Haven't gotten much feedback on my previous chapter, but I'm going to go ahead with the second chapter to my story. It's a little short and heavy on the dialogue, but hopefully it will suffice to set up the rest of the story. Reading and Reviewing is always appreciated. Cheers!

SIS Headquarters, London, United Kingdom,1978
3 Days After Baengnyeong Island Incident

In the year that had passed since James Bond, Agent 007 of MI6, had set foot in the Century House, little had changed. The only word for the building was drab, and theme had remained consistently lackluster in Bond's absence. The same secretaries and office workers nodded to him in the same knowing manner, hardly remarking the spy's strange absence. Taking the lift to M's office, Bond almost felt at home.

M's room, however, reminded Bond of just how much had changed. The view from the plate-glass windows was still nice, but the room lacked the old vitality Bond had grown to know. Instead of tastefully-placed books and paintings, memos and maps covered in thumbtacks lined the walls and cluttered the floor; the entire surface of M's desk was covered in sheets and stacks of papers, clustered around a beat-up typewriter in the middle. M looked positively old and frail amongst the chaos, though what she lacked in appearance she made up for in attitude.

"Well, come in then," she instructed, "And do shut your mouth, it's very unbecoming." Bond did as he was told and walked into the room; he had to scoot a heap of manila folders off of an old wooden chair before he could sit down.

Getting right to business, M said, "I'm glad you decided to take this mission after all, James; there are those around here that believed you had gone soft after Kashmir."

Bond, still trying to adjust to the uncomfortable chair, raised an eyebrow. "Soft? I would have thought I warranted a little more than that."

A small, prim smile formed on M's face. "So you would think."

Changing the subject, she began to search within the piles of folders on her desk for something. Watching her, Bond could really see how bad the past year had been for her. Her skin was sallow and her hair frazzled and stringy. It looked like long nights had been getting to her, and Bond sympathised with her; it had been a bad year for everyone. Investigations by the UN and a drop in support from the Prime Minister and most of Parliament after Kashmir had damaged the organization. Finding the object of her search, and snapping Bond out of his reverie, M held the folder before her like a prize.

"Now James, I assume you have heard of the recent incident on Baengnyeong Island, correct?"

Bond, nodding his head, "I've heard the BBC's version- so what really happened?"

Opening the manila folder in her hand, she scanned the contents and then replied, "An entire team sent from the United States was wiped out, save for one man. Their mission was to capture a North Korean Intelligence defector. Rumor had it that this man was high up in the organization, and that he knew something big was about to happen."

"So...what was about to happen?" Bond asked, skipping to the point before she could go on.

"That's the problem," M replied, "He was killed on the island before the CIA had a chance to formally talk with him; he took those secrets to his grave."

"I assume it is now my job to find those secrets?" Bond asked, picking up the narrative. "And since the US team failed the job falls to SIS?"

M wasn't amused. "You are correct, James." She flipped through yet another stack of files before pulling one out. "Your assignment is in here." She sighed and sat down at her desk, seemingly only now noticing the absolute mess it was. "I know this is less formal and more punctual than you're used to, James, but I don't have much of a choice. Parliament has been on my back ever since your last mission, and we desperately need this. A successful mission will restore the people's confidence in us; we need it."

Bond nodded, surprisingly finding himself thankful that he had left for a year, he'd had it easy by comparison.

Shaking her head and straightening his assignment papers, she said, "You are to take these papers and board a flight to Seoul in four hours. We don't want to announce your return to the organization quite yet, so you will be on a commercial flight from Heathrow. Once you arrive in Seoul, a representative of NATO command in South Korea will meet you. He'll fill you in on everything else."

She looked up from the file in her hands with a slight disdain. "The Americans, as usual, are keeping their cards close to their chests. They won't tell you anything they don't want you to know, so it will be up to you to find out what you need to know." Bond, under M's gaze, shook his head yes. He hadn't expected her to be forgiving of his year-long refusal of assignments, so he was a little off put by her openness.

"Off you go then, I have other matters to take care of and things to do, 006 will be here shortly and I can't miss him, I assure you," M said, handing him the file. Bond rose from his chair with a creek, and accepted the folder before turning to the door.

"And James?" she called as his hand reached the knob. "Do be careful...don't want to see you get hurt again."

Bond turned his head and gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Mum, I won't." He opened the door, their conversation over, and left the office to head toward his flat, and then to Heathrow. Walking out of the building, he felt odd and wondered why. He smiled when he realized what it was: it was good to be back.