Q & A
A Skyfall Fanfiction Adventure
Chapter 2
It had only been a week since the new quartermaster had stepped up, and yet, to A, it felt like an eon. She didn't know what she had done to offend Q, but offend him she clearly had. He said everything—instructions for investigations, requests for supplies, thanks for his morning mug of tea—in such a cool, brusque manner. She hadn't appreciated how overly friendly the previous Q had been with her, but she didn't like this opposite extreme either.
"A?" he called across the office. "I need you."
And that was the problem. Not, "Can you come here?" or, "I want you to take a look at this," just a short, "I need you." A sighed and composed herself before heading over to his desk.
"Locate the fingerprints of Agent 007," he instructed, not even bothering to look up from his monitor. Not for the first time, she noticed that he typed almost impossibly fast. "The current ones, if you please."
Was that the first time he had said "please?" She couldn't remember him ever saying it before.
"Of course, sir," she said. "Shall I print them or send you the file?"
"Send."
She returned to her own desk and got to work. He always gave her such menial tasks. He could have looked up these fingerprints himself in a matter of seconds! Why trouble her to do it for him?
But she knew the answer: he wanted to keep her in her place. She could do so much more if he would only let her! She wanted him to give her a difficult assignment, one that would require her to actually think. She had handled such things before. She wouldn't let him down.
With a click, she emailed Q the file. A few minutes later, he caught her eye across the few feet separating them. "Thank you," he said with the tiniest of smiles.
Well, it was a start.
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