OTA

[quartermaster_q]

Hunting down these sorts of men, the kind who bought and sold the innocent, seemed to be a pet project for Bond, and while Q wasn't totally sure what had inspired the man's mission, he respected it.

The first time they'd followed a lead like this, it hadn't gone as hoped. Though this time around at least Q was prepared to play the part. Currently he was alone in the bar, deliberately dressed a bit younger than usual, his glasses swapped out for contacts, and his hair styled in a way that made him look younger. 

Q looked young anyway, but like this he truly looked too young to be a bloody quartermaster.

This was just reconnaissance though. They knew their target frequented the bars on this street, and Q's job tonight was to simply catch his interest. He had tanner in his ear, Eve on his phone sending texts, and he wouldn't have been surprised if Bond was listening or watching as well. Though he was sure they were all bored out of their mind right now. There was no sign of their mark, and he was yet to be approached by anyone who might be involved in the ring. ...Or anyone, for that matter.

(OTA! Q is kinda on the job right now, so expect him to play a part, even if you know him. Your pup can be mistaken for the target, an associate of the target, or just get have a nice chat. If you're in the mood your character can even mistake Q for an actual possible victim/target. The choice is yours.)

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[quartermaster_q]

Q gave the address to the dock, since they'd have to take a short boat ride to reach the lab, then returned to nursing his wrist.

[codenameathos]

Oliver was content to spend the drive in silence; most of what he would want to say, he did not want the driver to hear. He paid for the fare, rather than force Q to use his hands to get some money out - besides, he was - hopefully - about to keep him in drinks, then walked out of the cab and fell in stride with the quartermaster, letting him take the lead.

[quartermaster_q]

"I'll need a hand," Q admitted as he started towards the boat. "Were just heading under the bridge there. Very short ride."

[codenameathos]

"Of course," Oliver agreed evenly, taking the lead once they were on the boat, to get them underway.

[quartermaster_q]

The ride was smooth, and brief as Q had promised.

When the rest of six had been moved into the shiny new office, Q had, instead, insisted on building his lab in the bunker, safe from prying eyes and bureaucratic meddling.

"This is it," he said, carefully getting out of the boat and leading the way to the lab.

It was a massive space, full of ongoing projects and tech, as well as various cars and weapons that were being redesigned and rebuilt. He made his way to his desk, but walked past it and reached for what looked like an ammo box.

"Ah, here we are," he said, pulling out a bottle of something very old and amber coloured. "Will that do?"

[codenameathos]

Oliver had been making his way through the cars, thinking that if there was one thing he missed about Six, it was them. Then again, if they spent less on them, they might be able to afford sending in back-up.

But they were beautiful.

The question pulled him out of his nostalgia, and he headed over to survey the bottle. "Nicely, yes," he noted, a hint of approval in his voice.

[quartermaster_q]

If Oliver had asked, Q would have explained that the cars, for the most part, were currently all in limbo. All lacking the funds for their repairs to be completed. Only two were actively being worked on. One for nine- a necessity for an upcoming mission, and one for Bond, which the double-o had been funding himself.

As it was, however, Q simply set to work. Placing the earpiece on his desk, Q cleaned his glasses before setting up the microscope for a better look.

"I should have insisted on taking one of my own prototypes," he tutted to himself.

[codenameathos]

'Prototype' didn't necessarily sound like something reliable to Oliver, but he supposed that when you were the one designing the tech, you knew whether you could rely on it or not. Especially when you had Q's skills. "Why didn't you?" he asked as he pulled a couple of glasses out of the drawer the bottle had come from, and poured them.

[quartermaster_q]

"New rules," Q frowned, starting to disassemble the device with slow, elegant movements.

"New head of joint security wants to shut down the double-o program," he said, briefly glancing up to look at Oliver, then looking back down at his work. "M, obviously, thinks that's a terrible idea. The scuffle has resulted in a lot of problems for, well, people like me. Budget cuts, new rules, double the paperwork... I understand bureaucracy has its place, especially here, but it's becoming a pissing contest, and it's only a matter of time before it results in tragedy."

[codenameathos]

Oliver was quiet a moment, setting one of the glasses down beside Q, and taking a sip from his own. Then he offered, as despondently as he did everything else, "It could be up to you, whether you have back-up on operations like tonight's."

The Musketeers weren't exactly known for religiously following the rules.

[quartermaster_q]

Q wanted the drink, and nodded his thanks, but he didn't stop working just yet.

"That's a very kind offer," he said, picking up a dainty looking pair of tweezers as he carefully plucked the circuitry from it's casing. "I may take you up on it one day- Though I have to admit, I'm wary of getting you involved in the mess."

He swore softly under his breath, dropping the tweezers and rubbing his eyes. He hated wearing contacts, and though he knew he ought to be a bit more careful, he took them out and dropped them directly into the trash.

"There's a spare pair of glasses on that table behind you. Can you pass them over?"

[codenameathos]

"Will they blow up in my hands if I put my finger on the wrong place?" Oliver could joke about the MI6 tech because he had once worked with it. But even as he said so, he picked up the glasses and handed them to Q. "We're grown men, you'll find. And we have a very hard time doing anything we don't want to do."

He couldn't see any of them turning down the opportunity to help bring down a sex ring.

[quartermaster_q]

"I never got around to adding a laser to that pair," Q replied, his tone so casual it was very hard to tell if he was being funny or not as he took the glasses and slipped them on.

"I'm not questioning your desire to help, or ability. I'm only worried about any black spots on me rubbing off on you."

[codenameathos]

"Like I said," Oliver replied. "Grown men." And Treville would watch their backs. They were well liked within Five, and the higher-ups at Six already disliked them.

Besides, doing the right thing definitely trumped such political concerns.

[quartermaster_q]

Q was quiet for a moment, reaching for the tweezers, then pausing and picking up the glass Oliver had poured him instead.

"Then... Thank you," he said simply.

[codenameathos]

"Don't mention it." There was humour in the words, even if it didn't sound like it, and Oliver turned away to have a look at what else lay in the lab. He knew better than to touch anything, but this was a rare opportunity.

[quartermaster_q]

"Anything catch your eye?" Q asked between sips, attempting to follow the other agent's gaze.

[codenameathos]

"Rather reflecting on how few gadgets we use at Five, compared to Six," Oliver stated. "The right balance is probably somewhere in the middle. What are your pet projects?"

[quartermaster_q]

"Six uses far less than they used to, and unlike my predecessor, I'm not much for exploding pens and the like. My current pet project is a focused EMP. Something that will only disable one thing at a time," Q replied. "Something on a nano scale."

[codenameathos]

"How would you calibrate that?" Oliver asked curiously.

[quartermaster_q]

"That's actually part of the problem I'm having. Big things are easy, you get a large radius to work with. Smaller things... Getting that pinpoint focus is very hard," Q confessed.

[codenameathos]

"I can only guess," Oliver agreed. "Do you work alone?"

[quartermaster_q]

"I run Q branch, so I suppose I have underlings... For the most part it's Tanner and myself though, especially on anything terribly sensitive," Q replied.

[codenameathos]

It still didn't sound like a team, and it made Oliver more grateful, again, for Vincent and Isaac. Working in a proper team; there was nothing like it, he had found since meeting them, despite the unfortunate turn things had taken in Budapest.

"That sounds lonely," he remarked neutrally.

[quartermaster_q]

"Not at all," Q assured him. "Tanner is a good friend, and I have Bond, and Moneypenny. We may not always be working on the same thing, but we're always working together in some form."

He smiled faintly then, and shrugged one shoulder. "I've always done my best technical work on my own anyway."