#fieldagent!q

The other agents in the room seemed to agree with James. With every dodge Q made, and no single attack coming from his side, they grew more amused. Some even giggled when Q nearly stumbled and fell down clumsily, looking a bit helpless and awkward up there.

“Because you agreed. Now, you go and start,” James said, gesturing to Alec. “Don’t be too hard on him. I need him in one piece.”

“You know me, James,” Alec grinned at him, rolling his shoulders with a loud crack. “I would never hurt our dear Quartermaster like that.”

“I know you. That’s why I reminded you.” James grinned back and caught the towel Alec threw at his face, letting it drop as it stunk of sweat. From what James knew, Alec had it in his locker for a few months just for the purpose of annoying him. “Ready, Q?”

The Quartermaster nodded, and with eyes wide as a deer’s he turned to Alec, tensing up ready to dodge just again.

Alec didn’t waste any time. The moment James pressed the button on his phone to count down a minute, he charged forward, trying to use the difference in height and muscle mass to his advantage. James knew he wanted to tackle Q and keep him on the ground, which would mean he’d win.

When Alec was only a few inches away, hands already out to grip Q’s cardigan, the Quartermaster’s body posture changed completely. He bent his legs a bit and reached out, using the speed Alec had to throw him over and onto his back. A loud ‘oof’ left Alec’s mouth, while the rest of the room went silent.

James’ eyes widened a bit.

The expression on Q’s face was so familiar it hurt. There was nothing left of the scared and tense fawn; on its place, there was a wolf. He turned around and jumped up as Alec tried to kick his legs, did a flip and put his foot on Alec’s chest.

“Going to stand up again, 006?” He asked, nothing but concentration audible in his voice. Alec grunted, gripped his leg and brought him down.

Q seemed to have expected that, as he did a spin on his back and kicked Alec in the face. The noise of bones cracking filled the room. Alec gave a howl of surprise and got back on his feet, blood running down his nose, which was bent into an odd angle. He charged forward again just as Q stood up, calmly brushing dust off his trousers.

He let Alec throw him to the ground, just to use the impact and make a roll. Alec was thrown behind him. The fact that Q was small and bony looked like a massive disadvantage at first, but he used it to win. In the time Alec recovered from the blow to his head after colliding with the floor, Q was already on him and took his arm into a strong grip. James knew he could break it if he wanted.

Stopping the time, James looked down, silent as he took in the numbers on screen.

It had taken Q thirty-seven seconds to win against Alec.

After releasing Alec’s arm again, Q stood up and stretched a bit, relaxing his muscles. His posture was of a predator’s, every muscle tense in anticipation of an attack, his gaze wandering over the shocked crowd before he jumped over the rope and left, just like that.

Alec watched him leave and then turned to James, blood still running from his nose. “Well. Дерьмо.“

James just nodded, torn between being horrified and uncomfortably aroused, and then went to follow Q.

“I didn’t know you had self-defence training,” he said once he caught up with him, the Quartermaster walking fast and like a force through the corridors. James took it as a good sign that he held the door of the elevator open for James to join him. “You took us all by surprise. No one would have expected it.”

“There’s an advantage to being small,” Q responded and turned to look at him. “I’m not in the mood to explain. You can check my file if you want.”

James did. He asked R for access and sat down in Q-branch with a laptop, opening Q’s file which he knew was secured better than M’s and James’ combined.

What he read made his eyes widen.

Benjamin Yale. Quartermaster. Former field-agent in the Alpha Zero team. Security level: X Threat level: X