London Heathrow Airport
1812 Hours
Bourne exited the walkway from where his eight hour flight landed. It was around 45 minutes til night. He made his way through the waiting area in Terminal 3, carrying an over-the-shoulder bag that held only clothes and a variety of currencies in decent amounts. Anything else he and Nicky would have needed would already be at the safe house location.
He made his way out the exit and called for an oncoming, unoccupied taxi and got in.
"Where will it be, sir?" asked the cab driver.
"Sloane Avenue, Chelsea," Bourne replied. As the driver pulled away from the airport, Bourne couldn't help but feel something was off...
Bond watched the taxi drive away, waiting til it was a sizable distance enough for him to ignite the engine to his black Mercedes C Class. The Aston Martin would have been too conspicuous to tail the taxi he was in with. He began driving meters behind the cab in the opposite lane.
Where exactly are you going? Bond thought to himself.
Minutes passed as Bond followed, making sure to not attract any attention. When Bourne's taxi pulled into the parking entrance of an apartment complex in South Kensington, Bond continued down the road to the next turn and got out. He ran to the apartment building.
As Bond was about to enter, he noticed two bunches of balloons placed on each side of the entrance. He discretely took out a pocket knife and cut one free, taking it in with him and approaching the girl at the front desk.
"Hello, sir," she greeted.
"Hello," he said back with a smile. "Um, could you help me? I'm here to surprise an old friend. It's his Birthday and he doesn't know I'm here yet but he just entered. Brown jumper, black trousers, American?"
"Oh, you're a friend of Mr. Hanes? He doesn't usually come here at all, really. Flat 411. Third floor."
"Thank you," said Bond and he made his way to the stairs, letting go of the balloon. As he went up the next few floors, he slid out his concealed Walther PPK and took it off safety. He entered the hallway of the third floor and walked down it until he reached room 411.
Bond knocked on the door. "Mr. Hanes ?" He knocked again. "This is the manager. I've been informed of a water leak beneath this floor. Do you mind if I check?" After waiting a few seconds, Bond knew it wouldn't work and fastened his silencer to his pistol.
Bond began turning the doorknob, and to his surprise, it was open. He slowly opened it, seeing the layout of the room before entering. The flat was practically empty except for furniture, a glass table in the center of the living room and a TV turned off.
He looked further down the flat and heard the sound of running water. Bond walked to the closed bathroom door, his pistol aimed low. "Mr. Hanes?" he called again. He reached the bathroom door and slowly began opening. As the door opened, Bond could hardly see in the steam created by the shower's hot water. That's when...
Bourne, who had located himself behind the door, kicked the opening door back, hitting the pursuer. He then sprinted at the man in the black coat, grabbing his wrist to raise his pistol away from him, and tackled him against the wall in the living room.
Bourne slammed his wrist against the wall twice, making the pursuer lose his grip of the silenced Walther PPK.
As Bond's pistol fell from his hand, he kicked in Bourne's right knee and elbowed him in the jaw, making him step back. After, Bond stepped forward to punch Bourne on the left side of his chest, but Bourne managed to block blow after blow with such speed and ferocity.
Bourne was surprised at the man's speed. Almost every punch he tried to get in was blocked. They were practically equals in hand to hand combat.
When realizing simple hand and kick attacks would do no well against each other, each of them grasped each other's shoulders and rushed into the living room. They both crashed side first and fell into the glass table in the center of the room, making it shatter into several pieces.
As the two lay in the glass fragments, both weakened from the impact, Bourne noticed the window in the living room. It was big enough to jump from and the next building's roof was just below it. Bourne got up fast while the attacker was still struggling to get up. He ran to the window and jumped forward, breaking through the glass and rolling onto the rooftop a few feet away.
As Bond stood up, he grunted in pain. He thought again how empty the flat was and how little Bourne carried with him.
This was never his destination. Bond realized. He knew I've been following him since the airport. This was a bloody decoy!
Bond quickly picked up his pistol and readied himself at the broken window. He jumped to the next roof and ran.
Bourne sprinted to the end of the rooftop. He looked behind him and saw a figure in the distance of the pursuer jumping out of the window, running towards him. Bourne looked over the ledge and saw the stairs of a fire escape below.
He lowered himself over the edge of the building, hanging onto the ledge. He reached for the window's ledge beneath and climbed down. When both his hands gripped the window ledge, he looked down and decided it was a safe enough distance to let go.
Bourne landed on the top platform of the fire escape and ran down the series of stairs next to him. He reached a ladder at the bottom platform and, holding onto the two side bars of the ladder with his hands and feet, he slid down to the sidewalk.
When Bond reached the edge of the roof, he looked down and saw the route on the fire escape Bourne used to reach the ground. He saw Bourne running on the sidewalk below. It would have taken to long to imitate Bourne's descent, so 007 decided to run to the next roof in the direction that Bourne was running. He jumped to it.
As Bourne ran, he pushed his way past several people. He looked behind to the roof he just escaped from, but the pursuer wasn't there... he was jumping across the rooftops above him. Ahead of him, Bourne could see a building with several balconies alined outside its windows. If his pursuer reached them, he could easily descend from them.
However, the sidewalk looked more crowded a ways down. If he could get there and cause a distraction, he could get lost in the crowd. He noticed an exhaust vent coming from a building just ahead, blowing up hot air. He had a plan.
Bond jumped to the next roof and took a look at the side of the building in front of him. The balconies would provide a way down to the sidewalk. He made a running start then leaped onto the first one in front of him, making it over its railings. He readied his foot on the next rail, then jumped to the next one down.
Bourne slowed his pace to a steady quick-walk, seeing the pursuer climbing over the lowest balcony and dropping. People around him were curious, but no one curious enough to ask about it. The pursuer walked at a slightly faster speed than Bourne, not wanting to catch attention from any more passing civilians. Bourne looked at the vent again. Just a few more meters.
Every step he took was a step where his pursuer took two. He was catching up.
As Bourne nearly reached the vent, he slid his hand into his bag. He took one more step, and just as he passed the vent, he threw the stack of pound sterling banknotes he brought with him into the way of the vent, which sent the papers blowing in all directions.
As Bond saw the crowd gather at the floating money, his sight of Bourne soon became lost. No. No. No! he thought. He ran forward, trying to push through the crowd. After making it through seconds later, he turned the corner and saw no trace of Bourne. No one wearing a brown sweater.
Bourne walked a normal, steady speed after he turned the corner and quickly put a white hoodie he pulled out from his bag over his brown sweater. Hopefully, it would be enough for his pursuer to be thrown off. When he looked behind to check his pursuer had left, he called for another taxi, giving the address to the real safe house.
"Damn!" Bond exclaimed under his breath. He turned back around, trying to make his way back to the Mercedes. Although Bourne may have gotten away, it didn't matter...
After he and Bourne crashed through the glass table in the flat, Bourne looked away as he noticed the window as an escape. Discretely, Bond was able to slip a tracker left over from Q's jacket that he saved after the Stompanato incident into a small side pouch on Bourne's bag.
Bond took out his smart phone and selected his contact. He was calling Q.
"Q here," he picked up.
"Q? I need a trace on a tracker. The one that was in your jacket."
"Just a moment, 007. This may take a bit." he replied. Bond reached his car and waited several minutes. Q picked up again. "Bond? I found it. It's not far. It's just settled at 140 Edgware Road."
"Got it," Bond answered as he started the Mercedes.
"Something tells me it didn't go quite as planned?"
"Goodbye, Q," Bond said annoyed before he hung up.
As Bourne waited in the rising elevator of the apartment building on 140 Edgware Road, he put the white hoodie that helped hide him back in the main pouch of his bag. The doors separated and he walked to the apartment door at the end of the hall. He knocked five times.
Bourne could hear footsteps coming from inside the apartment, approaching the door. "Who is it?" asked a female voice. It was Nicky.
"It's me," Bourne answered. He heard turning of the lock and the door opened.
Nicky Parsons stood there. She wrapped her arms around him, relieved to see him.
"David, what happened? Why did it take so long to get here?"
"Let's get inside first," Bourne replied.
As they entered, Bourne recognized the apartment he picked out what seemed like a lifetime ago. There were no windows except for one in the bedroom, however he made sure there were no possible vantage points from the outside.
The flat was one of several places he kept around the world in all the major and important cities. His rent fees were linked to several different bank accounts all using different names and aliases. Luckily, they were still operational since his days as a CIA assassin. He set up the accounts without the CIA's knowing, and not even he remembered their existence until his amnesia was fully nullified. The apartment he led the man in the black coat to was a decoy. He always made sure to have at least one in the event of being followed, which was just proven to have good use.
"So," Nicky began as they stood in the kitchen, "...what happened?"
"I already told you all I know about the attack in D.C., but today at the airport I was followed by someone I led to a decoy apartment."
"And then?" Nicky requested him to continue.
"We fought. I was able to escape. Barely. He was highly skilled."
"Is it the same attacker from D.C.?" she asked.
"I don't think so. I don't see how he would have managed to know about the flight to London so soon after the attack."
"Can you describe him?"
Bourne recollected the features of the man he fought. "Tall. Around 6' 2''. Short, light brown hair. Bright blue eyes. ...He used a Walther PPK."
Nicky's eyes widened in recollection. Bourne paused as he noticed and stepped forward, waiting for an explanation.
"After I left Treadstone, for a while, ...I did a bit of filing for a branch in the CIA. They inserted one of their best men into a game of Texas Hold 'Em in Montenegro to stop someone from winning the money in order fund terrorist plots. Leiter, I think his name was. He reported the presence of an MI6 agent, one who was able to beat the man the CIA was after. One who was exactly as you described."
Bourne remained silent. MI6? "What was his name?" he asked.
Nicky remembered. "...Bond,"
"...James Bond," he introduced himself to the front desk manager of the complex. "Has an American recently come through here?"
"...Well," the manager stood in thought, "the bloke who just checked in a few minutes ago was an American."
"Let me guess. He doesn't normally come here very often."
"Now that you mention it, no."
"I don't suppose I could have his room number? He scheduled a meeting with us." Bond took out a business card and handed it to the manager.
"Universal Exports?" he read. "Alright then, uh..." he began reading over the check-in list. "Mr. Barnes is located in room 307. Would you like me to call up, sir?"
"Uh, no. No need, thanks." As Bond was about to walk away, the manager looked at him, puzzled. "Can I help?" Bond asked.
"It's probably nothing, but a year ago, weren't you in the papers? On the obituary columns? I remember it wasn't to long before the death of that MI6 woman, uh..."
"Well, I can assure you," interrupted Bond. "I'm certainly not dead. Perhaps I just have one of those faces."
"What does MI6 want with me?" Bourne asked.
"I don't know." Nicky thought. "I could try to get in touch with people I've kept in contact with inside CIA. They don't know of any connection we've kept after Tangier. With any luck, they'll still grant me access."
"If you want to try, go ahead, but if anything seems off, we have to move again."
Nicky nodded. "Do you still have that list of contacts?"
As Bourne filled a cup with water from the sink, he gestured into the living room.
"It's in the pack," he replied. "Outer pouch on the side."
Nicky went into the living room and clipped open the side pouch. She reached in to grab a folded card with known contacts she knew from her days in the CIA. As she pulled out the card, her hand bumped into something small... metallic. Around the size of a matchbox. She slowly reached in and found the little device, a small antenna sticking out from its top corner.
"Uh... David," Nicky asked, gradually growing in fear. Jason looked at her from the kitchen as he lowered his drinking glass from his mouth. "What's this?" she asked as she held the device up.
Bourne's eyes widened and he placed his glass on the counter. He put his index finger to his lips, telling Nicky to remain silent. He slowly turned to the door and brought his left eye close to the peep hole.
Outside, the pursuer from before raised his knee as he readied to kick the door in...
Bond slammed his foot into the door as he held his silenced Walther PPK. As the door swung open, wood splintering on its sides, Bond readied his pistol. As he looked in, he noticed a woman in a brown blouse and a tan skirt. Brown hair with slight hints of blond that went down to her neck. She looked on in fear.
As Bond entered, he began to ask her, "Where-," but he was interrupted by a blow to the back of his neck. Bourne had put himself in the corner of the kitchen, behind where the door was broken open. Bond stumbled forwards as he began turning to aim behind him.
Before his pistol could be aimed at him, Bourne slammed down hard on Bond's wrist with his left elbow as he moved in to punch Bond on the left side of his chest with his right fist. As Bourne's fist collided with his ribs, Bond grabbed his right arm with his hand now freed due to him dropping the gun when his wrist was hit.
With his right elbow, Bond slammed it down on Bourne's and they pulled each other towards the sink, further into the kitchen. As they did, Nicky ran forward to grab Bond's dropped pistol, but he kicked it back with his heel. The two men collided into the counter as they released their grip on each other.
The two punched at each other with immense speed in ferocity once again. After both of them did several successful deflections with their forearms, Bourne noticed the cabinet door on the wall above the sink. He swung it open, trying to smash it into Bond's face, but bond was to quick and shielded himself with his arms. As Bond blocked the cabinet door with his arms, Jason quickly grabbed his drinking glass he left on the counter and tossed it at Bond's head. The glass connected with great impact as it made a thud and Bond held his forehead as he stumbled back against the kitchen wall.
Bourne seized the opportunity. He grabbed Bond's shoulders and quickly pulled him to the kitchen table across from them, slamming his back down on it. Bourne held him by the collar while Nicky stood in the living room holding a phone she considered dialing for help but could have blown the location of Jason's safe-house.
"Why are you after me?" exclaimed Bourne. He tightened his grip on Bond's shirt collar and slammed his back into the table after refusing to answer. "Why are you trying to kill me?!"
Bond replied, his voice hoarse, "I'm not!"
When Bourne heard him, he thought back to their encounter in the decoy apartment. "Then why-"
Before Bourne could finish his question... Bfft!- a muffled bang burst through the kitchen wall where the sink was located and left a bullet hole in the wall a foot above and to the left of Bond. Nicky yelped in shock. Bfft! Bfft! Bfft! Three more followed.
Bourne pulled Bond off the table and flipped it over. The two rushed behind it in cover while Nicky stood behind the wall in the living room.
"Friends of yours?" asked Bourne as two more shots came into the room, one of them hitting the top edge of the table.
"No!" Bond shouted. "Yours?"
"I don't know!" Bourne replied.
Two rooftops across, Kirill laid on his stomach, aimed through the customized infrared scope of the RT-20 sniper rifle given to him courteously by his previous employer who he only knew as "Mr.P." Kirill saw through the scope three figures in the rooms behind the wall. Two of them in cover and one of them behind a wall separating the rooms.
The infrared wasn't incredibly clear through the walls. He could tell that the figure in the other room than the two in cover was feminine, meaning that his target was one of the two in cover. He couldn't take his chances. He aimed at both and pulled the trigger.
Bfft!
"We have to get out of here!" Bond exclaimed. "We can't leave through where we came. We'd be out of cover and my gun's over there!"
"There's a fire escape out the back." Bourne planned. "It's through the window in the bedroom."
"You've got any guns?" asked Bond as another two rounds went through the walls.
"I keep one in there too."
"Alright... On the count of three, we'll move this table with us!"
Bourne nodded in agreement. The two grabbed the rims underneath the top of the titled table.
"Nicky," shouted Bourne as her head looked at them from around the corner of the wall. "Get to the bathroom! We're headed your way and the shooter isn't after you."
Nicky nodded and rushed to the room further away from them. Bond looked to Bourne as another shot came close to going through the center of the table.
"You ready?" Bond asked. Bourne nodded. "One..." he counted.
"Two..." counted Bourne.
"Three!" They lifted together and moved their way out of the kitchen and into the living room, where the entrance to the bedroom was. They moved the table in front of the entrance just as another shot came in and took the top corner off the table where Bourne was.
They quickly retreated into the bedroom and shut the door. Bourne opened the dresser in the room and slid out a Glock 17 concealed by a false back he placed in front of it. He picked up the silencer next to it and slid it behind his belt.
"Whoever is shooting at us clearly has advanced scoping," said Bond.
"What's going on?" asked Bourne.
"...What?"
"MI6! Why were you after me?!"
Bond approached Bourne. "You didn't think we'd let you just waltz right into this country without getting our attention after what happened at Waterloo, did you?!"
Bourne remained silent.
Bond continued. "I followed you to find out your motives for being here."
"Well the bullets being fired at us is why. Hours ago I was the target for an assassination. I came here to meet Nicky, the girl out there, so we could lay low and find out what was happening."
"How did he know where to find you?" asked Bond.
"I don't know," Bourne replied. "He obviously has a reliable source, though."
"Alright," said Bond. "What's the plan?"
"...We have two options. A: Go down the fire escape and make our way across the streets where the shooter could likely have a vantage point over us, or B: Use it to go up to the roof and try to make our way across the rooftops."
"But we'll be on equal ground! He'd have a clear shot ahead."
"Except we have a gun too. He'd have more of an advantage from above and up here we have a clearer shot. Down there, not much. You can make your way towards him while I lay suppressing fire."
Bond thought to himself that Bourne's logic made sense. He nodded. "Plan B it is."
Kirill kept an eye on the building ahead as well as checked the streets below. He waited for a target. He was not prepared to let Bourne get away due to an interference.
Across the rooftops, Kirill noticed a figure highlighted in red from his scope. As he was about to fire, the figure fired two shots in his direction from a pistol. He quickly got up and moved to a position behind metal ventilation shafts that led into the building he was standing on. He reset his rifle.
"Hurry!" Bourne shouted as he climbed up to the roof and took cover behind a brick wall with chimney pots going through them. Bond was just reaching the top of the ladder when a silenced round went right past his head. Wfft! He quickly ducked his head back down.
Bourne aimed towards the source of the gunshot and fired another shot. As he did, Bond quickly climbed to the top of the roof, he took cover behind the base of a billboard advertisement.
"We need to get over there somehow," said Bourne.
Bond looked up and noticed that pieces of the billboard weren't glued down yet. He looked next to him and noticed cans of glue, right next to them was a wooden ladder.
"Leave that to me," replied Bond. He reached down and grabbed a side of the ladder, holding it in both his hands. "Cover me," he said and Bourne nodded.
Bond exited cover as he ran for the end of the building. Before the assailant could fire, Bourne aimed blindly through the darkness in the direction the previous shots came from and fired. Bond quickly slid the ladder over the edge of the roof's rim all the way to the next rooftop that was an alleyway's distance over.
"Come on!" he shouted to Bourne.
Bourne exited cover and fired blindly again. Bond mounted the edge of the roof and, one foot after another, began running across on the ladder handlebars. Bourne soon followed, constantly keeping his pistol aimed.
They're getting closer. Kirill thought to himself. The shots they fired were getting closer towards him and they made it to the next roof already. They would make the next one in no time.
I found him once, he can be found again. Kirill twisted a dial on the end of the rifle's grip. It was timed. He turned and made his way to the edge of the room, hooking a cable attached to his vest to a metal railing he climbed over the edge and began to rappel down.
Bond and Bourne had slid the ladder over to the roof their attacker was on. Bourne kept his Glock aimed and ready.
"Look," said Bond as he noticed the rifle laying by the series of ventilation shafts. "RT-20. Customized infrared scope and magazine by the looks of it."
"Let's take it back," said Bourne as he began walking towards it. "We can try to tra-"
Bond cut him off as he quickly pushed him back from the rifle. "Wait, wait wait!"
The rifle began glowing a bright orange in certain places as sparks began to fly off it. The grip and body of the gun were burning at an immense temperature.
"Thermite," said Bond. "Specially installed in certain areas under the armor of the gun to eliminate any way of making it traceable."
"I haven't seen anything like that before," said Bourne. "And I've seen much."
"I recently stopped a man selling weapons like this on the black market."
"...So how do we find this guy?" asked Bourne.
Bond came to a sudden realization. "It's possible your man and my mission are connected. The night I killed the seller, I placed a tracker on one of the shipping crates. If we find the buyer, then it's possible we have a lead on your assassin. I need to find out where it ended up," he said as he dialed Q.
"Bond?" Q picked up.
"Q, I need to know where the signal on the weapons crate from the other day is located. Has it arrived where it was sent?"
"Just a moment," said Q. "It appears it has stopped. It's in... Africa."
"Where in Africa?" Bond replied.
"...Sierra Leone."
Bond nodded as he thought. "Send the coordinates to my phone and call for a private jet. I'm heading there now."
"Wait, what about Bour-" Q was cut off by Bond hanging up.
"Sierra Leone?" asked Bourne.
"Apparently," Bond replied. "I'll fly there tonight. You and your female companion can stay at MI-"
"What?" Bourne interrupted. "No. I'm coming with you."
"Um, I don't think so. It's my mission."
"And my life on the line."
Bond was about to speak out against it, but sighed and remained silent.
"And besides," continued Bourne. "Two guns can occasionally be a lot better than one."
He held out his hand to Bond, seeing as they had not properly introduced. Bond took his hand and shook it.
"Bond," he said.
"Bourne." Jason replied.
Author's Note: Well, that's finally over with. Out of all the chapters so far, I have to say this was the most stressful to write due to the fact that this is the first meeting of the two characters. I hope you, the readers, like the way it was executed and that none of them were written too out of character. There were a lot of ways I could have done this. In fact I highly considered having Bond simply pull up to Bourne in an Aston Martin and say "Get in," in homage to Quantum of Solace, but that would have been pretty dull.
I have a few things set up for future chapters: Their operation in Sierra Leone, Kirill still after Bourne, as well as the mysterious "Mr.P." I know I already released his name in the second chapter, but I'm writing it like this for the sake of dramatic irony.
Also for the sake of keeping with Bond tradition, I chose a "Bond" song which normally plays over the introduction credits after a prologue. After you go back and reread the end section of the second chapter, look up the song "Supremacy" by Muse and just imagine a Bond intro. The song has a classy string symphonic element reminiscent of Bond, but also a hard, gritty edge to it which works well for the Bourne element of this story. Not to mention "Supremacy" was the word for the second Bourne story.
If you're a Bond fan, you probably already know that the next Bond movie is going to be "SPECTRE" and that Daniel Craig will be returning. This story was originally going to have subtle hints in it at the existence of SPECTRE, but now I'm not sure if I should considering I don't know how the next film will play out.
And if you're a Bourne fan, you might have heard that Matt Damon is supposed to be coming back for the fifth Bourne movie (though I'm not sure if Jeremy Renner is coming back to reprise his role as Aaron Cross from the Bourne Legacy) and I know I'm excited for it.
Please leave any reviews you want for questions or input as to how certain events should play out or how the two protagonists should interact.
P.S. This is unrelated to the story, but Leonard Nimoy has passed away today. RIP.