Here is the next installment in Agent Chetiri! Thanks again for the review, TimeLady945. I'm glad I have Q's character down :) This skips ahead two months and I hope time skips don't bug anyone because I will probably do more in the future.
Anyway, one of the Holmes brothers will make a slight appearance in this chapter! Mycroft will be a former agent because I think that would be a logical way for him to become involved with the government. Start small, build connections and whatnot.
I will also introduce the other workers in the Q-Branch as well! They're OC's because I can't figure out the names of the actual people working there but whatever. I hope you like them as well.
So, enjoy your reading escapades!
If you don't make the time to work on creating the life you want, you're going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don't want.
-Kevin Ngo
About two months had passed since Alexa's first day at the Q-Branch. She had created the sort of life that she wanted everything seemed to be running smoothly and she was prosperous in her endeavors. Alexa had been given a variety of things to work on, with each day being different. Her regular duties included keeping an eye on the firewalls, decrypting long strings of code, encrypting specified files, and developing new weapons. It was rather exciting and she never knew what to expect as she walked into the room each day.
Alexa also became a bit more acquainted with the five other members of the Q-Branch and she found that it was nice to have friends. It was easy to befriend them, even in her usually shy state and she found that she smiled and laughed more frequently as a result of having real friends. Although it was a small group of techies who were about six or seven years older than her, they were more than happy to make friends with her, upon realizing that she was on par with their level of intelligence. Unlike her previous co-workers, they weren't dull and spoke to her as a friend, rather than speaking only on businesslike terms. They were all a bit strange, in some way, but it made for a light-hearted and rather entertaining work environment.
There was Michael Grimm, who was a former accountant with a penchant for algorithms and software engineering. He was a tall and broad-shouldered man who looked intimidating but never failed to eagerly present her with new photographs of his beloved two-year-old son and his wife. George Crenshaw was the stout and rather portly man who specialized in networking and programming. He had a loud and booming laugh to accompany his good-natured sense of humor.
The two other men were twin brothers from Ireland, Ryan and William Reid. Ryan was the quieter one of the two and although he did not talk very much but was quite adept at keeping the secrets of the MI6 out of the public eye. William's talents lay in developing weapons and making feasible designs that could be tailored to fit an agent's needs. He was the more outgoing man, who (if prompted) could talk for hours about his fiancée.
Finally, there was Joy Nakamura, the woman who had brought her to the building on her first day. She was a security officer (in accordance with the MI6's two man policy) with a knack for code and decryption. Alexa felt the most comfortable with her, given that she was the only other woman who worked in the Q-Branch. Joy was the person whom Alexa would spend her lunch hour with, along with Eve Moneypenny.
Alexa had come to know Eve a bit better after their first meeting, after Joy had re-introduced them to each other. Eve occupied the highest desk job in the MI6, which was being M's assistant. She engaged frequently in intelligent banter with James Bond and it was hard for Alexa to determine whether they were actually in a relationship or merely flirting with each other. Eve had eventually told her that she was dating James, even though they gave each other a few quips here and there.
The three women usually spent their lunch hour at Little Britain, getting coffee from various shops in the streets. Like regular human beings, they gossiped about their love lives (in Alexa's case, a lack thereof), crap telly, and the other people in the MI6. It was from them that Alexa had found out that Q was only eight months older than her, which was surprising since he was the boss.
In the month that she had been in the Q-Branch, it had been easy for her to figure out why Q was the boss, even if he was quite young. Alexa had quickly realized that the man was utterly brilliant, a technological genius, so to speak. She would glance up occasionally to see him working intently on a project and find that same endeavor to be finished by the end of the day. Alexa had never seen someone with his level of expertise in technology and she found it quite impressive, if not attractive. She admitted to herself that he was fairly handsome. Alexa found that she liked his tousled brown hair that never seemed to be entirely tidy and admired his striking blue green eyes. He was incredibly smart too, which was what she really wanted in a man. As the saying went, brainy was the new sexy.
However, she tried not to be too interested because she knew that he was out of her league, coupled with the fact that he was her boss. She felt that it would be a tad bit inappropriate to try to start something with him and that it would make her appear in the wrong light. The last thing she wanted was to be remembered as the girl who climbed the social ladder by flirtation. Besides, she didn't even bother trying because she knew that she would be completely out of her element. She was trained to kill, not to flirt. In fact, Alexa would make a point to avoid his gaze as much as possible, to dissuade her from thinking of any romantic thoughts.
Throughout her time at the Q-Branch, Alexa noted that Q worked in a somewhat slapdash manner and organized things according to what he felt was right. It was a strange way of working, but it seemed to work for him and was quite interesting to watch. She soon found out that he had very little patience for communication. Alexa noted that he could be a little standoffish and sarcastic at times and sometimes went for long periods of time without speaking to anyone. He was what normal people considered to be a workaholic and he was practically married to his line of work. Q was also quite a perfectionist, who did not stop until his creations had achieved a state of near perfection.
On top of all of that, he was weirdly strict about punctuality. Alexa was not sure if he noticed or not but she always walked in with one minute to spare. His quirks were admittedly a bit strange and could be rather frustrating at times but it did not disrupt her work. At the end of the day, she was usually the last to leave, save for Q. They hardly said anything to each other whilst working on a project. However, he was not ignoring her and Q actually enjoyed her company. Both of them found solace in each other's silence, finding that frequent and lengthy idle chatter was irrelevant. They would sometimes engage in short and rather random conversations, where she found that she got to know him a little bit better. Q also became better acquainted with her and silently took note of her habits and different qualities. However, other than words, that was the extent of the regular contact.
Her first real interaction with Q would come about a week later. It was a rather blustery November morning and Alexa walked into the room, one minute early again. The room was abuzz with activity, with different people working on their individual duties. She hung her coat on the rack and said a quiet hello to Joy and Michael as she walked in. Alexa took a seat at her desk and smoothed her wind-blown hair down, before taking a look at the papers on her desk. Without warning, Q turned around to look directly at her. "Alexa," he said.
She glanced up curiously, at the sound of her name being called. "Yes?" she said.
"Do you do that on purpose?" Q said as he glanced at her.
"Do what?" Alexa replied, looking puzzled.
"In the past few months that you've been working here, you have walked into work with exactly one minute to spare," he said matter of factly.
"Ah. I didn't think you noticed," she said, smiling slightly.
"Any particular reason why?"
"I really don't know. I do it all the time, though. Did it at my old job, did it in uni," she lied, not wanting to admit that she only did it to make a jab to his strange obsession with punctuality.
"Are you sure?" Q said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. We're all free to have our little quirks, aren't we?" Alexa replied.
"Fair point," he said as he turned back around. Q went back to working on his current endeavour and Alexa looked back down at her papers. It took all morning and a skipped lunch to create and finish a new weapons design and she took a grateful sip of a warm cappuccino to keep herself going. At around four, she picked up the blueprints for a palm-activated gun and headed off to William's desk to finalize the design he was working on and its specifications.
"Hey, Alexa. What do you need?" William said as she approached him.
"I'm here to check the final design of that gun you're designing," she said as she glanced back at the papers in her hand.
"Well, here it is. I finished putting in the recoil spring for both of them and both pistols are pretty much done," he said as he presented both guns.
"Why are there two?" she asked, looking puzzled.
"One is accustomed to Q's handprint and the other is for Bond. Q has a copy of each gun we've designed, for testing purposes," William said as he watched her pick up each pistol. They were more or less identical, which could present some safety hazards.
"Do you have any correction fluid, William?" she asked as she looked at each portion of the pistol.
"Uh, yeah. Here," he said as he pulled out a bottle of correction fluid. She said a quiet thank you and made a small but distinct white line on the side of the trigger guard.
"What was that for?" he asked, looking puzzled.
"It's only a safety precaution. I'm assuming that Q and Bond will test both of these later and they might get them mixed up," Alexa explained.
"Good point. I'll go give these to Q," William said as he stood up. Alexa went back to her desk and began working on another weapon design. Q accepted the guns from William and put them on his desk, focusing his attention to his current endeavor. His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the door open, followed by James's familiar footsteps.
"You have good timing, Bond. Your gun is finished," he said without turning around.
"Excellent. That's what I'm here for. M is sending me off to Germany on Tuesday morning," James said as he walked over to "What is it this time?"
"Your gun has been remade, the one with the palm print activation since you lost the first one in China to (of all things) a six-hundred pound lizard," Q said, glaring at James.
"It wasn't my fault that the lizard ate it. Besides, I was too busy fighting a man to even notice that it was gone," James grumbled. He picked up one of the pistols and inspected it carefully. "Does it work?"
"Of course it does. I would be ashamed if it didn't," Q said indignantly.
"Let's go test it, then," he replied as he picked up the other gun. Q let out a sigh and followed him out the door, while carrying his mug of tea in his right hand. He took a sip of it and continued down the hall to the shooting room. Q set down his now empty mug on the table by the door and took one of the guns. He put his hand on the pad and was unable to pull the trigger, so he handed the gun to James.
"This one is yours," he said. James held the gun in his hand and began firing his round of bullets, in order to see if the gun was sufficient to his standards.
Meanwhile, it was rather quiet in the Q-Branch after the two men left. George and Ryan had seized Q's absence as an opportunity to go off on a coffee break, leaving only Michael, William, Joy, and Alexa in the room. The silence was interrupted by an intern who walked into the room. He was rather scrawny and he held a letter in his hand. "Where's Q?" he said, looking confused.
"You won't find him here," Michael said, without looking up from his computer.
"M told me that this was for him. He said it was important and to give it to him immediately," the man said. "Can one of you give this to Q?"
"I'm busy," Michael said as he typed quickly on his computer.
"So am I," William replied, with a dismissive wave of his screwdriver. Both men instantly looked at Joy, who glared at them.
"Don't look at me! I'm decrypting something!" Joy exclaimed. Alexa looked up from her blueprint and she let out a sigh.
"I'll do it," she said as she stood up. Alexa took the paper from the man and stared at it briefly.
I'm coming by for a visit tomorrow.
-Mycroft
"Who's Mycroft?" Alexa said, looking confused. Everyone immediately looked up at the sound of her words and Michael headed over to Alexa. He read the letter and a smirk spread out on his face.
"Mycroft was a former agent. He was 005 to be precise. He's also Q's eldest brother," he explained.
"I can't believe he's coming to visit. He hasn't visited in months now!" Joy said, shaking her head slightly.
"Well, it's only understandable. Everyone knows that he and Q don't exactly see eye to eye," William interjected.
"That's putting it mildly. They don't get on at all," Michael said.
"Blood will fly and heads will undoubtedly roll tomorrow," Joy said. She glanced at the note and gave it back to Alexa.
"Good luck giving that to Q. He certainly won't be pleased when he hears about this," Michael said.
"It can't be that bad," she said half-heartedly.
"Oh, trust me. It is that bad," Joy chuckled.
"I'll see what I can do," Alexa said as she left the room. She walked down the halls and into the shooting room, where she heard several shots being fired. Alexa poked her head in and stepped in, upon hearing the firing cease. She spotted them standing about thirty feet from her and she saw James step back slightly.
"Final test: try to shoot me," James said. Q grabbed the pistol and held it in his hand, whilst raising it to be at eye level with James. As she walked near them, she noted the distinct white mark near the trigger and stared at him in horror. Q was holding the gun accustomed to his palm-print! Alexa tried to think of some quick way to stop him and when words could not find their way to her lips, she instead threw the empty mug that sat on the table next to her at the gun to keep him from firing.
The white mug hit the pistol roughly, knocking it out of his hand. The mug broke rather loudly, shattering into ceramic shards that fell to the floor. The entire room seemed to go dead silent and she could see James stifling laughter in the corner. Q stared at Alexa and let go of the gun, letting it fall to the floor.
"My mug! The bloody hell was that for, Alexa?" Q snapped. Her initial thoughts were something akin to panic and "he's going to kill me". She could not meet his gaze and stared at the floor.
"Er...that gun was fitted to your palm print, not Bond's," she stammered, struggling to recollect her jumbled thoughts.
"You're sure about this?" Q said, raising an eyebrow.
"I marked yours with correction fluid just to keep them separated. You would have shot him otherwise," Alexa said.
"Well, you could have just said something. You didn't have to destroy my mug in the process," Q grumbled.
"Sorry," she said. She began to pick up the shards from the floor Alexa hurriedly gathered the shards and felt the edge of the ceramic mug cut into the side of her hand.
"Ouch," she muttered as she wiped the blood off on her skirt.
"You're bleeding," he said absentmindedly.
"What an astute observation. Your brothers would be proud of you, Q," James scoffed. Q shot him a dirty look that told him to shut up and picked up her hand, letting the pieces fall to the floor.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he inspected her hand. His fingers against hers sent a sensation through her veins and she felt her cheeks turn a slight shade of red. Alexa quickly looked down and she snatched her hand away.
"I'll be fine," she said as she continued to pick up the pieces on the floor, avoiding his gaze.
"Well, alright. Did you need something?" Q asked, causing her to look up.
"Oh, one of the interns came by and said M had a note for you," she said as she handed him the paper. He took it and began to read, while she attempted to stop the bleeding in her hand. Alexa stood up with the broken pieces in her hand and she heard Q crumple the paper in his hand.
"Take this and throw it away," Q muttered as he handed it back to her.
"Q, is everything okay?" she said hesitantly, almost afraid to ask him.
"Of course not!" he snapped. Alexa flinched and she mumbled out a hasty apology, before turning around and essentially sprinted out of the room. The two men watched the timid woman leave and Q suddenly felt guilty for his actions.
"There was no need to snap at her. You know how she is with men, after all," James remarked. Q let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
"I know that. But you know how I am whenever Mycroft comes around," he muttered.
"Of course. Really, it's a bit amusing to watch," James said. "But really, you should make it up to her somehow. She did save me from impending disaster, while sustaining an injury in the process and she was only trying to deliver the message."
"I don't even know how I would do that. I've never been too keen on these sort of matters," Q said as he picked up the guns.
"Take her to lunch tomorrow. It gives you an excuse to avoid your brother and to make it up to her as well," he replied with a shrug. Q stopped and realized that for once, James was right.
"That would be the best way to handle this situation," Q said.
"See? I'm not a hopeless case after all. You should have more faith in me," James said with a grin.
"But still, you're James Bond. I wouldn't hold out too much hope," Q chuckled as they went out the door.
Alexa had left the shooting room, tossing both the note and the mug in the bin. Alexa felt guilty for breaking his mug and making him snap at her and it was easy for her to decide to leave work at a normal time. It was a little past five and she figured that she would leave as quickly as she could, in order to avoid running into Q. Alexa hurried through the door and the people who had stayed behind (mainly George, Michael, and Joy) looked up as she came in.
"So, how bad was it?" Joy said.
"Well, Q almost shot James because they mixed up the pistols. In turn, I threw his mug at him to make him stop. I managed to cut myself and he also snapped at me for giving him that note," Alexa said. The entire room fell silent and Michael shook his head, looking sorry for her.
"I think it would be in your best interest to avoid him for a bit," Michael said.
"What? Why?" she said as she dabbed at her wound with her handkerchief.
"Alexa, you do know who gave him that mug, right? Hasn't someone here told you?" Michael said.
"I haven't been told anything about the origin of this mug," Alexa said as she gathered her papers.
"Well, to put it mildly, Q's heart isn't entirely made of ice. He had an old girlfriend, Kate Winston, that used to work here. I remember that they dated for about six or seven months and he really seemed to like her. I heard that they had a fight over something and they broke up and she moved to America," he said. Alexa's eyes widened in shock, upon realizing the gravity of her actions.
"I just did something terrible, didn't I?" she groaned, looking mortified.
"Come now, it'll be fine," George said as he patted her reassuringly on the shoulder.
"George, I just broke a keepsake of his from an ex-girlfriend whom he seemed to really like and I also told him his older brother is coming here tomorrow. I don't think it'll be fine," Alexa said as she pulled on her coat. She looked at the clock and picked up her purse.
"I'll see all of you tomorrow," she said as she made her way towards the door. Joy stared at her retreating figure and followed after her, pulling her purse onto her shoulder.
"Alexa, just talk to him tomorrow and apologize for the mug incident," Joy insisted as she walked beside her.
"Are you mad? I can hardly talk to him on a regular basis, around all of you. There's no way I can talk to him privately like that," Alexa whispered as they exited the building. The two women walked across the brick steps and stood at the sidewalk.
"Just promise me that you'll try something, anything," Joy said. Alexa's brow furrowed and she stared at Joy rather warily.
"Hang on a minute, you aren't trying to set me up with him, are you?" she said suspiciously.
"No," Joy said, knowing that it was at least half-true. Alexa immediately gave her a look that could make even a man crack and within seconds, Joy had succumbed.
"Ok, fine. But it isn't just me. Eve is in on it too," she confessed.
"But...why? I mean, he's really quite handsome and all, but he's my boss. I can't exactly date him. It seems like I would come off the wrong way," she said.
"Although you've been working here for two months, it didn't take either of us very long to see that you two would be lovely together," Joy said. "We had to try something. I mean, it's about time the poor man fell in love again, especially after what happened with Kate. George was out that day when they had their spat, and I filled in for him, but I still remember how bad it was. We just wanted to give him a chance not to become a bachelor for the rest of his life."
"Well, it's useless. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to love," Alexa mumbled, looking down at her shoes. "Besides, I highly doubt that he's interested."
"That's rubbish. I don't see why he wouldn't be interested," she said as she looked at her watch. She realized that she had a few errands to run and pulled her arm away.
"Listen, I have to run. You have to try something tomorrow, or else I'll tell him that you like him," Joy said.
"No! Don't say that," Alexa exclaimed, looking horrified.
"Then live a little. Try to make him notice you somehow. Do something," she called as she walked to her car. Alexa let out a sigh, knowing that Joy's threat was real and she headed down the street. She saw a grey cloud making its way towards the horizon and within minutes, it began to rain. Alexa groaned and stared up at the sky, because she had finally realized that she had forgotten her umbrella somewhere again and she could not recall its exact location. Honestly, it seemed to be the one thing that she would forget frequently. Every emotion that had been coursing through her body had reached its breaking point and she finally snapped.
"For god's sake, can't I just catch a break today?!" she shouted, feeling utterly irritated. Several people stared at her upon hearing her scream angrily at the sky and she stormed into a shop to avoid being rained on any further.
The door opened with a click and she stepped inside, finding herself in a small and somewhat abandoned novelty shop. Alexa gave the elderly woman at the counter a small smile and proceeded to at least pretend that she was looking around. She picked up a vintage Coca-Cola themed license plate and peered curiously at darkened liquids in old jars. The store in itself was quite odd, if you actually looked closely, but Alexa had no choice but to stay here for the time being.
Her heels clicked loudly against the hardwood floor as she walked into the back area of the store. This time, something had actually caught her eye and she headed over to a small bookcase that was filled with coffee mugs. She looked at the different designs and although it took a while, she found the perfect one to replace Q's old mug.
The white mug's design was fairly simple. It was the letter Q which was stylized like the Scrabble tiles, with a small number 10 in the bottom right hand corner. It was a bit symbolistic, as Q was the most valuable letter on the Scrabble board and consequently, the hardest to play. She found herself smiling at the irony and picked it up. It was rather thick, which was good because the old mug was thick and weighted as well. She briefly wondered if he would care about the ironic nature of the gift but proceeded to pay for it anyway, feeling satisfied with her purchase.
"Is this for someone special?" the elderly woman said, interrupting her thoughts.
"Well, you could say that," Alexa said with a shrug.
"Would you like a box for this, then?"
Alexa nodded and watched as the woman put it in a small brown box while tying a red ribbon around it to hold the box together. She handed Alexa a card to go along with it and Alexa thanked the woman, while heading out of the shop. Alexa really wasn't sure of how long she had spent in the shop but she didn't care because the rain was gone.
She walked rather cheerfully across the damp street and hopped over puddles, her mood considerably better than before. After a five minute walk, she soon arrived at the Tube Station. Alexa went home and wrote a message in the card, after figuring out a plan of attack for tomorrow. She really wasn't sure if he was still angry at her or not, so she decided it would be best to play sick.
After all, wasn't that always the best way to avoid your problems?
Well, breaking that mug probably wasn't a good thing. How do you think they'll get over it? Leave a review so I can see what you think!
