Q

[0_0_7]

Bond was sitting on a train, watching the target talking on the phone. He had his keffiyeh slung around his throat and sunglasses on to disguise himself a bit. No one paid him any attention, all talking amongst themselves, business men heading into Damascus, mostly, but others as well. He knew that he had to be discreet, he couldn't just execute the man in a crowd.

The train slowed and then stopped and the target rose. Bond followed, pushing his way through the crowd.He made it up next to the target and slipped a tracker into his pocket, then peeled away from him.

"Alright, Q, he's yours to follow now. I'm going to go find transportation while he hails a cab. And keep an eye on the satellites," he said, telling Q how to do his job a bit. But as he exited the station and he saw the target slip into a black Audi, he realized this wasn't what they'd had planned.

"He's not taking a cab. I'm improvising," he said, stalking through the crowd and slipping into a waiting Range Rover, its owner standing mere feet away as Bond outright stole the vehicle.

Comments

[quartermaster_q]

Q watched on the monitors, his sigh audible as he sipped his tea.

"Really, you're stealing a car already? Honestly double-o seven, you've got absolutely no self control," he scolded blandly.

"I'll delay the police for as long as I'm able- Patching into the car's GPS now..."

[0_0_7]

Bond tapped the GPS screen and smiled when he saw Q take control. The dots of his own vehicle and the Audi chased one another on the small screen.

"You think I should have asked permission? Excuse me but could I borrow your Range Rover for a bit of espionage? Thank you so kindly," came his smart retort as he followed as closely as he dared.

[quartermaster_q]

"I think you could have taken a cab," Q replied. "Take the next left and swing around the block. I'll keep him on my monitor, but he's getting suspicious. I'll time the lights to make sure you wind up right behind him again- maybe with a few cars between you."

[0_0_7]

"Understood," he said, following Q's orders and trusting him to keep him on the mark. A left, then a right and he was running parallel to his target.

"I can't talk to you if I'm in a cab," he smirked. "The driver might here me and compromise everything. Or I might decide to tell you something naughty..."

His smirk was clear in his tone. He knew there was a high probability he was on loudspeaker and not only in Q's ear.

[quartermaster_q]

Bond was on loudspeaker, but Q didn't react at all. The comment earned him a few curious looks, but they all looked away a beat later.

"Business first, double-o seven. Pleasure later," Q said, sounding disinterested. He did his best not to mix business and pleasure during missions, but to anyone listening in, it sounded like the young Quartermaster was simply dodging advances.

"Next right, he'll be two cars ahead. It looks as if he's headed to the hotel. Booking you a room now."

[0_0_7]

"You're no fun," Bond said, but he was distracted as he slowed to allow for four men on bicycles. He got to the light and took the right and sure enough-

"He's actually three cars ahead," he said, maintaining the distance. "If he's going to a hotel I'm going to need a map of that. If the meeting takes place behind closed doors we'll have done all this for nothing. I thought it was supposed to be at an air field. They can't possibly have the goods in, what, the boot? They can't be carrying around nuclear material so carelessly..."

He was mostly talking to himself, some of the words muttered and hardly audible.

[quartermaster_q]

"It's possible they are being stored in a secondary location," Q replied. "You may need to intercept the target and interrogate him. ...Hotel map is on your phone now, and your room is booked under John Smith."

[0_0_7]

"John Smith. How original," he replied dryly. Bond wondered why nothing could ever go to plan. Ever.

The target pulled up to the hotel doors, Bond went straight to the car park and watched. He gave it time and then made his way in, standing close enough to hear they were staying on the second floor. He waited until they'd gone to check into his own room on the third.

He did go to his room but only to have privacy to check his mobile to see what the layout was.

"Target is one floor down and one room over," he said. "But this hotel was built four hundred years ago, I'm sure. I'll have to just watch their door and wait."

[quartermaster_q]

"I've got no visual at all," Q said, frowning to himself. "The security here is absolutely primitive, Bond."

[0_0_7]

"That's what happens in a war zone, Q," Bond said. "Please tell me you still have the tracker I slipped on him?"

[quartermaster_q]

"Of course," Q replied, actually sounding a touch offended. "He couldn't lose me if he tried."

[0_0_7]

Bond absolutely lived for the moments when Q sounded as if he'd touched a nerve. On missions the voice in his ear was unflappable. And Bond had tried. He'd really tried to get under Q's skin. The man was part machine, part computer, he was sure of it.

"I'm going to go stand in the stairwell and watch his door. Go make yourself a fresh cup of tea, Q. I'm sure you've got half an hour at least before we move again."

[quartermaster_q]

"Yes, alright. B will be standing by if you need anything," Q said, still sounding a touch huffy.

[0_0_7]

Bond wished he could have a more candid discussion with Q but that would have to be put on the back burner until all this was over. He took the stairs and waited around the corner, watching the target's door.

Time passed infuriatingly slowly. But waiting and watching was often a large portion of the job and so Bond did it without complaint.

And then the door opened. Three men walked out, none carrying anything suspicious. Bond watched them walk down the hall to the lift, picking up bits of the conversation. He wasn't fluent but he knew enough.

"Now they're going to the drop," Bond said, turning to take the stairs. "Q? We're on the move...tell me you're back with the tea..."

B hadn't spoken to him but to say hello so he was a bit blind at the moment, but Bond didn't technically need the home office in his ear to do his job.

[quartermaster_q]

"I'm here," Q said coolly. "I'm following you via the tracker, double-o seven."

He sipped his tea, watching the dots move across the map.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked curiously.

[0_0_7]

"Not really. We've gone off the map a bit. I'm just going to have to see what happens and act accordingly," he said as he hurried out to the Range Rover so he could follow the Audi once again.

"This may get messy, Q. Could you devise an exit strategy?" he asked then, his polite way of telling Q to anticipate bloodshed. And maybe an explosion.

[quartermaster_q]

"I'm going to put a helicopter on standby," Q decided, tapping away as he spoke. "Do you require assistance? There are agents in the area that can be called if needed."

[0_0_7]

"I don't think so. I work better alone," he said as he raced off, his dot following the dot of the black sedan on his GPS. They went straight to the airfield outside of the city. Of course not the airport, much too much security there. The airfield was less secure in many ways, but that also worked to the target's advantage. Bond had to drive on by as if he weren't headed there and he had to park behind a far building and go back on foot. He jumped the fence and ran. Q was treated to heavy, rhythmic breathing as Bond got into position.

The rest happened remarkably quickly. There was a meeting, a hand off of money, the show of a dirty bomb in a case with an expertly made detonator. And then the buyer shot the target and took the money back. The Audi tore away from the scene, bullets chasing it and shattering the back window. Bond made an executive decision- he couldn't let that bomb out of the area. He stepped out and started shooting. There was a bit of back and forth, a staccato rattling of automatic rifle fire, Bond's precise shots, and then all was silent.

"I've got a bomb, get me that helicopter," he said...and it was as if Q had been watching because he heard it come overhead and land not far from him. He carried the case with the bomb to the helicopter and they rose above the carnage.

"Thank you, Q. If only every extraction went so well," he said as he examined the bomb. "We're going to need a good team to analyze this. I can take it to Tel Aviv to our allies." Because James Bond was many things but he was no expert with bombs. He really only knew how to set them off.

[quartermaster_q]

"I'd rather see it myself," Q admitted, frowning a little to himself.

"I'm sure a flight could be arranged," came Moneypenny's voice, a wicked sort of smile on her lips as she leaned against his desk and studied the monitors. "I could escort him myself if you like," she offered, as if it were Bond's choice, not Q's.

"I'm not going on a plane," the young quartermaster muttered. "Tel Aviv is a good choice, I'm making contact now. They'll be expecting you, double-o seven."

[0_0_7]

"Thank you, Q," Bond said, smiling to himself. "Keep him in line, Moneypenny...and if the two of you would like to join me..."

He let the offer hang, knowing it wouldn't happen. He took out his earwig and slipped it in his pocket, then caught a bit of sleep on the flight.

He landed in Tel Aviv and the bomb was whisked away. he was swept for radioactivity and the head of the branch office came to speak to him. It was all the same sort of bullshit that set him on edge. Bureaucracy, that was all it was. People pushing paper rather than taking care of the problem. When they were done he was driven to the airport and soon enough he was home.

He called Q first thing, completely disregarding the time. For him it was day or dark, the hour hardly mattered.

The phone rang in his ear.

[quartermaster_q]

Q couldn't stand the safe house without Bond, and so Eve had been taking the little stray home with her instead. It felt safe enough there, and it was nice to fall asleep with Oberon purring beside him.

The phone rang, and Q rolled over and answered it quietly, not wanting to wake Moneypenny.

"Hello?"

[0_0_7]

"Where are you? HQ?" he asked as he stepped up to the curb to catch a cab. His suit was rumpled because he'd slept on the plane, but his eyes were bright and he was full of energy, as he always was after a mission.

[quartermaster_q]

"Eve's," Q replied with a yawn. "I thought it would be best not to be on my own. ...Where are you?"

[0_0_7]

"I'm at Heathrow," Bond replied. "Call a cab and meet me at mine. I desperately need a change of clothes above anything else...but I want to see you. The sooner the better."

[quartermaster_q]

"It's three am," Q groaned, stroking Oberon, then sighing.

He had missed Bond, and he was glad to have him home.

"Eve's going to have a fit when she finds me gone in the morning, you do realize that, don't you?" he asked- Though he was already getting up and getting dressed.