He didn't like going out on something like this without Bond, but Bond wasn't in the office right now. He'd have to do this alone.

 

"Fine," Q eventually agreed with a sigh. "I'll do it."

 

That was how he wound up in a dreadful bar, sitting at a filthy table beside a large man who was attempting to get him very drunk. 

 

"Oh, just one more, come on," the man insisted, putting another beer down in front of Q.

 

His head was already spinning, and he knew if he drank any more he wouldn't be sober enough to do what needed to be done. His fingers grazed over his ear, tapping the device that sat inside as he assured the man he couldn't have another drop, hoping to alert his team that he needed some help- Except there was nothing. No static, no sound at all.

 

"What's wrong?" the Russian asked, his tone calm as his arm snaked around Q. "Can your friends not hear you any more?"

 

Q's pulse fluttered, and he tensed as he felt a small blade press against his side.

 

"You're right, you've had enough to drink," the man whispered. "Let's get out of here, hmm?"

 

Getting to his feet, Q let the man guide him, though the young Quartermaster moved slowly, scanning the crowd for help. He'd known this was a dreadful idea, and the moment he got away from the bastard he was going to march right back to Q branch and tell them all what a bunch of idiots they were.

 

(OTA! Feel free to have your pup notice the hidden knife, or not notice and simply approach Q by chance.)

Comments

[0_0_7]

Bond had only just landed at Heathrow, had only just turned the corner to their street. He was looking forward to a drink and whatever there was to eat and a shower- maybe a shower more than anything. But instead he turned the car and put on the gas to get to where Q was with the agents from Five.

Once he hung up with Q he was swearing obscenely. But he had a gun in the glove box and ammo enough.

[codenameathos]

Athos truly wished that the other Musketeers were with him; he trusted them a lot more than the agents he had left inside the van with Q. They were efficient, but they were no Porthos and Aramis. But if one was going to wish for an ideal world, then he might as well wish that Six stuck to their playground, or at least communicated with them. He rolled out from under the van on the opposite side from the one they had been hit, after counting the pair of boots moving their way, while every innocent passer-by ran away from them.

Six pairs. Six ought to be a piece of cake, although it might be difficult not to kill any of them.

Two of them moved to open the van's back doors, with two of them as back-up on their six. The last two were going round to the front of the van. Athos was on the move before the van doors were fully open. One of his throwing knives found its mark in the arm of one of the backups, forcing the man to drop his gun, and he'd slashed right through the tendon of the nearest one before he had time to redirect the muzzle towards him. Guns were such clumsy weapons in close contact.

[quartermaster_q]

One of the men managed to enter the van, and Q shoved him back hard, using all his strength.

Where the bloody hell was Bond when you needed him?

[0_0_7]

Bond raced through traffic, blew through lights, burned around corners. Nothing stopped him and one police car gave chase only to abandon it when they ran Bond's plate number.

A second man was trying to enter the van when Bond roared onto the scene, tires squealing and distracting the six men. Bond quickly pegged the threats and noticed who he could only assume to be an agent under the van, an agent behind the wheel, and Q.

He put in park and drew his gun.

[codenameathos]

The squeal of the tires drew Athos's attention, but as soon as he caught sight of the man behind the wheel, he focused back on their enemies. One of them was on the ground, holding his arm, and of the two Five agents that had been in the back of the van with Q, one of them had jumped out to join the fray, making the most of the distraction caused by 007's arrival. Gunfire echoed towards the front of the van, and Athos could only hope that David, the driver, was alright, but he lost no time worrying over it just yet. A well-placed punch laid out the man on the ground, and he moved to the next, knife flashing as they fought, and he made sure that his friends could not risk shooting him without shooting their colleague, staying close enough to him that the outcome of the fight was a given, given his advantage in the form of a blade.

The wound was clean but painful, and the man dropped. He would die without quick medical attention, but hopefully this would be over before long, and he could get it.

[quartermaster_q]

Q heard Bond arrive, the screech of tires oddly distinct as he peeked out the van window.

He didn't dare get involved though, this wasn't his area. He'd let the agents do the killing, he'd much rather keep his hands clean. ...Besides, his side was still really sore- Throbbing, almost. It made it had to focus.

[0_0_7]

Bond wasn't subtle and with Q in danger he wasn't discreet, either. He stepped out of the car and there was a foe moving in on the van so he shot him. Twice. The gunshots snapped in the quiet and a woman on the sidewalk screamed.

Bond stalked closer.

[codenameathos]

Double-o's and their inability to get through anything without killing everyone involved... Not that the Musketeers shied from killing anyone, when it was warranted, but killing anyone was not their default, at least. Athos hoped - and believed - that it counted for something.

But he did not let that stop him, and simply moved on to the next target, letting his man take care of one of them. There was only one more, apart from the two they were engaging, left for the double-o to kill. Two deaths out of six; it was a number Athos could live with, given the fact that Six was involved.

[quartermaster_q]

At some point the van had begun to smoke, and Q listened when he was told he needed to get out, covering his mouth when he realized he could smell gas.

He nearly walked right into Bond, and he scanned the area for Oliver.

"We need to get out of here, now. All of us," he said, coughing a bit and wobbling on his feet.

[0_0_7]

Bond nodded and put an arm around Q to steady him, dragging him away from the growing cloud of smoke. Other Five agents began to run and another foe stepped up. Bond had no interest in engaging him and simply lifted his gun and shot him in the head. He dropped like a stone.

"Everyone clear out!" he shouted and began to move faster. If the van exploded they all needed to be well away.

[codenameathos]

Athos was less in a hurry than the rest of them. Cars and vans alike did not explode that quickly, when they did at all, not unless someone deliberately made them. Now that their assailants were all neutralised, the first order of business was to check on the driver, who had not got out of the van. So instead of running away, he ran towards the front of it, opening the door to find him with a gunshot wound in his chest. But he was still breathing, and Athos cursed under his breath as he grabbed the man and hauled him out of the van, dragging him to safety.

[quartermaster_q]

Q was shaking- Not out of fear, and not because he was cold... Something was very wrong with him. Whatever had been on the tip of that blade was vicious.

He tried to focus on Oliver, then on Bond, but everything was blurry and everything sounded somewhat muted. It was like being underwater, though rather than feeling light and floating, he was being dragged down right to the bottom of the sea.

[0_0_7]

Q was pale by nature but Bond looked at him and didn't like his color at all. It was that his lips had lost their color that alerted him.

"Q?" he said, examining the man. "Q?"

He looked to the other agent.

"He was poisoned?"

It was a natural assumption since he knew Q had been drugged.

[codenameathos]

The other Five agents - the two still on their feet - were pulling their unconscious opponents from the wreckage, not to mention the secured Russian, just in case it did explode, just as Oliver settled beside Q and Bond, laying out the injured driver. He looked up at the double-o at his question, hands pressed over the man's chest to keep a pressure point on his wound, and then his eyes cut away to Q, who looked the worse for wear. Fortunately, approaching sirens heralded the arrival of both police and ambulances.

"Apparently," he replied, since he doubted that Q was trembling because of shock, and kept one hand on the wound at all times as he pulled off his jacket, bunching it up to stow off the flow of blood. "The blade responsible's in the back of the van," he added, since having it would make identifying the poison that much easier, but he was hardly going to stop what he was doing to go and retrieve it himself.

[quartermaster_q]

There were unspoken rules in their line of work, one of which was that some lives were, in fact, worth more than others. It was a cruel fact, but a fact. Bond, for example, was worth more than two lower ranked agents. Not fair, but fact. Having read the full write up on 'Skyfall', Q knew that information was worth more than a skilled killer. Six would let James die if it meant keeping more agents safe, or simply protecting England's secrets. There was a delicate scale, he assumed as to how many civilians X was worth, verses whatever was currently in peril. He also knew that his own life, in various circumstances, often came out as more important. Not because of who he was, but because of what he knew and what he was capable of.

He also accepted that in many cases his life was worth less. Were a bomb to be ready to go off in the centre of London and he was the only one close enough to try and dismantle it, his life would be worth risking if it meant saving such a large amount of civilians. Were he and M together in a hostage situation, however, M's life certainly trumped his. That was simply how it worked, and Q was at peace with that. He'd understood that when he'd signed on, back when his life had been worth nothing.

This driver was no doubt a good man, perhaps even a terribly skilled agent. His knowledge and his abilities, however, were unlikely to be more important to England than Q's.

It wasn't pride that took Oliver down a notch in Q's eyes then, but the fact that Oliver seemed not to care about the larger picture. Perhaps this was why five and six didn't get along.

"None of the agents were carrying it personally? Thats..." Q wobbled a bit, then steadied himself with Bond's arm. "...That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. ...I suppose if they intended to abduct me we can at least be fairly confident the toxin isn't deadly, just vicious. That limits the scope of what it could be."

[0_0_7]

"You need to get him back to Six, straight to medical," Bond said. He passed Q off to the other agent who seemed trustworthy enough and he started toward the burning van.

"...I'll meet you there!" he called over his shoulder.

[codenameathos]

Athos glanced over as the ambulances finally arrived on the scene. After getting one of his men to take over for him, he directed the paramedics to attend the shot man and Q in priority. The rest could, and would wait, while they were transported to medical care - the shot agent to a hospital, and Q back to Six. It went against Athos's instincts and principles, but if Bond was getting the knife, best to send Q where the man would go next.

[quartermaster_q]

"I know where I've seen that man before. The one outside the bar," Q said suddenly and quietly, his voice tight and unsteady as he held onto Oliver's shirt so the paramedics couldn't pull him away.

"He's a former agent- Five and Six. I remember him, because his name came up several months ago. He foiled that attempted attack on the tunnel a few years back, do you remember?"

[codenameathos]

"It rings a bell," Athos confirmed, thought it over for a second, then told both Q and the paramedics. "I'm coming with you." He could coordinate with Five and hopefully make sure they weren't shut out altogether.

[quartermaster_q]

"We should wait for Bond," Q said, if only because he knew Bond would want to be kept up to date.

[codenameathos]

"He would rather you were treated," Athos replied, no nonsense, as he let the paramedics take over and followed a step behind. Maybe the double-o would make it back to them before the ambulance left, or maybe not. Given their sort's disregard for traffic law, he had little doubt that Bond would be able to make good time, if not get there before them.

[quartermaster_q]

It wasn't that Q didn't trust Oliver- He did, truly- Only that he feared not having Bond at his side. ...The man was right though, Bond would want him to go.

"Alright," he agreed, dimly aware of how pale his hands looked now as the paramedics started to fuss and the ambulance doors shut.