Arthur opened his eyes groggily, taking a few moments to remember where he was. He stirred in the bed and winced, remembering his injury as pain shot through his side. The pain also reminded him of Bond's affront on his personal space last night; his face reddened and he tried to think of something else, which was difficult when he propped himself on his elbows only to see Bond perched on the edge of his bed going over a file. He growled lowly and the other man looked up with a pleasant smile.

"Good morning, sunshine."

"Can it." Arthur snapped, trying to sit up and gasping at another sudden pain in his side.

"I'd stay still for a while if I were you. That cut needs to heal." Bond nodded.

"Rubbish. We can't afford that sort of delay and you know it." Arthur retorted, slowly turning and putting his feet on the floor before carefully standing up. "Ow."

Bond frowned. "Suit yourself. But I'll insist that you take it easy. You know, Arthur. They wouldn't have sent you if you weren't an exemplary agent. And there's no need to waste an exemplary agent, so please don't die." He stated it casually as he stood up, clapping Arthur on the shoulders and causing the other's knees to buckle. "Oh, sorry old boy."

"I'm fine..." Arthur scoffed, straightening up. He blushed realizing he was still in his boxers. "Now if you don't mind I'd like to get dressed..."

"Sure you won't need help getting your shirt on~?" Bond chuckled. Arthur glared at him, turning red.

"No I bloody well won't! Go on now, shoo!" He shoved Bond out of the room, wincing as it caused him pain, and shut the door. He grumbled and started getting dressed, gasping in pain as he went to pull his shirt on, as it seemed any kind of backwards or upwards movement of his arm caused his side pain. Refusing to ask for Bond's help, he carefully slipped the shirt on without moving that particular arm much.

Once dressed, Arthur stepped out into the main room. "I think we should go back. I was very close to getting some information..."

"Coffee?" Bond smiled, gesturing to the hotel coffee machine.

"I thought you didn't know how to make coffee..." Arthur raised a brow. Bond had an affinity with most technological things, but somehow kitchen appliances had always been a bit of a weakness as far as Arthur knew. Not that he could say any different for himself...

"It has instructions on it..." Bond shrugged. "Not written quite as well as Q's, but I managed." He noticed Arthur's hesitation and lifted his own mug, taking a sip from it. "I swear it won't kill you old boy." He smirked.

Arthur rolled his eyes and reluctantly took a cup of coffee, placing it in front of him and slowly sitting on the sofa. "Well, anyway, I was saying I think we should try to get back in..."

"Arthur, we were foiled. They'll be expecting us to come back." Bond shook his head. "It's best to find another way... they're a huge organization it seems, there must be other places."

The blonde man nodded, frowning a bit. "I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am." Bond stated plainly.

...

"You are here for the repair?" The receptionist gave Bond's identification card a glance. "That was fast… the elevator broke only five minutes ago…"

"Well we like to keep our customers happy." Bond asked in flawless Russian, unperturbed. "It is our honor."

"Of course." The woman murmured, giving the card back and smiling. "You may go in. Please not take long."

"Of course not, my lovely~" Bond chuckled, winking at the woman and slipping into the hallway as she blushed.

"Ugh. Get me an antacid, you're upsetting my stomach..." Arthur grumbled over the microphone, calmly standing on a ledge in the back of the building, somewhere near the fifth floor, where five minutes ago he'd dropped a small charge through the vent leading into the elevator shaft, shorting it out to allow for a cover. The top half of the building was flat concrete and fluted outward at the roof, allowing no means of rappelling to the top. Now he needed to get inside the building to make it the rest of the way.

"Come now, Arthur." Bond chuckled into the microphone. "You don't even understand Russian."

"I can still tell when you're being a dog." Arthur rolled his eyes, kicking his foot at a pigeon as it landed near him on the ledge. "Good grief… even in Russia… pests…"

"Arthur if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were jealous~"

"Just shut up and hurry!" Arthur snapped. "You're so full of yourself! This is why we never get a bloody thing done!" He growled and kicked the pigeon again as it landed on his foot. "Damn it!"

"Arthur, calm down, really.. remember your blood pressure."

"Remember we're on a mission and get the damned lead out!" He snarled, glaring as the pigeon defiantly landed on top of his head and taking a swipe at it, sending a couple of feathers flying as the bird took off. "Hurry up before the bloody pigeons take over! They think I'm a statue!"

"Perhaps they think you're a gargoyle because you're always scowling." Bond chuckled softly as he imagined Arthur's angry face, calmly making his way through the halls, nodding and greeting people he passed. He ignored a curse from Arthur as he made his way to the elevator. He propped the doors open and stepped inside, taking out a roll of caution tape and criss-crossing it over the elevator doorway. He smiled and nodded as a couple of men in suits walked by, joking to them about how you can never get a good elevator these days. He heard Arthur snort derisively at the insinuation of the jest. "Oh lighten up Arthur… anyway you're clear." He chuckled, setting up a small ladder and popping open the trap-door in the top of the elevator as he pretended to fix the problem. He only needed to make sure Arthur could utilize the elevator shaft without a real maintenance man coming and fixing it before he could get out.

Arthur sighed with relief, turning and nervously climbing into the vent. It was only about six feet to the elevator shaft from the perimeter wall of the building, but it was only about a foot square and a tight squeeze, one Bond couldn't have managed with his more athletic physique… something Arthur was disgusted to find himself suddenly thinking about. He held his breath and wriggled through the narrow vent, feeling claustrophobic and panicking as his hips nearly got stuck, but making it to the elevator shaft without issue.

He reached out and grabbed at the elevator cable, grunting as he missed it and nearly fell from the vent, though the narrowness of the vent made it harder to fall out of with his legs still inside it. He tried not to look down the elevator shaft as he snatched at the cable once more, managing to grab it but nearly falling again as he had to practically lunge from the vent. He clung to the cable as he came free from the vent and quickly grabbed the zipline off his belt, latching it onto the cable to secure himself in case he fell. He gripped the handle of the apparatus tightly, putting a bit of weight on it to make sure it would stay put when he climbed… and if he messed up.

"I-I'm inside. Beginning ascent…" He sighed, swallowing nervously and carefully starting to shimmy up the cable, glad his boots were equipped with powerful electromagnets and wondering vaguely why his gloves couldn't be as well.

"Be careful Arthur, I know how you feel about heights." Bond chuckled, grinning to himself.

"Sh-shut up." Arthur snapped, looking straight up above him determinedly as a bead of sweat trickled down his neck. The last thing he needed was to lose focus. He took his time, making his way about five more floors before his arms started to ache. He stopped, panting. He was getting up in his years and this sort of thing wasn't so easy anymore.

"Arthur, you're slowing down." Bond murmured into the mic, monitoring Arthur's vitals on what appeared to be a regular wristwatch from far away. "It's only three more floors to the top, you should be able to make it."

"I'm trying…" Arthur gritted his teeth, trying to keep his breathing even as he forced himself to continue. He ignored the burning in his arms, trying to hold on. His fingers were starting to feel numb and gripping the steel cable was becoming more difficult.

"Arthur, hurry up a bit, it's not far.."

"Will you shut up?!" Arthur snapped into the mic, wincing as he felt a sharp pain in his injured side. He lost his grip and fell back, his feet coming free from the cable. Before he had time to react, he was plummeting through the shaft, unable to stop himself. He grabbed at his zipline desperately, barely managing to lock it as he passed the fifth floor mark. He jerked to a halt about a floor lower, crying out as his belt cut into his side.

"Arthur?!" Bond startled, hearing the yell from where he was in the elevator. He glanced around to see if anyone had heard before looking at his 'watch' again, concerned to see the other agent's heart rate skyrocket. "Arthur? Are you alright?"

"No I'm not alright!" Arthur replied in a strained, angry voice. "Y-you're breaking my concentration, I almost died!" He growled and slowly righted himself, grabbing the cable with shaking hands and looking up. He groaned and started climbing despite his exhaustion.

"Sorry old chap." Bond chuckled lightly, hiding his concern. "Just keep at it, we have a limited time frame here."

"Hrmph. Really…" Arthur rolled his eyes, panting as he started climbing the cable again. Finally he made it to the top floor, grabbing at the ledge under the doors and cursing as his numb fingers slipped time and time again. He shimmied a few feet higher and leaned toward the doors precariously, holding onto the cable with his knees. He pulled a compact prybar, about half a foot long, from his boot and pried the doors open, pushing the gap further with his hands and practically throwing himself through them, landing on the floor and groaning. "Ugh…"

"Doing alright mate?"Bond chuckled again over the comm device.

"No thanks to you…" Arthur grumbled and picked himself up, looking around the hall before walking tentatively away from the elevator. There were no doors other than the elevator, and one other door, both situated at opposite ends of the hall. He made his way to it cautiously, stopping in front of the door and kneeling. He pulled the pin out of his watch, which was really a fiber optic cable. He slid it under the door slowly, watching the image on his watch face, which revealed a dark, empty office. He replaced the cable and pulled out his lockpicking tools, fumbling with the lock on the door and wondering why they didn't use a scanner or a keypad. It seemed almost too easy to get into this room.

Arthur straightened up, putting his tools away after hearing the lock click, and cautiously opened the door. He stepped inside and looked around quickly, hoping there weren't any cameras in the room, though the transmitter in his watch was supposed to disrupt surveillance within twenty feet. He approached a large desk in the office, something heavy and solid like oak, with a nearly black finish. The entire office, in fact, had a dark air about it, with thick maroon velvet curtains and a deep gray matte on the walls.

He rounded the desk, noting how neatly things were stacked and wondering if this was truly the office of a crazed terrorist. The sleek desktop computer glistened even in the near darkness, and he reached out hesitantly to turn the monitor on. The computer itself seemed to be turned off and he reached over to the tower to power it on. After the computer finally booted up, he was met with a typical log-in screen, and pulled out his decoder, a small device about the size of a pager, and plugged it into the USB port. A small table opened on the log in screen and a list of characters buzzed by so fast Arthur couldn't hope to make sense of any of the letters or numbers.

Finally the list stopped, having found the right combination, and the log in screen disappeared, replaced with a desktop. Arthur was both surprised and disturbed to see the desktop was an innocent picture of a still lake surrounded by sakura trees. He ignored it and began sorting through random folders, looking for any clue as to what this madman was up to besides confusing people with his neatness and love of pink things…

Suddenly a folder labeled "Top Secret" caught his eye. He stared for a second. Who the bloody hell names their top secret folder "top secret"? He'd have labeled it something like… "wedding photos" or "payroll". It certainly wasn't very secret… He clicked on the folder, studying the files inside. He noticed a sub-folder and clicked on it.

Arthur blushed brightly at the sudden flood of image icons, which all seemed to be the same very attractive Japanese woman in sexy lingerie. It wasn't until he noticed- not that it was his fault he couldn't look away- that one of the photos was a full nude, that he realized it wasn't a woman at all. Embarrassed, he quickly went back to the main folder and clicked another folder labeled "design".

"Arthur." He barely heard his name spoken in his ear as he gasped, staring at the computer screen.

"Oh my God…" He breathed incredulously as he took in the extensive computer-drafted blueprints displayed in the pictures the folder contained. Several of the blueprints were of missiles, which appeared to have different designs, which worried him as it meant there was more than one of these. The missile was labeled with measurements and a bunch of other things Arthur didn't understand. He stared at the images, wondering how innovative this weaponry was.

"Arthur! Come in, damn it.." Arthur jumped as his name was called again, quickly going back again to the main "top secret" folder and fumbling for his flash drive, cursing himself for not having it plugged in first off.

"Wh-what is it? What's wrong?" He stammered into the mic, plugging in the flash drive.

"It's Braginski, he's here, they're coming upstairs, you have to get out of there."

"Wot?!" Arthur panicked, looking to the door. He wasn't sure how long it would take for them to get to the top floor. "H-hold on, I just have to get this file…"

"Arthur, hurry, there's not much-" Bond suddenly cut off.

"…James?" Arthur felt alarm settling in as he hurried to move the to the flash drive, yanking it out and trying to close the window and shut the computer down. He dropped the flash drive in his haste and scrambled to grab it, freezing in place when Bond's voice returned.

"Get out of there! They saw, I'm buying you some time!" There was a loud scuffling sound and Arthur's eyes widened as he darted for the office door, his heart pounding as he wondered what was happening down stairs. He skidded into the hall and started running for the elevator, halting when the elevator lit up with a small 'ding'.

Arthur turned and ran back into the office as the doors opened, knowing if they were in the elevator, Bond had been apprehended. He flew to the window and tore the heavy curtains back, quickly forcing open the window. A rush of adrenaline froze his blood as he looked down at the ground far below. His vision blurred and he fumbled to latch his grapple line onto the ledge of the window. Without hesitation he launched himself from the window, feeling time coming to a near stop as the doors burst open behind him and he hovered in the open air, before suddenly feeling the tug of gravity as he plummeted.

He thought he may have heard voices, but soon it was only the rush of air as he fell straight toward the ground, helpless against the elements and pure physics as the paved street below came up at him. Even breathing was no option right now, only heart-gripping fear, until suddenly he was brought to an abrupt halt about five feet from the ground, panting raggedly and praising God and his superiors for his zipline's height-perception technology.

With a quick swipe of his hand, Arthur released his safety harness, dropping the rest of the way to the ground. He gasped in pain and stood up, staggering away from the building and dropping to the ground, rolling under a truck just as the engine started. He grabbed on as the truck pulled away, struggling to hold himself up off the road. He winced and noticed his arm was bleeding, hissing as the pain started to set in and the adrenaline ebbed away. Someone must have shot him as he was jumping through the window or something and he simply hadn't felt it in his panic.

The truck stopped about a block away and Arthur slowly rolled out from under it, looking around and making his way to the alleyway. The car he and Bond had parked there was still sitting there, untouched, and he grunted as he got in. He sat there for a while, panting and willing his heart to stop racing. He felt blood running down his arm and ignored it, still dazed from the run.

Finally he moved again, groaning as he started the car. He sighed and dropped his head against the steering wheel, cursing himself. If he'd been faster, if he'd been paying attention, Bond wouldn't have been captured. He'd have to go to the embassy now and ask for help. He sighed again and slowly drove out of the alleyway, wondering how he would explain to his organization that he'd lost their best agent…

"He is a tough one." Ivan giggled wickedly, shaking his hand out after punching Bond again. The agent was tied to a chair, his expression neutral despite being hit repeatedly. "Just tell me what organization you are work for." He demanded in a calm yet chilling tone. Bond cleared his throat and spat blood at Ivan's feet, giving him nothing but a small smirk. It earned him another hard punch, and this time a resounding crack filled the room and he grunted in pain.

"Oops." Ivan giggled again. "I guess you can not talk now. That is alright. You will have plenty of time. Maybe it heal wrong and be very painful." He said in a taunting voice, leaning on the chair to stare cruelly into Bond's eyes. "And just like the others, no one will save you…"