Chapter 9: Loyalty and trust

Q turned towards M, purposely drawing attention to himself. They really shouldn't have these discussions in public. The emotions they brought out were damaging to the iceman persona after all. And though Mycroft regarded M higher than he did any other, such emotions were only really shown to family.

"M, apologies, how can we help you tonight?" He asked as he picked up his tea.

"I had an interesting discussion with Tanner." M said, regarding him intensely. Q stayed calm under his gaze. It had nothing compared to Mummy's, who had taught Mycroft intimidation techniques.

"I hope you've been able to assure him of my good intentions?" Q asked him coolly.

"I have assured him I'll send in oversight. I'm sure 0010 will be useful to you in some fashion." M answered in the same tone.

"Oh, I can already think of 10 ways to keep him entertained." Q answered with a smirk hoping it would hide the relief he felt that M was on board with this. Or at least withholding his judgement at the moment. "It will be a big reassurance to R and any who had doubts. Thank you for that. Please do let him and Moneypenny know to keep the address of our department to themselves. I don't want any uninvited guests. I was thinking of using the old headquarters as a place to outfit agents. Tanner can bring them back and forth as needed."

"Is such a degree of separation really required." M asked looking slightly alarmed.

"Unfortunately." Mycroft mixed himself in the discussion, iceman persona back in place. Q suppressed a sigh of relief that the damage seemed to have been limited. "And we can't exactly tell you why." Mycroft continued. "All I can tell you is someone pushed through the merger and it wasn't us. I will not colour your judgement about the one that did until we can find concrete evidence against him. His plans however are alarming and Q decided these steps were required to safeguard the nation and his people."

M nodded thoughtfully sitting up slightly.

"I assume the man will be my new boss? Though you signed my contract Mycroft so as far as I'm concerned, I still work for you." He said with such conviction it raised Mycroft's eyebrow. Q smiled at the loyalty his brother was given. No one had ever done that, apart from family and it was good to see. He just hoped his brother didn't screw that up because it sounded like Mycroft was on his way to making his first friend since his wife died.

Mycroft had met Emily during his years tailing uncle Rudy. Ben didn't really know how they met or their history. Mycroft just showed up with her out of the blue one day and introduced her as his fiancé. She had been perfect for him. Incredibly smart, very caring and head over heels in love. It was such a shame when she died only a year after they'd gotten married. Q had been 13 at the time and had held his brother as he cried himself to sleep night after night. After the funeral though, Mycroft grew more distant and colder. It had taken years, and the loss of Sherlock to drugs for Mycroft to start opening up to him again. And though they still had their disagreements, their bond was closer than it had ever been. Q cared and it was great to see that someone else, besides their family, cared about Mycroft too.

"Well, he's supposed to oversee the entire secret service so he would definitely see himself as your boss." Mycroft answered dryly. "I suppose we'll let him have that impression. Unfortunately, time is what we'll need right now. And the only way we can keep your new boss occupied is if we play along." Q sighed which earned him a frown from Mycroft, but he couldn't help it. The urge to take a gun and just kill the man was large. But he wouldn't act on it. He wasn't like uncle Rudy.

"Which is why you leave me with very little information. So, my reactions will be genuine. Can I expect you to protect the rest of MI6 as well, Q?" M asked casually but the message was clear. If you don't provide me with the information I need, can I depend on you to act in my stead if necessary?

"Off course, though I might not be quartermaster at the moment, that is still my purpose within MI6." He answered casually but with a fierce undertone.

"Good. Then I will leave this mess into your capable hands. Do inform me of what is happening when you can." M said before switching gears. "Now what can you tell me about what the devil 007 is doing in Mexico City? Is he off reservation? Or is he doing something for you?"

"007 is not acting on our behalf..." Mycroft started.

"But we let him go." Q interrupted before his brother could completely throw Bond under the bus.

"Has he told you what he's doing?" M asked.

"No." Mycroft answered simply.

"Did he tell you where he was going?" M asked more intently.

"No." Q grudgingly admitted and then tried to salvage what he could. "We deduced something was going on but he gave no information. Though we know it was in our countries best interest."

"So, he's gone off reservation but hasn't betrayed us." M said. "Unfortunately, the mess was way too public to salvage Bond's reputation. The PM is calling for his imprisonment. The Mexican government is actively hunting him. Nothing short of grounding him indefinitely will do. It's the perfect opportunity to test the smart blood project."

"You know I feel that the smart blood transmits way too much information for my peace of mind." Q argued. "I know this is one of R's pet projects but I am not comfortable with having that much information on the MI6 server. Especially with this merger debacle. If he gets hold of all that information it could spell disaster." The thought of Moriarty getting his hands on the vitals and location of a double-0 made Q sick to the stomach.

Smart Blood had been years in development. It was the original reason R had been brought into MI6. Her masters in nanotechnology and the papers she'd written on the subject had made the former Q snap her up before any of the tech companies could. The Smart Blood had been controversial, Q himself was very much in doubt about the safety of the project. He had taken one look at the original program designed for processing the data and had immediately scrapped it. R had put up a fight about her pet project and eventually M had forced them to compromise. Q wrote an impenetrable program for it on the condition no one but him had access to it until they were certain it was safe.

"Then don't put it on the server. As long as you can keep an eye on him and assure me he'll stay put this time, I have no problem with it." M answered. Q sat and thought this through for a while. The timing of this request couldn't have come at a worse time. But the program was complete for testing. And if he didn't comply to this, Bond might end up detained or at least tailed wherever he went. This way only Q would know where the agent was and his privacy was somewhat guaranteed. He conceded with a nod.

"All right." He said. "It'll take me a week to set everything up. Let's hope Bond has returned by then."

"Thank you." M said and then looked at his watch and stood, cursing under his breath. "I have to get back. Moneypenny threatened to let 0010 out if I didn't return in time. Thank you for the tea, Director." And M disappeared through the door.

Q sat back and smiled.

"Well, that is at least one positive development that's come out of all this." He commented. Mycroft sniffed in disdain.

"You're still a sentimental fool, Q." He scoffed at him a bit resigned. Q grinned.

"And don't you forget it." He answered impishly.