Agent H2O looked at 007’s instructions again. He had already sent the report, now he could only wait. He sighed and looked around. The tiny vial of Precognition sat on the desk. He hadn't needed to use it, although Bond had suggested he would. H2O slipped it into his pocket - M didn't need to know that he still had it. This drug would sell very, very well.
Taking down the terrorist had been far easier than anticipated. It was dark outside now - why not go for a walk? He stepped outside the door, instantly feeling the cool breeze washing over him as he took a deep breath. He relished it. Looking on both sides of the street, he noticed a figure walking in the distance. Snooping around and furtively glancing behind itself at random intervals, it looked suspicious enough to him. Sharply-trained instincts took over and within the next moment, he found himself quietly tailing the figure. It took a while, but after a few twists and turns down darkened alleyways and through abandoned buildings, he found himself staring at a streetlamp-lit clearing between two buildings in the back streets. The figure, which had been cloaked before, took off their robe, and what he saw was a magnificently tan being with shiny red hair. Pulling back against the brick wall of the alleyway, he waited patiently, hoping he wouldn't be noticed. The girl just sighed, and fiddled with a red potion in her hands. With a shock, he realised who she was. This was the terrorist that Bond had warned him about! The shape of the bottle, the Fire emblen emblazoned onto it. The report he'd already sent - he'd been tracking entirely the wrong person. Even now, MI6 agents would be apprehending an innocent man.
The agent cursed to himself under his breath, but the air was perfectly still and the sound travelled far. The girl spun around, immediately aware that she was being watched. The fingers of one of her hands danced delicately over the stopper in the bottle - she was clearly ready to use it if she needed to.
H2O was still wreathed in shadow, fortunately, so the girl hadn't seen him. But had he taken only two steps forward, he would have been starkly illuminated by the streetlamp and plainly visible.
After a while, the girl's wariness seemed to fade. Now knowing who she was, he watched with suspicion, as she stood a little straighter, and chuckled to herself. Slowly, he stepped out of the darkness, pressing his feet softly against the floor, painstakingly moving himself towards the girl step by step.
She was only a few metres away, but it was still too far for him to disarm her. His next step wasn't quite careful enough. His foot landed on a loose stone in the floor, and it made a sharp *crack* that echoed down the alley.
Paralysed by fear, the agent froze. The girl turned her head partially toward him, so he could see the side of her face. After a moment, apparently still satisfied that she was alone, she turned back, leaving H2O unnoticed. He was tempted to blow a sharp sigh of relief, but thought better of it.
Edging closer, he managed to duck behind her. He saw, woven into her robes, a concealed firearm. He readied a Congeal quietly and let it fly from his hand, disarming her, freezing her gun in a block of ice which fell to the floor, far out of her immediate reach. It wasn’t nearly sneaky enough, and she spun around and looked at him in anger. There was nothing he could do but brace himself as she kicked him in the stomach.
Grabbing her foot, he blocked the kick, and twisted, making her fall to his level as she cried out in pain. He smiled, in part at his little victory and it part at the frailness of her body, and her eyes seemed to blaze blue in a flame of pure anger.
H2O realised what had happened, why she'd been so easy to block - the bottle of Rage Potion was unstoppered. She must have taken a gulp as he'd been disarming her.
She was weak, but very powerful. He needed to be careful.
His thoughts had distracted him. She lunged at him. His instincts took over again, making him sidestep neatly to the right, and the terrorist flew past him in a flurry of uncontrollable anger. The girl seemed to expect the dodge, and turned to face him. Within a quick moment, he reached into his pocket and slipped the Precognition from it - without hesitation he poured its contents down his throat and
Spoiler for Hidden:
His world seemed to falter, and after a moment it came to a stop. He'd never taken a Precog before, and now he saw why they were so illegal.
What was happening right now was clear, but nothing else was. A hazy smog flowed from every surface, the colours telling him what they were and what they could be. The girl was stood in front of him, her face a mess of pain and rage, the aura around her glowing yellow and red. He saw her hair in perfect clarity, each red strand perfectly silohuetted against everything behind it. A bead of sweat had formed on her face.
H2O looked downwards, and the whole world shifted to accomodate the motion of his eyes.
The girl's fingers gripped the stopper of the Rage Potion in her left hand, and she grasped the bottle itself in the other. Her right arm was pulled back, ready to thrust it forwards.
That was what H2O saw. What he felt was quite different.
He felt the tension; the waiting; the suspense of lurking in the alleyway, shrouded in darkness.
He felt the pain and anger of the potion splashing across his face. He felt the rage at the girl's victory, and the failure when he told M that she had escaped.
He felt the rush of adrenaline when he pushed the girl to the floor, knocking the potion from her hand. He felt the sense of completion when he tightened handcuffs around her wrists.
For now, though, he felt only confusion. The past was mixing with the future and he had no idea was he was seeing. He saw his birth and his childhood; he saw countless lives and thousands of possible deaths. He saw all of the future and every instance of time and chance that will or ever could be.
But it was all mixed into the past, and he had no idea what was real and what was not. He saw only probability, only chance, only infinite endless possibilities, and here he was at the centre of it all, the one with the choice, the one with the power...
As the girl threw the bottle towards him his fist lurched forwards, knocking the potion from her grasp. She emptied the bottle over him, filling him with an unknowable anger as the bottle clattered to the floor. He shook in rage, full of the potion, as the red fluid leaked out of the shards of glass on the floor. The girl laughed hysterically at the boiling H2O as she knelt, crying and holding her wrist, knowing that her opponent had defeated her.
It was all too much for him. He could only cope with one timeline at a time, and resolved never to take a Precog again. The effects were wearing off, the aura smoke was receding and time began to flow again, but at least now he knew what might happen.
and immediately ducked out of the way of her incoming Rage Potion. A single drop of it splashed on his arm and an excrutiating pain cascaded through his entire body - he felt stronger, more powerful, but he knew he was weaker and should control himself.
He threw a punch and it lurched forwards, knocking the bottle from her firm grasp and wrenching her wrist backwards. She cried out in pain as the bottle fell to the floor.
Time seemed to slow down, though the effects of the Precognition had long since worn off. H2O lunged for the girl. She struggled out from under his grip, and attempted to punch him. He dodged it with ease. Another few moments and he pinned her on the ground, casting Congeal and freezing her wrists together.
“You’re under arrest, for attempting terrorism on this city!” he growled.
~~~
It was dawn now. He had called MI6, and asked them to come pick up the terrorist, still bound in ice. Now he just watched her from a distance. Another successful mission, and another job done. He walked away, willing to get some sleep when he got home.
