Disclaimer: I do not own the Bond movies or books.
These are stories from the Double O breakroom, as told by me, 009.
Q-branch. That was where we all went eventually, when our own breakroom was all empty, as it so often was. Up to the wall of monitors giving the smartblood readings of our brothers-in-arms.
It was where I went, as I found myself alone, checking up on my fellow Double Os.
001 was in Prague; on leave. I could read his vitals; his steady heartbeat and slightly elevated alcohol levels as he charmed what was no doubt a very pretty lady, just for the fun of it. Sean was more than a little old-fashion, that way, almost stuck in the fifties, but he was one of the best of us.
002, Roger, was in the grasp of Medical. The man was never really able to be serious, and as a result he had amassed the same amount of injuries as the rest of us combined over the last two years. His vitals, too, were steady; safe.
003 had gone dark. Not one for usually doing that, he had not yet been introduced to smartblood, same as 004. Timothy was online this very moment, though, checking back to Q-branch like those two always did. They were good team players, unlike the rest of us.
005 was... oh dear. Being shot at this very instant. I listened to the Q-branch tech handling him as I watched the screen, guessing that he was running. I hoped Pierce knew he wasn't alone, even with the boffins. None of us were afraid to die, but none of us could stand the thought that it would be alone.
As I sat there, 006 came to join me in my vigil, bringing us both coffee.
Of course, the operatives of Q-branch would not allow for just anyone to sit here, reading what was essencially classified information, not to mention private, but they never made a fuss of us checking up on each other. The new, young Q seemed to accept that we needed to, and as long as we didn't cause any disturbance and sat quietly, we were never shown the door. We all respected him for that. Well, in our own way. Sean was respectful; Roger made jokes. James bantered with the branch boss and Alec scared the mini-boffins.
007... James had gone dark, as well, even though he was the first to be given smartblood. I didn't know how the man even did that, but I expected it. 007 always went dark, no matter how hard they tried to prevent it. Sometimes I wondered if the man didn't even consider it sport.
008 was in a meeting with M still, and 009, that was me. All accounted for, this far. That was a good start. Accompanied by Alec, and later by Daniel, I stayed. Together, we watched over our brothers while they were out there.