The Elegant Venus

Q stayed in his office for another half hour trying to get his breathing and heart rate under control. Omegas didn't handle stress as well as alpha's and beta's after all, which had been his main concern after being appointed Quartermaster. Yet despite the fact it was rather obviously a high-stress job, he hadn't really felt any of that stress since starting three months ago, partly because he was damn good at what he did thank you very much, but also because after the first few weeks, he'd ended up being trailed by a double-0 or two the second he set foot in the building, which meant that affection and calming hugs were always only one step away.

So much for not building up a dependence on the bloody pack.

But now, there were no double-0s hovering around his office, and one of his favourite double-0s was drugged with a rage-inducing hormone that had no known cure, and the point was he could really do with a double-0 hug right now.

Instead, he forced himself to pack his things, going through his usual evening motions a few hours late, walked through the near-deserted main office with a fake smile for his minions, and then made his way to the nearest tube station.

He fed the cats - Yana as grateful as ever while Paco ignored him for getting home so late - and made a cup of soothing herbal tea - from the Westholme box that Alexis had brought him back from Canada - and then reluctantly crawled into his cold empty bed.

He slept briefly and fitfully and only managed to convince himself to remain in his apartment until the faintest hints of daylight started trickling through his bedroom window, despite knowing that he still had a few more hours to wait.

He contacted the extraction team anyway.

Exactly seventy-six minutes later, he got a message from Commander Carter, confirming that they'd landed safely in Paris and that 006 was still unconscious. The sedation drugs would be wearing off soon, however, and once they had…

Well.

Q desperately hoped that Alec would be back in MI6 headquarters before he properly woke up, considering that the amount of damage a normal alpha in a full-on rage could do was terrifying enough, but a double-0 alpha in a full-on rage?

Quite frankly, England would fall.

The only good thing that had happened so far was that R was finally cleared by medical to return to duty, as long as she didn't overstrain herself too much. The omega told her in no uncertain terms that if she even caught the barest glimpse of a double-0 she was to immediately come and find him, but aside from that, the alpha was happy to work away as usual. He was more than grateful to have an extra helping hand, and on today of all days, as he spent most of the morning reading through the information that the extraction team had sent him.

Alec hadn't been wrong, as such, to download all the files. In fact, it had been rather genius of him, and an oddly well-behaved move as well. Sure, his Quartermaster had ordered that he put his safety first, but that has been a purely personal request on Q's side, and if he was being honest, then he probably had let his own feelings get in the way of his job. The files 006 had managed to save were invaluable information, after all, and could hopefully lead them directly to Orumerov once everything had settled down again. There were locations, account details, the chemical formula of the drug - which Q immediately sent down to medical - as well as a ton of information about the overall plans that the ex-KGB general had been trying to complete.

Speaking as Alec's friend, Q was bloody terrified and angry and guilty that the man had stayed behind to get these files. But speaking as 006's Quartermaster… well, let's just say that he was more than a little proud.

Still though, reading through all of these files was going to take hours, and since it was such a sensitive mission, he couldn't exactly delegate the task to his minions either. He sent a copy to Bill, M, and Eve - because, let's face it, she would find a way of getting her hands on a copy anyway if only to alleviate her boredom - and then toyed with the idea of sending a copy to the double-0s too.

They were, technically, qualified after all, and their clearance level was almost on par with his own, but still, Q… hesitated. It definitely hadn't escaped his notice that he hadn't seen a single agent since the chair incident the previous day, and the only reason he could think of for them to have abandoned their roster was that they were angry with him. Or upset. Or maybe they just needed time to think.

He could really do with a hug.

Instead, he shoved those thoughts away and focused on getting through as much of the files as possible, specifically those in relation to the side effects and possible results. They were all rather… alarming, but the biggest problem that he could see - asides from the fact that it didn't explain anywhere how long the rage would actually last for - was the pure amount of chemicals that had been used in the drug, meaning that adding any other drugs or medicine on top of it could potentially have lethal consequences.

Which meant that whenever Alec woke up, they wouldn't be able to sedate him again until the hormone drug had run its course, but if the hormone drug was allowed to run its course and the rage lasted anything over ten hours or so… then the stress of the chemicals on Alec's heart would kill him.

Q took a slow deep breath, took off his glasses, and pressed both hands against his eyes, hard. There was too much information to go through and he was too wound-up and stressed to process any of it, despite the fact he had to because otherwise they would be going into this blind and Alec needed him to work on this so that he could survive and-

A sudden beep startled him, and his hand jerked forward to hit the headset button before he even realised what he was doing.

"Commander?"

"Affirmative. We've just touched down in London, ETA approximately… twenty-seven minutes".

"And 006?"

"... Alive, sir".

There was something off about the man's voice, something that almost sounded like… fear.

"Commander?" Q pressed, gripping the edge of his desk tightly, "I'm sure it goes without saying that right now is not the time for formalities. What is the status of my agent?"

The man sighed. "He started waking up as we landed. He's still… drowsy, rather thankfully, I must say, but he's… well, for lack of a better word, sir, he's somewhat… feral".

The omega took a deep breath and forced himself not to react emotionally.

"Has he injured either yourself or your men?"

"Negative. Though it's not from lack of trying. The sedation is wearing off, but he's still uncoordinated and a bit dizzy so we're able to hold him down readily enough… But he's getting stronger, and the more that the anesthetic wears off, the more dangerous he's going to become".

"We have a holding cell ready for when you arrive-" M's idea, not his "-but it'll be rather pointless if 006 manages to kill you all before then".

"Don't I know it". Carter snorted. "Whatever the hell the man was drugged with… well, it's above my pay grade for a reason, I suppose. We're out of anesthetic, but we have morphine for emergencies. Definitely not enough to put him under, but if we could just slow him down-"

"No!" Q interrupted quickly, "Believe me, Commander, I would love nothing more than to sedate 006 to prevent him from injuring both himself and others, but the drug he was given is fully active in his system right now and any more chemicals could just as easily cause him to overdose. Under no circumstances are you to give him any type of medicine".

There was a pause, the faint sound of voices talking, a brief scuffle, and then-

"Quartermaster? Doctor Greenwalt here, I'm the medic of E Squadron. Carter says that we can't drug your agent?"

"As unfortunate as it is, no".

"Well… that might be a bit of a problem".

Q slowly leaned back in his chair and briefly wondered if there was a single double-0 on this planet who was capable of not causing a problem.

"How so?"

"Your agents pretty banged up, sir. I did a running repair, the best I could with a first aid kit, but he needs proper treatment, sooner rather than later. When those sedatives finally wear off, he's going to be in a world of pain".

The omega resisted the urge to swear. Out loud, at least, because that was just fucking great. That was exactly what they needed, a highly trained killing machine super pissed off alpha in a full-on rage who was also hurting. Because that just made everything so much easier to fucking deal with.

Note the sarcasm.

"Just… Just focus on getting here as quick as you can" Q finally replied, "The sooner we get 006 into a holding cell, the sooner we can evaluate what needs to be done. But under no circumstances are you to drug him, is that clear?"

"... Yes sir".

They arrived twenty-three minutes later.

Q watched through the CCTV pulled up on the large monitors in the main office area, as did most of his branch. 006 had a reputation even amongst the double-0s after all, and in a weird perverse way, they all wanted to see him at his most lethal.

Commander Carter got out first, Q immediately recognising the military gait and air of leadership, followed by two more men who were carrying Alec between them. A very angry irate grumpy struggling Alec, who did, in fact, look like an extra in a horror film. They had put some sort of cloth over his head, a bag or spare t-shirt perhaps, and he wasn't in any form of handcuffs, although that had probably something more to do with protecting themselves rather than the agent, considering that the double-0s had been known to get a little… creative with their restraints in the past. He struggled the entire way into the building, and Q could only imagine the snarling and growling that he was doing. More guards rushed out to meet them until there were no less than six men trying to - and only somewhat successfully - keep the alpha contained.

Q changed the cameras as they made their way through the building, down into the depths of MI6. He sure as hell hadn't wanted to send Alec to a holding cell, but he had to reluctantly admit that it was the best option right now, at least until they could be sure that he wouldn't kill medical as soon as M sent a doctor into him.

And Alec hated doctors on a good day.

He was vaguely aware of R walking up to stand next to him, his gaze not leaving the screens for a second. The elevator was their only real challenge, aside from 006 himself of course, and if Q hadn't been so worried and terrified, then he would have laughed at eight fully grown men, seven of them in full tactical gear, trying to squeeze onto the one rather small lift.

But down they went, through basement one, two, three, until they reached the rather depressing looking floor dedicated to imprisonment and interrogations. They half carried, half dragged Alec towards the furthest away holding cell - it would buy them a few extra precious seconds if he managed to escape after all, before opening the door, none-too-gently throwing him inside, and then quickly slamming the door after them. The biometric lock kicked in immediately, sealing the steel door from the outside and preventing the agent inside from getting back out.

Q found himself stepping forwards, even closer to the monitors, as Alec stumbled, managing to catch himself before he fell in that elegant way that only the double-0s could pull off. It was the first time Q had ever seen in real life, as it were and he couldn't help but feel intrigued as the agent reached up and ripped off the bag covering his head and-

Oh.

Oh, he was exquisite.

The photo 006 had in his file was his recruitment photo, young and fresh-faced, but the man on the camera was older, more world-weary and scarred. He didn't have the same mysterious Scottish landowner vibe that James bloody Bond had going for him, but Alec was ruggedly handsome in his own way, rough and bloody and bruised but strong and sturdy and safe.

"You might want to close your mouth, Q" R said next to him, "You'll start catching flies if you don't".

His jaw snapped shut as he flushed bright red, spinning around on the spot to give her a look of utter betrayal.

She gazed back at him, completely unfazed. "He's cute, I know, but that's no reason to lose your decorum".

"I- You- I- I am still your superior!"

She sighed almost pityingly and gently patted his arm. "In title only, Quartermaster".

"Traitor!"

Turning back to the computer screens, he desperately willed his heart rate to slow. He hadn't been that obvious, had he? I mean, no, surely not, he couldn't have been, Alec was just… well… cute. In that I-could-kill-you-eighteen-different-ways-with-a-paperclip kind of cute. It wasn't Q's fault that he'd been caught unaware, he'd never even seen Alec before after all, at least not in person and if R found him attractive then he had to find him attractive as well because that was just common sense... Right?

"What did medical say?"

Q blinked, startled, and glanced back at her. "Medical? About what?"

"About 006!" she replied, exasperated, "About what, he says! Think with your brain, Quartermaster, god knows you have one!"

He gaped at her. "I liked you better when you were in medical!"

"And I liked you better when you didn't even know the double-0s existed" she shot back, "Now, not only do they find you interesting, but you find them interesting too! I'm not one to kink shame, Q, but I think your addiction to danger is more than a little bit concerning".

And-

Yeah.

What could he say in response to that?

"But since I apparently can't talk you out of it, I'll just have to come along for the ride" R continued, "Now. What did medical say about the drug? Can they find a way to nullify it?"

"... No" he eventually replied, mind still reeling, "We already know that the amount of adrenaline running through his system isn't exactly good, but they couldn't say anything with certainty until he got back to base. They're going to run as many scans as they can without actually, you know, going in there and getting murdered, but until those are complete… we have no idea what we're working with".

R nodded, face impassive but worry in her eyes. As much as she claimed to hate, fear, and/or disdain the double-0s, she'd been working here long enough to have at least some measure of concern for them, and it was rapidly becoming clear that if she had to pick a favourite, it would probably be Alec.

They both turned back to the monitors and watched as the agent in question snarled, sharp teeth visible even on camera, as he began pacing back and forth, the entire right side of his shirt damp with blood and his left leg oddly stiff. He didn't even seem to notice his own injuries, although Q couldn't be sure if that was just a double-0 thing or a side effect of the drug. The only thing he could say for certain, was that Alec was furious and there was no way in hell that medical would be allowed anywhere near him anytime soon without having their throats ripped out.

"Have you ever seen an alpha in a full-on rage before?"

The question didn't come from R, but instead from Silvia, a beta who had inched her way closer until she stood on his other side. Her voice was low, too low for anyone but Q to hear her, and immediately his mind flashed back to just over five years previous, reliving a memory filled with snarling and growling and pain.

He swallowed thickly and dug his nails into the palm of his hand to bring him back to the present. "... Yes".

Silvia gave him a surprised, if slightly concerned look, before turning back to the screens as Alec started yelling at the ceiling, the camera still on mute but doing nothing to hide his rage.

"I know this isn't exactly… allowed" she started again, somewhat cautiously, "But since it's for his own health, then… then can't you ask one of the other double-0s to just… compel him?"

Q winced. He should have expected that question to come up eventually, despite how taboo a topic it was. In theory, the idea made perfectly good sense, but in practice, however…

"Compelling doesn't work on alphas" he answered, just as quiet, blunt nails cutting into his palms, "Just omegas".

Thankfully, she knew a sensitive topic when she saw one, and after another few minutes of watching the fuming double-0 attempting to escape a locked box, she returned to her desk. R stayed quiet too, despite the fact that she must have overheard the last part of the conversation. Q didn't actually know if the woman was capable of compulsion herself, she wasn't stereotypically strong enough, after all, but having a steel backbone had to count for something.

Either way, Q hoped that he would never have to find out.

Five minutes after Silvia left, R did as well, and once the novelty had worn off, one by one the rest of his branch started returning to their own work too. Q felt frozen, staring at the screen as the furious agent paced back and forth, dripping blood onto the bare concrete floor and snarling at the two-way mirror each time he passed it. Chances are, M and Bill were standing on the other side of that glass, but at least 006 realised that he had no chance of breaking it, even in his adrenaline-high state.

Q hoped that medical would send him their results soon, because quite frankly, he wasn't sure how much of this either of them could take.