Hannibal

[0_0_7]

Q was gone. M had put them off the job until this was resolved so it wasn't as if there were any other pressing matters- no missions, no jobs. But Bond needed access to Q's tech and he only had the man's laptop.

He hadn't known anything was off until he'd gone to pay for his sandwich and his card was declined. That was never a good sign...and it was always the first sign.

"The phone is going to ring in just a moment. Please tell them I'm coming home," he said. The cashier nodded and Bond exited quickly. From then it was an exercise in futility. The only thing he had that worked was his oyster card and his mobile. No cards, no codes. He went to MI6 to seek refuge and found himself on the run. He needed to know details but he had nowhere to turn. And to make matters worse he had gone home and there had been a detail outside. Not just any detail, either. Bond recognized the agent at the door as one of the agents who was sent on assassinations. If he was there, there were likely others Bond couldn't see.

With little else he could do, Bond decided to take a chance. To reach out to someone he knew who was utterly unaffiliated with MI6. Someone the home office was likely unaware of.

Bond turned up at Hannibal's with metaphorical hat in hand. He needed help and had nowhere else to go. This was Terrance's doing. He knew that. Terrance had burned him and Bond was left in a position without hope. But it was hard to put him down- Bond's specialty was resurrection. He wouldn't be killed and he wouldn't be put off. He would get Q back despite the odds, despite the obstacles.

He just needed a friend.

Comments

[anamusebouche]

Hannibal worked something up quickly. This didn't mean that it was simple, merely that he could make it with relative ease. Hannibal made a large plate of bites, on bread and salad, mostly of left-overs. A little larger than the average amuse, they would fill the agent's stomach and they suited wine as much as brandy.

He came back to the living room moments later, carrying a large tray with the amuses. "Left-overs mostly, I hope you don't mind."

[0_0_7]

"Oh, it looks delicious," Bond said as he snapped out of his reverie. The food truly looked amazing. "It looks better than anything I could have hoped for. You're an artist, Hannibal? Leftovers...I scarcely believe it," he said as he sat forward, ready to devour the bounty before him.

[anamusebouche]

"In better days, once this is over, I will invite you over and we can have a proper meal," Hannibal promised. "Eat, please," he assured, seeing James ready to eat the plate whole. "Will you have wine or something stronger?"

[0_0_7]

"If I were in the mood for civility I'd say wine, but I'd really like a scotch," he admitted. "My nerves are frayed. I'm used to running on adrenaline, but not like this. And every day that passes I fear we may have lost him forever."

[anamusebouche]

"You care very deeply about him," Hannibal observed quietly as he poured them both a decent scotch.

[0_0_7]

"That I do," Bond agreed. "Perhaps too much. Definitely unwise. But it can't be helped now. Now all I can do is try to move heaven and earth to get him back."

[anamusebouche]

"Is that why you were 'burned'?" Hannibal continued, asking quietly, never pressing.

[0_0_7]

"I'm sure that's part of it. Can you imagine how much easier it would be to find him and kill him if I had MI6's resources and arsenal? Stripping that from my enemy would be my first priority. He's terribly clever...Q said he was. It's always so much harder when they're clever," Bond said as he selected an amuse to try.

[anamusebouche]

"Clever and obsessed," Hannibal remarked, as he passed James his scotch. "I didn't talk to him long enough to understand the true depth of his obsession, but... it bordered psychotic."

[0_0_7]

"I would believe that. He's a mad man, and he's focused on Q," Bond said. "He'll never let him go. This will only end when someone dies."

[anamusebouche]

"You think he intends to kill Q?" Hannibal asked. "He might if he feels trapped."

[0_0_7]

Bond was quiet for a long moment before he gave a nod.

"If he hasn't already," he said. "But I'd like to hope not. Not yet."

[anamusebouche]

"I'd like to think his obsession would make him think twice before killing him," Hannibal said. "It would make him loose everything he's obsessed about. Unfortunately I can't say he won't harm him." Honesty, he thought, would be appreciated by the agent.

[0_0_7]

"When he was young Q was treated...horribly," he replied quietly. "You can scarcely imagine. Or maybe you can...but perhaps wouldn't want to."

[anamusebouche]

"He was reluctant to tell me the details, but... I understand what he meant," Hannibal said. He did imagine. Pain and suffering at the hand of someone else wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, not from such a banal sadist, at least.

[0_0_7]

Bond nodded and enjoyed another bite...then another. Once he began to eat he realized how truly ravenous he was. And every morsel was a delight. If Hannibal hadn't said it was all leftovers Bond would have assumed the man had magically pulled together a lovely little feast.

He had just taken another bite when the doorbell rang. Rave stood on Hannibal's porch dressed in black boots and leggings, a black denim skirt, a black t shirt with a red anarchy symbol spray painted onto it, and her black leather jacket. Her hair was tussled and her eyeliner was thick but tidy. She carried her messenger bag packed full of all the computing essentials she would need.

[anamusebouche]

Hannibal opened the door with a pleasant smile, but urged her inside. "Thank you for coming at such short notice," he said and lead her through to the living room, where James sat.

[girl_upgraded]

"Yeah, of course. Not a problem," she said. Rave took a seat and began to pull out her equipment, setting it up and plugging it all in.

"You're going to have to give me some idea of what to look for," she said then. Bond studied her closely. So young. Why did all the technicians have to be so young, he wondered.

"Terrance took a young man and we need to get him back. You can call him Q. No other name is necessary," Bond said. "He was last in Piccadilly Circus at the tube platform there. And then he vanished."

"So...not difficult at all," she quipped...then immediately set to work.

[anamusebouche]

"You've come across him before," Hannibal supplied. "That young man from the picture you showed me. He's the one missing now."

[0_0_7]

Rave nodded and began to tap the keys. Bond was struck by what a reassuring sound that was. Simple typing, but he put quite a lot offaith in the boffin's of MI6. It was good to have one even now.

Bond took another amuse and ate it, savoring it.

"So, um...I've got the security footage, but I don't see anything."

"It was looped," Bond supplied. "You'll have to go to a prior timestamp."

She did as she was told and the pair of them actually made a passable team, though the trail was difficult to follow at best.

[anamusebouche]

Hannibal listened carefully, but stayed to a side. He was more interested in James's despair and tell way he was cracking beneath the surface. And he kept his eye on the girl, whose wardrobe gave away more than she would likely want it to.

[0_0_7]

Bond took note of her clothes as well. She was the picture of rebellion, but everything she wore was a label. Dressing as she did would take quite a bit of selective shopping at the high end shops those labels came from. Class traitor, he thought, smirking a little.

Rave was unaware of what either of them were thinking of her. She was busy doing what she did best, scouring through pages, looking at feeds, hunting down the trail that was almost ice cold. But just when she would start to get frustrated she would find something. And it would lead to more frustration...then another hit. "It's like bread crumbs," she said, looking at Bond, then Hannibal. "It's like he wants you to find him now."

[anamusebouche]

"That suits his personality type," Hannibal remarked. "Can you find him?"

[0_0_7]

"I'm trying," she said, but the words trailed off as she got to work. Bond was glad to let her do whatever it was she was doing and he took up his scotch and moved closer to Hannibal.

"Where did you come across this one?" he murmured. She wasn't paying attention and didn't even notice.

[anamusebouche]

"She came across me, in fact," Hannibal replied quietly, for James' ears only. "She hacked into my patient database," he admitted. "From her laptop, as she sat in the park across the street."