Chapter 19: BORED!

"Mr. Greaves." Irritated, Ormond stopped dragging his feet towards the IT department and turned to wait for the asshole who dared to interrupt his evening. He was grumpy. It had been two weeks and their mole had yet to make a move. It was frustrating but at the same time it had done him some good. The limit on his hours meant he'd gotten the time to catch up on sleep. His health had steadily improved. His blood pressure had been back to normal for a few days now and he felt more energetic than he had in a long time. However, it also meant boredom was becoming a real problem. He'd been able to contain himself so far, but it was starting to eat at him. It didn't help that his work had progressed to the point where he only had to implement his plan. But that would take at least 36 hours of continuous work and then at least another 36 of monitoring.

"Mr. Talbott. What can I do for you?" He asked as neutrally as he could when the new department head had caught up with him. That was another issue that was grating him. The two men Mycroft had gotten him were not working out. To be fair, they had been thrown into the deep end and left to drown but that didn't change anything. Former MI5 manager George Sadler was trying but in all the wrong ways. He was new to managing and had clearly been given a bog-standard management course that had focussed more on how to look well in front of a customer and not on how to work a team of experts. There were moments where you could see that he had it in him, where he was actually making some progress, but then he remembered his training and screwed it all up again. And then there was the man next to him. Neil Talbott, former NSY, was more relaxed about his approach. He clearly knew he was leading a team that had more clearance and experience than he had and had adjusted accordingly. However, there was something about him that was setting Q's teeth on edge. He didn't know what it was, maybe it was the fact that the team hadn't warmed up to him, despite being an adequate leader. It didn't help that both men seemed to be very nervous of the double-0's

"Ms. Moneypenny asked me to tell you that M has unfortunately been delayed and that your meeting has been pushed back until later this evening." Talbott informed him. Ormond nodded in acceptance.

"Thank you for letting me know." He replied and continued on towards the IT department.

"How are you doing?" The man asked as he walked with him. Ormond groaned inwardly. Talbott hadn't bothered with conversations beyond their initial introduction and he had picked a horrible time to change that. "I know we haven't had a chance to talk yet, but you are part of my team and I know you're recovering from an injury. I just wanted to know how that was going and if I could help in any way." Talbott said as if to placate him.

"My recovery is going well. Exhaustion is becoming less of an issue. I'll be back to normal soon." He answered as shortly and blandly as he could hoping the man would just leave him alone.

"That is good. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assist your recovery and your project." The man said.

"Yes sir." Ormond answered shortly. He was very glad he saw the locker room to the double-o gym come up and that he had an excuse to go inside. "Excuse me." He said and went in without waiting for an answer.

The gym was occupied. 001 was putting Jordan through his paces. Q slipped in and leaned against the wall beside the door, just watching and calming down. Both occupants noticed he was there, 001 when the door opened, Jordan when he picked himself up of the floor after he'd been put there again. Jordan had wanted to stop when he spotted him, which 001 immediately punished him for. Hand to hand wasn't something Jordan had any experience in, Q saw. It would require a lot of work for him to get up to standards. But with how quickly Jordan was picking himself up after every time he was put down, Q knew he would get there eventually. He nodded, knowing 001 would see it, and slipped out again.

He walked over to the IT department, nodding to 006 when he went in, sat in his chair with a sigh and started monitoring all the logs and traffic on the servers, waiting for M to be back.

M wasn't alone in his office when Q entered and that certainly didn't improve his mood.

"Brother mine, what do I owe the pleasure of your company." Q said as soon as the door was closed, letting his displeasure be known right from the get go. He stalked forward a threw himself into one of the chairs earning himself a disapproving look from Mycroft and an amused one from M.

"You're sounding like our late brother." His brother said with just a slight touch of nostalgia. But Q was not in the mood to accommodate him tonight.

"What do you want, Mycroft?" He said grouchily. Mycroft rolled his eyes while M was trying very hard not to snigger.

"Always so grumpy when you're bored." Mycroft mocked him.

"As you well know. At least I haven't started a war yet. How's the Arab spring coming along?" Q shot back with vigour.

"Just as we want it to go as you very well know." Ah so that's why Mycroft was here. Because yesterday Q had relieved some of his boredom by taking a look at the security of his brother's network. He had been appalled and sent April an angry mail about how their security had lacked now that Sherlock wasn't there to test them regularly.

"And how many of your staff lost their jobs today, Mycroft?" He taunted his brother

"Six. The other three managed to convince me they could fix their issues. I've given them a week. So, if you'd kindly test them again around that time I would appreciate them." Mycroft answered stiffly.

"I'll think about it." Q said crossly. He crossed his arms and looked at his brother and his boss, challenging them to make his life any more difficult. He knew it probably wouldn't help but he didn't particularly care at the moment.

Mycroft sighed at seeing the look and he was about to start what Q hoped wouldn't be another one of his lectures when the desk phone rang. M answered and pulled a face when he heard the news.

"Leave him there for now to cool off. I'll have someone retrieve him later." He said angrily and rang off.

"009 has managed to get himself arrested for drunken disorderly. Apparently, he started a fistfight over a girl he was trying to chat up. Her friend took offence and they tried to beat the shit out of each other. It appears the other guy, a doctor, came out on top and was setting 009 nose while holding him down when the police arrived. They've both been taken in." Q snorted at hearing that. It looked like he wasn't the only one growing bored. Waiting for the mole to reveal himself wasn't the most exciting mission in the world after all. And while 001 had Jordan to train and 006 and 007 had guard duties, 009 had nothing else to occupy his time with.

His brother however was looking at his phone. "It seems the name of the girl was Molly Hooper. She and Doctor Watson were catching up over drinks." Q burst into laughter. No wonder 009 lost. He'd read the Doctor's file more thoroughly after meeting him at Wiggins's. He knew the driven Special Forces captain had excelled in marksmanship and hand to hand combat and he used his medical knowledge to help him take down stronger and bigger opponents.

"Oh, this is priceless." He said still sniggering. "I bet 009 is licking his wounds, mightily confused about how he got taken down by a man half his size."

"Dr Watson? Why does that name sound familiar?" M asked looking puzzled.

"Dr Watson was our brother's vlogger and companion." Mycroft replied. "But more importantly in this instance, Captain Watson is former RAMC, former fifth Northumberland Fusiliers and Special Forces. He's also very protective of his friends. It seems he hasn't lost his touch." Mycroft actually sounded proud to Q.

"Notice how he didn't say former Special Forces? You can consider Dr Watson an active operative and London is his playground." Q told M with a smile. "Who's handling the case?" He asked Mycroft.

"Lestrade." Mycroft answered. "I made sure if there is anything to do with Sherlock or his friends, he would automatically get the call."

"Off course you did. Shall I go get him then. I'm not sure Lestrade or Watson will be glad to see you and I could use the opportunity to stretch my legs." Q offered, aching for something to do. Mycroft looked at him for a while and then sighed.

"As long as you take 007 with you. April can't come because she will be recognized." He conceded.

"Off course, though Dr Watson would recognize Bond. They ran into one another in Afghanistan." Q answered.

"Then take 001. She hasn't left yet." M answered and quickly continued before Q could jump up and head for the door. "But not before we talk about what we're going to do. We can't wait for the mole to show his face forever. The hearing is in a week. We're running out of time."

"Our mole has been spooked by of all the double-0's hanging around the department. We need to provide with a distraction, give him an opening to strike." Mycroft said.

"I have just the thing. I'm ready to launch the final recruitment phase. The only thing stopping it, is the restrictions on my hours. When released it's bound to disrupt the internet worldwide and thoroughly distract anyone who knows anything about IT so it'll give our mole the perfect opportunity to strike. We can kill two birds with one stone." Q answered enthusiastically. He wouldn't lower himself to begging but anything to get these restrictions lifted would be a blessing.

"Can it be traced back to here?" M asked.

"Off course not." Q answered indignantly. "What do you take me for? I'm not an amateur. Only those we deem likely as candidates will be invited and we have plenty of time to do background checks while they run the gauntlet."

"No, off course you're not. No offence meant." M answered sniggering. "Well, I have no objections. It's about time we got the recruitment underway."

"Are you sure?" Mycroft asked intensely looking at him, deducing all the little details about the last two weeks. Q rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine, Mycroft. My blood pressure has returned to normal and I have more energy than I've had in a long time. I've already started up my Yoga routines again and that is going fine. You already gave me extra people to work with and I promise I'll make sure I'll moderate my hours. Besides I'll still have Bond as protection detail and I'm sure he'll keep being annoying about my health. Now let me do my job." Q answered exasperated staring Mycroft down, willing him to give in.

"All right." Mycroft reluctantly conceded and it took all Q had to not jump up out of his chair in celebration. Mycroft's eyes lit up in amusement as he spotted it.

"I'm going down to the gym and get 009 as soon as 001 is done torturing Jordan. I swear that guy is a glutton for pain and punishment." And he left the room as quickly as he could while still looking dignified. But he couldn't stop smiling at the thought that he could finally start on getting things back to what was considered normal around here. The game, as Sherlock would say, was on.