Chapter 15: Reunited
Eve and Tanner battled their way to the front of the crowd as the carriage carrying the prisoners arrived. A large gentleman came out in red coloured robes of a cardinal and a man who was in fact M's dead husband.
"Nigel and Silva. We're moving through a theme of her making still. These dreams are the intense nightmares of M and likely Bond and we are just along for the ride, so it seems." Tanner said.
"At first they were our own but since we all touched the orb on that ship, it shifted and became in M's control. Not that we are not all use to her commanding us, it just seems odd that she orders us within her dreams and nightmares also." Eve commented.
"I know. It must have something to do with that orb, maybe it's closer to her in the lab or medical?"
"Either that or her nightmares are stronger and therefore dominating the course of these dreams as a result. I think we need to get them and how are we going to do that?" Eve asked.
Tanner opened his jacket and displayed two pistols and a sword. "By any means necessary."
M and Bond were pulled from the carriage.
"M...Bond." Tanner whispered to Eve as he handed her a pistol.
"Where do you want me to shoot?" Eve asked.
"Take out the executioner's first. I will go get some horses for escape. Tanner handed her another pistol and some shot.
"What I wouldn't give for a proper rifle right now." Eve said looking at the container of shot and powder.
Tanner worked his way back through the condensing crowd as voices were raised in jeers as the character of Silva began reading out the charges.
Apparently M was a seductress and a wonton spy who's husband had turned over for retribution. Apparently she was offered clemency if she gave up all her contacts but she would not. Her lover, Bond was to be executed as an English spy.
Tanner found three horses and climbed on one with the leeds of the other two in his hands. Bill kicked the horse's flanks to get them moving precariously through the crowd as shots rang out from Eve's position in the crowd.
M looked out at the crowd, wondering if this was really the end of all this. She was done with jumping through the nightmarish hellscape of her subconscious guilt. Victim of her long life and the job she's done for all these years. Silva stood close behind her pulling her up against him and whispering.
"Only I can save you M. Come with me...I will take you away."
"And what? Why. Seriously I would rather die that run away with you to pretend to be something I'm not. I never felt for you what you felt for me. In fact I did feel dismay and guilt for having to turn you in. I mourned your loss as an agent, just as much as any other I had lost. I knew you wanted more from me but I was older and married. I would never give that up for a fling!"
"But you would for Bond? Are the two of us really that different? You were even older than him that you are to me."
"Bond and I understand each other and we've never crossed any lines. You were far more blatant than Bond has ever been."
"The only difference M, is that you love him and you only wanted to use my talents and abandon me to my fate."
"I love him…" M whispered under her breath as Silva pushed her up stairs to the gallows.
"M...M...it will be OK." Bond yelled and struggled against the binding on his wrists. He could see her visibly pale in the arms of that bastard Silva.
The crowd roared and surged to the level and yells of surprise sounded out as shots sounded out. Nigel and Silva fell dead as did the executioner. Horses plowed through the crowd with Tanner leading the charge.
Bond jumped onto one and waved for M to join him. His hands were bound in front of him as he lifted them for her to sit in front of him and she did. The comforting warmth of him surrounding her. M went to work releasing his bonds.
The crowd had recollected and hurled things as guards mobilized to chase them. Bond was forced down a street to the left, as Eve and Tanner headed to the right.
Bond urged the horse into a gallop hoping to get as far away as possible.
"Where are Tanner and Eve?" M asked looking back.
"I saw them head the other way." His breath was hot in her ear and she flushed just thinking about…
"What are we going to do?"
"Get out of the town and find Eve and Tanner. Hopefully they got the orb or it magically appears so we can get out of this mess."
Eve galloped beside Tanner towards the wood hoping that Bond and M would think the same thing.
"Hurry they're getting closer!" Eve yelled as they hit the woods before the armed guards pursuing them. They darted along paths as fast as it was safe to do so.
They came to a rise and headed up the difficult climb on horseback but it was too steep. Tanner got off his horse and pulled Eve off hers and then sent the horses off back the way they came.
Mallory sifted through the report and looked up at Q and his young nephew. "It's fixed?"
"Almost, I plan to test it as soon as we leave here. I was here to show you the moneytrail and the ones involved with keeping M under. We've eliminated the medical staff and that leaves external sources and Haines is the number one on the list."
"Yes but what do you want me to do about that?"
"I think you should plant some listening devices in his office. Quinten has dealt with all his mobile devices and computers but more is better."
"Fine. I will go visit his office today and take him the report of the accident. He wanted to be kept in the loop so I will just do it in person. Is Steven Parker being interrogated?"
"Yes, I believe he is and he was contacted by text and phone and he was so desperately in need of money that he didn't care who he was dealing with. He never intended them any harm he just need to delay their recovery."
"Yes so that I could take over…Q could you take a look into anything I may have inadvertently done since I came in to take over."
"We will but we may not understand the extent of any damage done until later. M will hopefully be up and able to assist soon." Q mentioned.
"Call me down to medical when you fire up the new orbs."
"Yes, this time we have constructed one per person. They may not have been all able to touch the one we sent before at the sametime. They are not necessarily all in the same proximity in their dreams. This should work without and external interference." Q explained.
Bond hopped down off the horse and helped M slid down into his arms. M stood looking up at him as he froze in want and need. M's appearance shifted from middle aged to youthful as Bond reached up and stroked her hair, that was changing from long to short as it had been throughout these dreams.
This is what I've always seen through the time I've known you. M you have always been so very beautiful."
M flushed and looked down unable to look at him. She caught sight of her hands and the way they were in flux. Her eyes shot back up to Bond's. "What...what do you see Bond?"
James was also shifting from the young agent she surveyed from a walkway above a training course years before, to the middle aged man he had become. His eyes were the same but he had aged. Lines of stress was on both of their faces.
For a moment they stayed locked in their youth. M and Bond no more than 20 years old stood staring at each other lost in thought. "This is all a dream." M said looking up at him.
"Yes...I want to kiss you but I also want it to be real. I don't want a whisper of a kiss to suddenly become us lying in the grass naked with no memory of what had happened...again."
M laughed. "That happened?"
"Yes...I was a English man who had been living with vikings and you were the dowager Queen of Northumbria. You were incredibly hot and I wish I could remember the details of what happened between us in that big bed. Like many dreams it tugs at my awareness, yet is frustratingly short on details."
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"Do you think we've been trapped in here?"
"I thought you were asking about something deeper...M, and I don't know."
"Deeper...like how long you've felt this absurd attraction to your old boss?"
"My sexy, intelligent, frustratingly aloof, controller of my life, you mean?"
"Controller of you life? I don't think…"
"Come on M...you call I jump...what else would you call our relationship other than frustrating."
"What about all those times you went rogue?" M said, hands on her hips, head tilted and a playful smile on her face. M then transformed into her normal self as does Bond.
"We're back to normal. Do you still see me the same way?" M asked.
Bond found her irresistible and took a step closer and touched her face, he whispered, "yes" as he ducked down to kiss her.
A rumble interrupted him as two riderless horses charged past them. Bond pinned M up against a large oak as the horses went passed and he saw Silva on one of the horses. But they were shot! Of course they were still tormenting them...Silva and Nigel would always be close to the surface of M's subconscious.
Bond was torn between going after the bastard or staying put. Holding M did have a way of distracting him.
M went to move and speak but then put his finger up to her mouth as another group of riders road past.
Bond grabbed her hand and pulled her around the tree to remain in hiding from the passing guards. Unable to resist pressing up against her and whispering in her ear. Exploiting any chance to feel her body pressed against his and breath in her scent. He knew it was all a trick of his memory because they were trapped in a dream but it was still intoxicating.
"We need to find Eve and Tanner. Those were their horses."
M nodded, but immediately missed the warmth of his contact as they headed off in the direction the horses came from. They stayed close together holding hands as they made their way through the forest. Not saying a word but M took comfort in his presence and the strong grip of his hand assured her that he would never leave her behind.
Suddenly the air changed around them and the light descended instantly into darkness. In the distance through the trees Bond saw the flickering light of a fire.
They made their way cautiously to the flame to find Tanner and Eve in a loving embrace.
M cleared her throat at the same time as Bond, interrupting the two love birds.
"M...ahhh...Bond...god." Tanner choked out with a nervous embarrassed laugh.
"Bill you don't have to be embarrassed. Bond has been trying to snog M in every dream we've had, I'm positive of it."
Now M flushed and then a twig snapped behind them. Two men came out from behind a tree with a glowing orb suddenly throbbing in light on the ground between them.
"How the hell did that get there?" M exclaimed as Bond ran for the orb only to be tackled by Silva. The other man came around the tree into the light was Nigel and he only had eyes for M.
The look of a man who wanted to kill his wife is not a pleasant thing to witness, and as the wife in question even more so. It was always suspected that Nigel would have wanted a better wife and mother than her. "Nigel...please. I am truly sorry for being a terrible wife and even if you don't believe me…I did love you.
A shot rang out between the grunts and groans of Silva and Bond rolling around on the ground. Eve and Tanner moved beside M to try and pull her away from any danger.
Bond got up clutching his middle and the orb as he slammed into Nigel from behind pushing him into the fire as he held out the orb for the others to touch.
"Bond...you're hurt?"
"Doesn't matter...let's try to get out of here."
The four of them touched the globe at the same time and the light increased to a blinding level and warmth crawled up their arms. This was the same feeling that they had the first time.
"Please make this work." The four of them said at once and then oblivion…
Q held M's hand over the orb as Mallory did the same for Tanner and the doctor and nurse held Bond and Eve's hands.
Quinten operated the computer and counted down from 10. He fired up the orbs by 8 and then on 1 they all placed their patient's hands on their orbs.
"Their eyes are fluttering." Mallory said in amazement. It had been 5 days since they went under and the doctor was very concerned that they would never wake from whatever dreams they were in.
Doctor Ross had called in Doctor Hall the psychologist and he had just arrived to see what would happen. "They look like they're waking. Good work."
"Yes, thankfully they are. All readings are saying success. Q?"
Q nodded to Quinten. "Yes all the readings are good but I will leave them on until they really wake up."
M's eyes opened and she groaned. "Bond?"
They all woke at that moment and Bond groaned loudly reaching down to hold his side. Quinten cut the power to the orbs and helped Q place them in a proper lock case.
The doctors and nurses assessed the patients and looked at Bond's side that he was clutching.
"I was shot." Bond said in amazement when he looked down and saw a bruise but no blood.
"Are we really back?" Eve asked.
"Yes you are Miss Moneypenny." Doctor Hall said moving forward. "Can you remember what happened?"
"Yes...we were all in dreams...and then we all ended up in the same dreams." Tanner added.
"The same dreams? Fascinating. We are going to have to have sessions M.
"Yes...well I hope that can wait until a later date. Q what the hell happened to us?" M asked as she swung her legs off the bed.
The doctor was there in an instant. "Carefully now. You will feel dizzy as well as disoriented. Please if you would all just lies still while we run a few basic tests. Mr. Mallory can debrief you as you wish."
M harrumphed and layed back against her pillow after the nurse raised her bed she looking at Mallory she was ready for questioning. "Alright, anything said here is to be confidential. M said to the medical staff.
They all nodded in agreement, if for no other reason as to get them all to stay still while they took blood samples and checked their blood pressure and reflexes.
"Begin please. I would like to hear from Q first about the orb 007 mistakenly removed from Q branch and created all this mess."
"I was working on a device that would assist in questioning an individual. They would theoretically be in a lucid dream state, and therefore unable to lie. Unfortunately, it was far too strong. It was only ever to be used by one, not four. Somehow four of you handling it in close sequence did something to overload it. The handler was always to where gloves and it should not have turned on at all. I went over the video to see what happened and because 007 was tossing the orb around he inadvertently turned it on."
"Fine but how did we end up within each other's dreams? At first; my dream did have representations of the others but they were not really...Bond, M and Eve. They were just dream versions. But then something changed and we were all together." Tanner added.
"Yes...the pirate dream is where it really hit me that we were actually together. I mean I had inclinklings during my Vampire dream." Eve said.
"Vampire's? Pirates?" Mallory asked looking shocked.
"Yes, and Vikings and bloody Silva!" Bond added.
"I was a spy in the 1960's at the old building here in London. M was there but she was…"
"I was what Mr. Tanner?"
"You were the assistant to M...M." Tanner stumbled. "I have to say you were adorably sweet in a 1960's mini dress." He added with a cheeky grin to see Bond turn serious and focused on him.
"Enough about my attire Tanner, I was not in that dream but I was in the past during Nelson's time and I was young again. My father was there…" M drifted back into her memories.
"That must have been an emotional shock." Dr. Hall said. "Did that happen to all of you?"
"No, mine were pure action and in the moment." Bond added.
"I would expect that of you agent Bond." Dr. Hall smirked.
"Mine were terrifying. I was in a Vampire's castle and Bond was one and M was the Queen Vampire and then I was a slave during the American revolution." Eve interjected. "And then there were dinosaurs?" Eve looked towards Tanner.
"I remember that...I think I was there too!" Tanner added.
M and Bond listened trying to catch memory of the same dream that Tanner and Eve experienced.
"It's all slipping away." M said. "It's good that we remember this now but it comes in bits and pieces."
Bond frowned. "That's because you want to forget some things. Like Silva and the ghost of your dead husband."
M was shocked at the intensity of his admonishment. "A long life does lead to some regrets and Silva, well he will haunt me for the rest of my days. Doctor can we forgo this for now. I would really like to go home and shower, not to mention eat real food." M declared, diverting attention away from the insubordinate way Bond was criticising her wish to forget much of what had happened.
Bond kept trying to catch her eye but she steadfastly refused to look at him. "I will escort M home. What day is it?"
Mallory answered. "It's Friday the 22nd. Doctor is it safe for them to leave?"
"I think it should be fine but they should use go in pairs and stay together this weekend or the four of you can stay here and expand on what happened."
"No thank you Doctor. As much as that would make sense, I cannot stand another moment lying in this particular hospital bed." M said.
"I can see your point. Since Bond is escorting M home for the weekend then Tanner should escort Eve." Dr. Ross suggested.
Eve blushed and side eyed Tanner, as he quickly nodded his acceptance of the plan with a smile.
"Yes and they may need to talk to understand the nuances of experiencing each other's dreams. If you could all right down any memories or make recordings that we can review. M I would like to meet with the four of you Monday. We can make it a group session or individual but I would expect an hour each or 4 all together at least." Dr. Hall added.
M carefully climbed off the bed with the help of the doctor after the nurse finished all the testing. Her feet felt strange and an ache in her back from lying in one position too long, was noticeable. She winced.
"Your muscles will take a bit to get going again M and you will all need to appear Monday for check ups. Call and I will come in this weekend and make house calls should it be anything serious." Dr. Ross added.
M nodded as she felt a strong hand on her arm holding her steady. Bond was not going to let this go. Hell she didn't even know if she wanted him too.
"Mallory can you assist for another few days. We need to debrief on what has been going on around here."
"I will M. I would say go home and get some rest but you've been asleep the better part of a week." Mallory stated. "Q branch and I have dealt with the culprit who interfered with your retrieval by cutting the power and it has lead in and interesting direction. That can wait. We will debrief after your weekend's rest."
""Thank you Mallory. And yes I suppose we have slept for days but it was certainly not restful sleep. I will see you all Monday in my office, then we will all spend some time back here in medical and with Dr. Hall." M said looking at the others. "That is an order."
There was no doubt in M's mind now that Mallory would make a good M and she knew he was already being tossed around as her replacement. The old spectre of retirement loomed large in her head and after all this...it was all inevitable she supposed.
Bond guided M from the room. M tried to get him to let go of her but he persisted. "I can walk on my own 007. I'm not quite in my dotage yet."
Bond smirked. "I know M. I just like keeping you close to me. Just like in all my dreams."
To be continued...