Piper had thought that working for the SIS was going to be more glamourous.
After all, this was the Secret Intelligence Service – this was MI6. She had pictured a life like something out of a spy novel. She imagined far away destinations and hands on work and adrenaline, heart pounding races against time.
Instead, she sat in front of her computer all day fixing software issues. She was a typical IT employee working in an atypical environment. Some days, she felt like she was a character right off of the IT Crowd – hello, IT; have you tried turning it off and on again.
The worst part of it all was that she wasn't allowed to talk about her work. She had a cover story just like everyone else in the department did but because she was such a low level employee in her department, her cover story wasn't even interesting. When people asked her what she did, she had to rhyme off what she had been told – oh, I work in telemarketing; sure it can be a real drag sometimes; yes people do hang up on me quite often; no, I don't receive any life satisfaction from going to work each day – and she could see on her friends faces the sheer disappointment, that slow downturn of their mouths as they stopped smiling and started squinting at her all wrong. She could see it in their eyes, the is she really working as a telemarketer, still?
That was the other thing. Everyone seemed to think she was older than she was and her real age was also hidden behind her cover. Technically, if things had gone according to plan in her life, she would have just been graduating uni. Instead, she had been bumped up through the grade system of her secondary schools and had started at MIT at fifteen. She had graduated with honours at eighteen, completed a Masters and a Ph.D. by twenty two, and had been approached by SIS immediately upon her graduation. Most of her friends and colleagues were of a much older age than her and believed she was the same age as them, making her stagnant telemarketing job even more pathetic.
She longed to tell them that she was working for the Secret Intelligence Service, that she was an agent – actually, she wasn't really an agent yet but she was working her way there – but that was impossible with the amount of security that the SIS made their employees wade through. Which meant that all of Piper's friends thought she was pathetic and her mother called her endlessly to suggest new jobs opening up in her friend's computer factory (no matter how many times she told her mother she worked with computers, not on them, she never seemed to catch on). Her mother also complained endlessly about how Piper still didn't have a husband (she was only twenty three for Christ's sake) and once again, Piper couldn't tell her that you're right mum, I don't have a husband but it's because I have no time to go out when I spend my days fixing the computers of people who are protecting the country!
All she really longed for, deep down, was for something interesting to happen at work.
She was sure somewhere in the Technology department, or T Branch, something was going on. It just wasn't happening around her. Of course, she wasn't really surprised since she was working in the internal IT department. When she had been recruited, she had been lured in with talks of R&D and field support, the jobs that really would have lit that adventurous fire inside her. It wasn't until after training that she had been informed that those perks would only come after she had worked at entry level to the Service's satisfaction.
She had been taking on every little challenge, every extra opportunity she could so that she would move up faster in the department, which was why she was spending her Saturday night working the graveyard shift in IT, manning the phones.
There were people here and there but other than that, it was mostly quiet on the floor. A couple of people in lab coats had run through in a panic earlier, but she hadn't caught wind of why they were in such a rush. She had sat in front of her computer, scrolling through gossip rags that were featuring pictures of Kate, William and George, idly wondering why she hadn't pursued her childhood dream of being a princess. Certainly it was more glamourous than this.
Around 1:30 in the morning, Piper's stomach grumbled so she attached the portable headset for the phones and ventured off to the staff lounge on the floor below. She had expected it to be empty but there was a guy in a suit standing with his back to the doorway, pouring a coffee. Piper stepped into the room cautiously – suits usually meant agents and their moods were unpredictable at best.
She tried to get to the kettle as quietly as possible but the suited man had the senses of a proper agent and he craned his head around when the toe of her shoe squeaked on the floor. Piper instantly cursed all the higher powers when she realized it was her least favourite, Agent Samson.
His lips curled into a sneer at the sight of her and she could see a renewed light in his eyes at the sight of his favourite prey. "Why, good morning Stoner."
Piper curled her hands into fists and resisted the urge to pop him straight in the nose. In a fight with a field agent, she stood about zero chance of coming out a winner. "It's Stone," she corrected, her voice thin as she tried to stay calm. "But you knew that, Samson."
Samson's sneer only deepened until he looked like some malformed troll creature – Piper wasn't convinced that Samson wasn't a troll, to be totally honest – and he took measured steps toward her until he was towering above her slight frame. "That's Agent Samson to you, Stoner. Some of us in this building have earned that designation."
He knew that it was a sore spot for her so he was jabbing at it to irritate her. The trick was to not get worked up over it. Piper, unfortunately, struggled with that. "Earned it on your back?" she shot back.
Samson's face darkened and before she could pull away, he had caught her wrist tightly in his hand and was squeezing it hard. She was well aware that he had the strength to crush the fragile bones beneath her skin and pressed her lips shut to keep from saying anything else that would get her in trouble.
"If you want your tongue to remain in your mouth," Samson breathed hot against her face, "then you'd better rein it in. Capiche?"
"I didn't know your little brain was capable of foreign languages," her mouth spouted off before her brain reminded it that it was a bad idea to rile up Samson.
Samson chuckled to himself and then in an eye blink, Piper was turned around and pressed up against the countertop. He had yanked her arm behind her back and was pulling on it painfully. Piper yelped as Samson pressed his full body against hers, every hard muscle in his body pushing against her and making her feel impossibly small. "One day, I'm going to punish you for all of your insubordination, Stone. And I'm going to love every second of it."
Samson held her there, trapped against the counter, for an eternally long moment and then his weight was gone. Piper trained her gaze on the wall in front of her so Samson couldn't catch a glimpse of the ghostly white colour of her face. Eventually, she heard the lounge door close behind him and she finally turned around, letting out a long breath.
She hated that man so fucking much. He had singled her out in the first days of her mandatory field training, as he had been their instructor for the session – weapons basics (Piper had always wondered who had thought it was safe to give Samson access to weapons). It had been because she was a girl, and she was young, and she was pretty. He had thought that she would be easy prey to pick on. She had talked back, which was essentially written into her DNA. Samson hadn't liked it very much.
Since then, she had been called Stoner by both her superiors and her colleagues, a name that Samson had created and spread around. She had been the brunt of many inappropriate jokes that would have sent her running to HR if the SIS actually had an HR department to deal with shit like that. She had come into work to find all of her equipment vandalized and damaged on more than one occasion. And if that hadn't been proof of Samson's small, immature brain, she also received prank calls to IT every once in a while. As if she couldn't check call display – she had a fucking Ph.D. in computer science.
More than anything, she cursed her small size. If only she was taller, Samson wouldn't be able to intimidate her as much as he did. Their size difference meant that he could practically engulf her. No amount of field training was going to teach her to throw him off of her when she didn't have the weight to back it up.
"Fucking imbecile," Piper muttered to herself as she turned back to the kettle, focusing on what she had come here to do. "Thinks he's king of the world. Well, he's not. He's not even a very good agent." This, at least, was true. He was all brawn and no brains when it came to field work. "One day, I'm going to be his boss and we'll see who's laughing then."
The kettle whistled and Piper poured the hot water over a bag of English Breakfast, sloshing in some milk from the fridge. She sipped at the hot tea as she propped open the fridge door on her hip, searching its contents for something to eat. On the top shelf, near the back, was a container with brownies in it and Piper pulled it out without hesitation. A note on the top clearly said that the brownies were property of Sandra W. but Piper was sure that Sandra wouldn't notice one brownie missing.
She popped the lid off the container, holding the container in the crook of her elbow as she did, attempting to hold her tea at the same time. She had to crane her arm like a T-rex to get a brownie but one bite told her it was worth the effort. She wasn't sure who Sandra W. was but Piper was confident that she needed to marry her immediately.
Figuring that her future wife would forgive her, Piper shoved two more brownies into her mouth.
Her headset beeped, informing Piper that IT was actually receiving a call. Reaching up, she pressed the button on the side to answer the call on the headset. "IT," she said with her mouth full of brownie still, the words slurring into one big mess.
"Please hold for a communication from C department."
Piper choked on the brownie she had been eating, coughing hard into the headset as a phone rang in her ear. C department – that was the Chief's department. She was about to take a call from the head of the SIS.
When the call connected, she was still coughing. "This is C speaking. Am I speaking to someone from the T branch?"
"S-sir, yes sir," Piper stuttered, finally managing to swallow the chocolate disaster down. She cleared her throat quickly. "This is Stone speaking."
"We don't have much time, Stone, so I need you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say." Piper didn't think she had ever heard the Chief actually speak live, only prerecorded messages that were shown at training and some of his old press. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. "We have a very important asset who is currently in a hostile situation in the field. The asset has lost communication with his extraction team and is currently blind. We need you to act as field support and guide the asset to the new extraction site. Do you understand these instructions?"
"Sir, with all due respect, I'm a junior technician. I've never done a guided field extraction before." Usually Piper was all for talking herself up to her superiors, but she could tell that this was a delicate and very important situation. Someone's life was on the line.
"You've done the required training in field support?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I need you to do this. Are you prepared to receive the operation codes?"
"I'm not at my computer, sir."
"Get to the nearest computer now, agent. That's an order."
Piper tried not to get too excited at being called agent. Instead, she dropped the container of brownies onto the counter, kicking the fridge door shut before rushing from the room. She looked around frantically for the first office with an accessible computer. She caught sight of one and hurried forward.
It wasn't until she was into the office and rounding the desk that she realized just who's office she was trespassing in. This was Q's office, the Quartermaster, her boss way way above her pay grade. And she was currently booting up his secure desktop.
It only took her a minute or so to hack into the password protection and access his computer. It was a light protection obviously because Piper knew that the Quartermaster would never write a firewall this easy to crack. She opened up the software program she needed, using the login she had not had a need for until this moment. "I'm ready to receive the operation codes, sir."
C read them off and Piper typed them into the program. Instantly, the screen flooded with blueprints and maps, notes about the operation details, the target, the mission, the extraction plan. "Stone, it is imperative that this asset makes it to the extraction point and back onto English soil."
"I'll make sure it happens, sir."
"See that you do. Our office will patch you through to the asset now and then go radio silent. I want an update as soon as you can make one. Is that understood, agent?"
"It is sir."
The line clicked and crackled for a moment. Piper sat anxiously in her superior's office, wondering what was going to happen next. The line crackled once more and then Piper could hear the sounds of gunfire through the speaker.
"You really need to change your call-waiting music."
The voice that cut through the noise surprised Piper. It was low and smooth, with a melodic tone that sent a shiver straight down Piper's spine. The sarcastic words were tinged with humour, completely inconsistent with the sounds of hostile gunfire that coloured the background.
"I understand you're in a tricky situation, agent," Piper said to him. She was embarrassed when her voice shook a bit. This guy didn't know her from the Queen of England but she was blushing like a schoolgirl at the sound of his voice.
The man chuckled. "You could say that."
"Do you want to run me through the problem briefly?" Piper asked as she began to flip through the operation details coming up on the screen. "I have the files open here. Just tell me where it went wrong."
"Where didn't it go wrong?" The man sighed heavily on the other end. "I picked up the informant at the site we arranged. We were halfway to the extraction site when our vehicle was targeted by enemy fire. I fired back, that pissed them off, so they shot a rocket launcher at the car."
"Well, fuck," Piper muttered before her self-edit kicked in. That was the sort of thing that could get her written up.
Fortunately, the agent just laughed again. "That's about right. The informant was injured in the attack – not too seriously but he is unconscious. Which means we're on foot and I have to carry him."
"I'm accessing your location now," Piper told the agent as she typed in the necessary code to ping his communication device. She was met with some resistance when the system took longer than normal to identify the hardware. "Is there a malfunction with your communication device?" she asked as she tried to get around the issue. "I'm having trouble narrowing the signal in the system."
"Probably because I'm not in your system," the man told her, making Piper frown at the screen. "That's a story for another time. Input this number – 47668329422. Got that?"
"Got it." Piper entered the number and then a little red dot appeared on a schematic of the city. Piper wasn't even sure what city she was looking at but figured that wasn't actually important. "Okay, I've got you. I'm just accessing CCTV and then we can get you the hell out of there."
"I'd very much appreciate it."
Piper flipped through images and videos, referenced the map and got live updates from the extraction team on their progress. "Alright, the extraction team is moving closer to your location. They'll be landing a chopper on the roof of hospital nearby. It's less than a mile from your current location, northeast."
"Where to, boss?"
"Take the street to your right." Piper heard the man groan and figured he was lifting up their informant. She watched as the dot on her screen began to move in the direction she had indicated. He picked up a good speed and he wasn't turning off for a bit so Piper did a little digging to satisfy her curiosity. She began to analyze the signal from the device, trying to figure out where it was coming from. If the agent wasn't in their system, then who the hell was he?
A blast of gunfire sounded in her ear and then she heard the agent swear. "What the fuck?" he yelled, panting heavily. "Are you trying to fucking kill me?"
"What's happening?" Piper asked as she flicked through the CCTV feeds. She caught an angle of the intersection that revealed insurgents with weapons pointed right where the agent had been. "Sorry. I didn't see them."
"Didn't see them," the agent repeated incredulously. Piper heard steady gunfire, much louder, and deduced it was the agent firing back. "Well, wake up princess because while you're sitting in your plush armchair, I'm dodging fucking bullets out here."
"I'm really sorry," Piper repeated, pulling up more video from the surrounding area. "Behind you, there's an alley. Take it across the next two streets and start heading north again."
It was quiet for a moment, machine gun fire creating a soundtrack as Piper waited on baited breath. Eventually she heard heavy breathing and knew the agent was on the move once more. "I think I've lost them," he said after a moment or two of silence.
"I really am sorry," Piper repeated, her voice sounding a bit frantic. "I, well, I've never done this before."
"Never? Fantastic." Piper could hear the sarcasm in his tone but couldn't really blame him. If she was in the same position, being shot at while some useless person was doing a half-assed job on the other end, she would be mad too.
"I'm just a junior tech. I was just supposed to be covering the phones." Panic was seeping into her tone and Piper couldn't seem to get it under control which was ridiculous because she wasn't the one under enemy fire.
"Listen, petal, take a deep breath," the agent coached, his voice calm despite the fact that he was running at a steady clip, lugging another person. "Do you have tea with you? You techs always have tea."
"I have tea," Piper told him shakily.
"Okay, take a sip of your tea." Piper did just that, her handing vibrating so hard she nearly dropped the mug. "Feel a bit better?"
"A little."
"Good. Now the trick with extractions in hostile situations is to always be a couple of blocks ahead of me on the CCTV, got it?"
"Yeah." Piper did what the agent had said, checking the blocks ahead for anything suspicious. "Right, okay, I've got something. Vehicles just stopped in a square that's ahead at your twelve. Take the next left and then a left two blocks after that." Piper followed his progression on the screen. "You're going southeast now. Three blocks ahead, you'll want to take a right. It should be straight on from there."
"See?" the agent said a moment later, a smile in his voice. "You're getting the hang of this thing. You're going to be a pro in no time."
"Dear God, I hope not. This is more stress than I can handle."
The agent laughed aloud again. "You're stressed are you? Well, let me know next time and we'll just switch spots, see how that goes."
"Ha ha, very funny," Piper drawled, sipping some more of her tea as she clicked through camera feeds. "Hold on. Hold on and stop right now."
"Talk to me," the agent ordered as he came to a halt on the screen.
"There's some sort of gathering ahead in the street. I can't tell what exactly but they're heading your way. And to make things more fun, you've got insurgents on your six."
"Wonderful."
"There's a building on your right, about ten metres ahead. Lease says its unoccupied so you should be able to duck in there while the crowd passes. It looks like some sort of social group so they might actually distract the insurgents."
"Sounds perfect," the agent answered as he slipped into the aforementioned building. It was quiet on the line and then Piper heard a long sigh. "So, petal, what's a junior tech doing manning the department all alone?"
"We don't have any agents active tonight so I was assigned the shift. Usually we have at least four or five team members if an active agent has a mission."
"Ah. So this conversation is coming back up."
"You're not MI6."
"Not technically, no. But I do have English interests, trust me."
"I figured. There's no way that C would get us to help you out unless we were fighting for the same team. So what can you tell me then? Are you part of some sort of black ops group?"
"Something like that."
Piper hadn't been expecting him to actually admit to something like that. That was the whole point of black ops – they were super-secret. If this agent really was black ops, he wasn't very good at his job. "Do I know it?" she asked, probing a little further.
The agent chuckled in a way that told Piper she had pushed a little too far. "I'm sure you do," he added after a pause. "One Direction is pretty infamous around the SIS still, I hope."
Piper coughed out the tea that she had been drinking at the name that the agent had mentioned. She had been under the impression that One Direction was a rumour, not an actual thing.
She had first heard about it at training. For each of their training activities, the highest achievement in the field was posted as their target – accuracy in firearms training, times in code breaking, words per minute in code writing, everything down to push-up records. Another recruit had asked about them and their training leader told them that they were records set by the five highest achieving agents to ever be trained through the SIS.
Later that night over dinner, the whispers went around about an elite black ops group called One Direction. It was composed of five male agents who were the best of the best. They worked outside of government jurisdiction and had carte blanche to do pretty much anything on foreign soil.
There was debate over whether or not they existed because they didn't actually report to anyone at MI6 with the exception, possibly, of C. Piper was reluctant even now to believe that this mystery agent was part of One Direction but in the back of her head, she was adding it all up. The agent wasn't in the MI6 system but knew their protocols. And C had contacted her directly and told her his extraction was of the upmost importance.
"Holy shit."
"So you have heard of us."
"No way. I can't believe One Direction is real. I always thought it was a rumour that someone started so they could put up those ridiculous training records and make all of us feel bad about ourselves."
The agent laughed loudly, a bark of laughter that cut through the silence. "They still have those stupid records up? I don't know how many times I've asked them to take them down."
"Liar," Piper accused scornfully. "You love it. You're a man which means you're preprogrammed to brag about your achievements."
"Most likely true. So glad to see you think so highly of me."
"I'm just being practical. Speaking of practical," Piper interrupted, checking the video feed, "it looks like you're in the clear. Insurgents are headed the other way and the crowd has passed. If you stay true on this road, you should be at the hospital within five minutes."
The agent's dot was on the move once more and Piper stayed ahead on the CCTV to monitor his path. "Looks like we're out of danger," he said once the hospital was in sight.
"I've sent a message ahead to the team to have medical on standby for the informant. They're ready for you."
"And you said you haven't done this before," the agent joked, his dot now in the hospital parking lot. "I think you were fibbing to cover up the fact that you were distracted by my sexy voice."
"Get over yourself," Piper told him. "And go around to the side entrance. Take the first right inside straight to the back. You'll find a service lift there."
"You know, I have an equally sexy body to match this delectable voice of mine."
"The service lift," Piper continued as if the agent hadn't spoken, "requires a passcode. I've reset it so it is now 1234. Should open up just fine."
"When I'm back on native soil, you should come out for a drink with me."
"Are you joking?" Piper laughed incredulously, shaking her head though no one was there to see it. "I nearly got you killed less than fifteen minutes ago."
"But you made up for it. You did a great job, petal. You're a natural at this."
"Shut up. You're just trying to seduce me with unfounded compliments."
"Is it working?" the agent asked with a chuckle.
"Not at all. You've got to work harder than that for a date with me. Almost dying isn't a good enough reason for me to waste a night on you." If her mother could hear her now, she would be having an actual, honest to God heart attack at the idea of Piper turning down a date.
"I do love a challenge."
Piper had never really understood the concept of being turned on by a couple of words before. She had always scoffed when they said that on TV and in books, thought it was sort of ridiculous really. But damn did that turn her on.
"Um, well," Piper stuttered, trying to collect herself. Her face was flaming and she covered her cheeks with her hands, embarrassed at her reaction. "The extraction team says they have eyes on you."
"That they do." Piper could hear a helicopter in the background, the loud noise of the rotors beating against the air. "Looks like we're home free, all thanks to you petal."
The line went quiet for a bit and Piper thought she had lost the agent, that he had disconnected the communication but then she heard some murmurs. "I wasn't joking earlier," the agent said finally, his voice sounding much clearer than it had all night. The deep undertones that weren't quite evident rang in her ears now. The agent's voice was possibly the most beautiful voice Piper had ever hear. "I think you did a really great job tonight, especially since it was your first time doing a guided field extraction and you had the extra pressure of my being shot at the whole time. I think with a bit of time, you could be really great at this."
"Yeah?"
"Absolutely. Keep your head up petal. By the way, thanks for saving me out there."
"It was my pleasure, agent –"
"You can just call me Two."
If there was one thing in this entire conversation that convinced Piper that the agent was really a part of the elusive One Direction, it was that simple word. Not a lot was known about the black ops group but it was well-known that the five men were only known by their number designations. The way the agent had said Two, so possessively, the way anyone would say their name, she knew it was actually him.
"It was a pleasure, Two."
"You'll be seeing me really soon, petal," Two said. "That's a promise."
Piper couldn't wait.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Piper thought she might throw up.
Sitting in the antechamber to C's office, waiting for an appointment with the man himself, was some sort of exercise in torture resistance, much worse than anything she had been put through in field training. At least in the training exercises, she was given a piece of information to protect which helped direct her focus.
Here, now, all she knew was that C had requested her presence.
Was she in trouble? Probably that was it. Maybe Sandra W. had ratted her out for eating all of those brownies (she may have stress eaten the rest of the container after disconnecting with Two). Did C deal with those kinds of complaints? Probably not. It had to be Two then. He had come home and filed a report about how awful she was, how she almost got him killed overseas. She was fired for sure.
Piper tucked her head between her knees, trying to breathe through the overwhelming urge to throw up. She was sure that whatever problem C had with her would not be helped by her vomiting in his waste basket.
"C will be with you in a moment."
Piper let out a slow breath before hefting herself upright, plastering on a completely unbelievable smile as she stared down C's assistant. He was watching her warily from behind his desk, his lips tugged into a slight sneer at how green her face was looking. Piper resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him.
"Great," she said quietly, her voice wobbling. Well, that was embarrassing.
The assistant grimaced sympathetically, shaking his head ever so slightly. "Do you need some water? You're looking poorly."
"No I do not need water," Piper shot back a little indignantly. She was offended at the way this assistant was judging her. Was it so strange to be nervous walking into the office of the chief of staff of MI6? Was that so weird? She couldn't be the first one who had been on the verge of a panic attack sitting in this very chair.
Then again, agents were supposed to have composure and control over themselves. They were trained to always keep their cool in hostile situations. Piper had gotten really great marks in her torture resistance training when they had been sticking pins under her fingernails. Why was she freaking out now just because C wanted a word?
The door to C's inner office opened and Piper straightened immediately, trying to make it look like she hadn't just been on the verge of a breakdown. She momentarily stopped breathing as the man himself stepped out of his office. He looked just like he had in all of the orientation videos they had played on repeat when she had first been scouted, except real life which meant he looked ten times scarier. Despite the fact that it was only about ten to eight in the morning, he looked polished and sharp, like he rolled out of bed in a three piece suit.
Piper's eyes drifted over when a woman stepped out of the office behind him, and she nearly choked on her own tongue. Holy mother of God was that woman beautiful. She had long brown hair that cascaded over one shoulder in gentle curls, her skin was practically porcelain, and her eyes were bright. Suddenly, Piper's flaming red hair seemed out of place and she picked at her chipped nail polish nervously.
"So, Miss. Calder, I'm hoping that you'll bring that to the group and they can make a decision?" C said to the woman as he escorted her across the room.
"I'll ring you as soon as I have any news," the woman replied, her voice soft and melodic.
Piper cleared her own throat, a preventative measure so that the first words out of her mouth in front of C weren't croaked, but it reverberated in the small room and soon all eyes were trained on her. She met eyes with the woman, Miss. Calder, for just the briefest of moments. In that moment, Calder seemed to almost recognize Piper, her eyes brightening. The smallest of smiles graced her perfectly painted lips. And then she winked at Piper before looking up at C.
Piper was stunned momentarily, her eyes widening. Was that really a wink? What the bloody hell was that supposed to mean, huh? Was it a sign, a code? Why did Calder seem to know who she was? What the fuck was going on?
"Until we see each other again, John," Calder said softly, reaching up to press a delicate kiss on C's cheek. She glanced over her shoulder at Piper once more, smirking now with a scheming look to her, before she exited the room gracefully, the door clicking shut behind her.
Piper continued watching the door until she heard someone clear their throat. Jumping in her seat, Piper looked over at C who had his brow raised as he watched her curiously. "You must be Stone. We spoke on the phone, I believe."
"Yes – ahem, yes, sir." Piper leapt to her feet and then wished she hadn't. What was she supposed to do now? Curtsey? He wasn't the damn Queen or anything. Maybe bow Japanese style?
"Why don't you come right through, Stone," C instructed, holding an arm out toward the open office door. Piper nodded, bowing a bit before catching herself, and scurrying into the office ahead of her boss. She tripped on the carpet edge but managed to catch herself before she sprawled out onto the floor. Cheeks flaming, Piper sat in the chair across from C's desk as he did the same on the other side.
"I've been waiting to speak to you," the Chief began, steepling his fingers as he leaned in to scrutinize Piper, "until I had the report back from Two about your field extraction."
Piper gulped. So this was about what she had done early yesterday morning. Two had surely ratted her out to C, told him how unprofessional she had been and how inexperienced she was. She was being fired for sure. Or maybe worse. After all, she now knew about the existence of a secret black ops group operating within MI6. There was no way she would be allowed back into the regular population with that knowledge.
"Please don't lock me in the Tower," Piper blurted aloud before realizing that she hadn't said any of what she had been thinking to explain herself. C was frowning at her hard, his brow furrowed. "Er, sorry, please continue."
"Right, as I was saying," C resumed keeping a wary eye on Piper, "I wanted to hear Two's report on the extraction. He arrived late last night and I was personally involved in debriefing him."
Here was the part where she was fired. For sure. There was no other possibility.
"He had nothing but good things to say about you, Stone."
So, Piper hadn't been expecting that which explained why her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She probably looked like an idiot to C, sitting there, catching flies, as she tried to process everything she had just been told. "Really?" she said finally, scrutinizing C looking for deception. "Are you sure?"
"Do you believe, Stone, that there was a reason that you should not have been recommended by Two? Did something happen?"
Piper realized she had dug herself a hole and she was still holding a shovel. One more false move and she was going to be burying herself in it. "Of course not, sir. It's just – well, it was my first time. I made a couple of mistakes."
"Two informed be of everything that occurred and we reviewed the transcript of your interaction." C gave Piper a pointed look and she knew, just knew with every cell in her body, that C had not missed the flirtatious conversation that concluded her interactions with Two. Her face flamed and she trained her eyes on the potted cactus on C's desk so she didn't have to meet his eye.
"The mistakes were expected of a rookie such as yourself. Subtleties of field extractions can only be learned. Two believed that you took critique and instruction well and picked up the necessary skills quickly. Despite a couple of bumps, you handled yourself very well and stayed cool under pressure, for the most part. It was his recommendation that you begin training to guide field missions regularly and prepare intelligence and strategy for said missions as well."
"He did?" Piper was flummoxed. She had thought she was being brought in here to be reprimanded, maybe even fired. Hell, a couple of moments ago, she had thought she was going to be imprisoned in the Tower of London, which hadn't even been used as a prison since the 1700's. This was certainly a turn of events.
"Don't look so surprised Stone," C said with a little chuckle that knocked the socks off of Piper, who had never, ever heard the Chief laugh. "After all, we wouldn't have bothered recruiting you if you weren't exceptional in your field."
"T-thank you, sir," Piper stuttered out.
"That being said, Stone, I called you in here for a very important reason." C leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the desk. Piper found herself shrinking into her seat, probably looking like a deer in headlights as the Chief focused on her intently. "I'm sure you understand that the situation yesterday morning was a desperate situation. There are elements of the mission that are very, should we say, delicate."
"The fact that I was working with Two, a member of a secret, not-so-secret black ops group within MI6?"
C closed his eyes briefly, as if he found Piper very tedious, but he nodded all the same. "Spot on, Stone. Frankly, someone at your level should never have been interacting with an agent like Two in any way. We work very hard to keep certain information about One Direction private and only a restricted part of it public."
"Public, sir?"
"I do hope that you aren't under the impression that MI6 would be lax enough to allow information about one of our top performing, absolutely essential operations groups leak out to our junior recruits. Information about them has to exist for the group to have proper functionality, but that information is very closely regulated. Do you understand, Stone?"
"I wasn't going to say anything," Piper insisted nervously. "I would never. I haven't said a single word."
"I'm well aware of that, Stone, or we would be having a very different conversation. I've seen your file from your recruitment training. You've shown exemplary performance in regards to maintaining state secrets. I have no doubt that you would have taken that interaction with Two to your grave. I'm simply reminding you of the gravitas of the knowledge you now hold and your handling of that knowledge."
"I understand sir," Piper told him with a certain nod.
C seemed pleased with her answer, sitting back in his chair more comfortably and taking a moment to study Piper across the desk. She squirmed under the scrutiny, especially when a tiny smirk pulled at the Chief's cheek. "I think you've got a lot of potential, Stone. If you keep your head up, you could go very far."
"Thank you, sir."
"Keep up the good work. You're dismissed." Piper rose to her feet quickly, smiling uncomfortably for about two seconds before she decided that might not be appropriate. She held up a hand sheepishly as some sort of weird apology and then spun on her heel, hurrying for the door. "Oh, and report to the administration department before you leave for the day."
"Sir?" Piper questioned, looking back at C sitting behind his desk. His lips curled into an amused grin as he watched her.
"I thought I had been clear earlier but maybe I was too vague. You've been promoted. You'll begin training with Agent Lahiri starting tomorrow morning at 0800. You'll need to go down to administration to pick up your new employee identification."
Piper was breathless for a moment and then she couldn't keep the stupid smile from her face. "Thank you, sir."
"You've earned it," C told her with a sage-like nod. "Now off you go. You've work to do, Agent Stone."
Walking out of C's office felt like walking on air. Piper was pretty sure that if she launched off the ground hard enough, she could probably fly. She felt invincible. She had been longing for that Agent title and now it was hers. She was a motherfucking Agent.
People stared at her as she passed in the halls, probably because she was grinning from ear to ear. She greeted people as she passed, people she had never met before in her life. She didn't care that whispers followed her or that one of the older field agents had actually flashed the weapon at his hip. Nothing could bring her down.
As if the day couldn't get any better, her ID picture came out perfectly. She could count on one hand how many times she had looked good in an official picture. She purposely used her gym membership as ID instead of her driving license, just so she didn't have to show anyone the god-awful picture that graced her license.
Clutching her new ID in her hand, admiring how the angle made her face slimmer and her red hair contrasted nicely with the Union Jack flying in the background, Piper floated through the halls until she was underground, meandering through Q branch to get to T branch. She had the rest of the day off because she had been working night shifts for the last four days. She had a whole day and night to herself before she was supposed to report for duty tomorrow morning. She had big plans – mainly to watch hours' worth of Coronation Street that she had missed and eat all the food in her fridge that was about to expire.
Stepping into the large room that housed all of the junior technicians, her spirit fell. Someone was sitting at her desk, his arms propped behind his head and his feet crossed on her desk. The man spun a bit in his chair and Piper's blood boiled when she recognized Agent Samson's ugly mug.
She stormed across the room, fists balling at her side. Heads turned as she passed, watching warily as she approached the arrogant agent spread out in her work space. He took notice of her when she was about five metres away and the smug look on his face made Piper want to jab him in the windpipe.
"Get the hell away from my desk, Samson." Piper stopped before him, tossing his feet off the desk so he had to sit up to catch himself. He was flustered for a couple seconds but pulled together quickly and just waggled his eyebrows at her once, as if to challenge her.
"We've talked about this Stoner," Samson scolded sardonically. "It's Agent Samson."
"Then that'll be Agent Stone," Piper shot back, thrusting her ID badge in his direction. He scoffed, leaning in closer to take a look. Piper took a little bit too much pleasure in watching the smarmy grin slide right off of his face.
"Who was idiotic enough to promote you?" he sneered disapprovingly.
"Not sure that C would appreciate being called idiotic," Piper pointed out, delighting in the green tinge that crossed Samson's face as he pressed his lips shut. Piper leaned forward until she was right up in Samson's personal space. "I've been waiting a long time to be able to say this to you, Samson. Get the fuck out of my chair and get the fuck out of my sight."
"Bold words, Stoner," Samson shot back. "You think now that you're an agent, you run this place? Well, you've got another thing coming princess."
"I do have access to the gun range now," Piper reminded him. "And access to any of the weapons locked up in Q branch, seeing as I have all the access codes due to my new position. Do you want to push me? Because I can assure you that one of us is going to be much happier with the outcome than the other."
Samson looked like he had swallowed a bug. Piper stepped back away from her chair, holding her arm out invitingly and smiling a saccharine smile as she waited. He looked like he would rather hand over his balls but he eventually climbed out of her chair. Once he had vacated it properly, Piper sidestepped around him and sprawled back into it, adopting the same pose he had just been sitting in.
"This really has been a pleasure, Samson, but it physically pains me to look at you any longer so if you wouldn't mind running along."
Samson's jaw tightened and he looked like he wanted to say plenty of foul things. It only took a short glance around T branch for him to hold his tongue. The rest of the junior technicians had completely abandoned their work and were now glaring at Samson harshly. They may not be the best employees in the building, but they were a team that stuck together and if you hit one tech, the rest were called to action.
Samson spun on his heel, taking three long strides away from Piper's desk. She snickered, delighting in how easy that had been. She reached for her tablet, sitting on top of her desk, but before she could pick it up, Samson's hand came down on it hard, holding it in place.
"Funny that you mentioned weapons training, Stoner," Samson said, sounding a little too pleased with himself. "We have a little tradition when the new agents are promoted each season. The new agents and some of the senior agents have a friendly game of capture the flag on the paintball field, just to build some comradery." Piper did not like the direction this was going. "I'll have to round up the team for your match. Since you were promoted under such special circumstances, there aren't any other agents to play with you."
Samson bent down until his face was inches from hers. "Good luck finding anyone in this heap of pathetic techs that will fight by your side against a whole team of senior agents."
He straightened, adjusting his jacket so it hugged his frame in just the right way. "I'll make sure to let you know when we schedule the match. In the meantime, keep an eye out for teammates. You'll need them." He turned once more, crashing straight into a man who had been walking behind him. So much for superior agent instincts. "Watch where you're going," he barked at the man.
"Sorry mate." Piper stiffened in her chair, all the hair rising up on her neck. She knew that voice. It was him. "Wasn't watching my way."
Piper's head shot up and for the first time, she saw Two in the flesh. She wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting, but he was just more. He was at least a couple of inches taller than Samson was, and while Samson was certainly larger in terms of bulk, Two looked svelte and muscular beneath the plain black t-shirt he was wearing. He had a head of gorgeous brown hair that curled around his ears and the nape of his neck. His smile was wide and his green eyes were practically sparkling.
Piper could barely breathe as her eyes roamed over his equally amazing body, dressed down in a t-shirt and old jeans, a pair of worn brown boots on his feet. He had a sleeve of mismatched tattoos up one arm; the other was in a sling.
She opened her mouth to say something but caught herself. She glanced warily at Samson and knew that she shouldn't be revealing anything about knowing Two, just in case Samson didn't have the clearance to know who Two was. She caught Two's eyes and his cheek quirked up on the side, just the slightest.
"Agent Styles," Samson said breathlessly, doing a strange little bow before sticking his hand out between the two men, "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was you."
Piper looked between the two men, completely and utterly confused. Samson had called Two Agent Styles. How did he know who Two was? And why did he know Two by a different name?
Two's shaking hand was held up in the sling so he just glanced down at Samson's hand and then back over at Piper. Samson pulled his arm back as if it had caught fire and Piper had to press her lips shut to stop the laugh when she saw his face flush.
"Not a problem," Two told Samson.
"Can I help you with something?" Samson asked eagerly.
"I'm looking for Piper."
Before Piper could say anything, Samson interjected with a frown. "Piper Delaney works up on the fourth floor, in Intelligence."
"I'm Piper, you idiot." Samson looked over at her like he had never seen her before, his eyes wide and bugged out. She plugged that mental image away for the next time she needed to ridicule him.
Samson pointed toward Piper, staring at Two incredulously. "You're looking for Stoner?"
Piper closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to stop herself from launching over the desk and throttling Samson. God, he was such an arse. Why did he have to use that stupid fucking nickname in front of Two, of all people?
When she finally got control over her anger and opened her eyes once more, she was surprised to see that Two had taken up her battle for her, looking menacingly at Samson. "I believe what you meant to say," Two corrected in a dangerously low voice, speaking slowly, "was that Agent Piper Stone was the woman sitting before me. I would be a little more careful of those loose lips of yours in front of your superiors."
Samson looked about ready to wet himself, incapable of coherent human speech. He nodded instead, fast enough that he looked like a little bobble head doll. "O-of course, sir."
"You may go," Two said dismissively, nodding his head toward the entrance to T branch.
Samson didn't need to be told twice, scurrying off with his metaphorical tail between his legs. When he was out of sight, Piper couldn't hold it in any longer and an unflattering laugh burst out of her. She covered her mouth with both hands and tried not to make a scene but she snorted right through her hands and then threw caution to the wind, tossing her head back and roaring with laughter.
"You just made my day," she told Two, holding her stomach.
Her laugh caught in her throat as Two stepped around the front of her desk, leaning his bum against the wood so he was within a foot of her. She gazed up at him with wide eyes, struggling to find her composure. For a moment, she thought she was going to be reprimanded as well but a smile spread across Two's face big enough to dimple his cheeks.
"It's nice to finally meet you Piper," he said, reaching over to finger a lock of hair before letting it drop on her shoulder. "I never pictured you as a ginger."
"Proud ginger," Piper insisted.
"But it suits you the more I think about it," Two added. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Harry Styles."
Piper nodded. "You already know who I am."
"Yes, Miss. Piper Stone. Sorry. I guess I should say Agent Stone."
Piper smiled proudly, looking away from him because she was a little embarrassed at the instant reaction to hearing the word 'agent' before her name. "I have you to thank for that, I reckon."
"Maybe," Two said with a shrug, "but I think that's on you. You earned it. I actually came here to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"Believe it or not, Piper, you saved my life yesterday." The words were sobering and Piper felt her heart beat fast at just the thought of what she had done yesterday morning. "I was quite literally on my own over there. Without your help, I most likely would have been killed, or worse, captured."
"Well, I did a bang up job," Piper said sarcastically, blowing out a breath and then glancing up at Two's shoulder. "Did that happen because of me?"
Two looked over at his own shoulder and then shook his head. "Nah, that happened when they attacked the car."
"Do you mean to tell me that you ran nearly a mile with a bullet wound in your shoulder, carrying another person?"
"Yes."
"Bullshit."
Two tilted his head back and laughed loudly. It sent shivers down Piper's spine and she was pretty sure she could orgasm just from that sound. Fuck, he was so hot. "Honest to God," Two assured her, making a lazy cross over his heart with his finger. "I wouldn't lie to you."
"Oh, you wouldn't?"
Two just smirked, his cheek dimpling on the right side of his face. Piper had the sudden urge to poke it and looked down so she wasn't tempted to reach up her hand. "Anyways," he said with a small grin, looking at the floor for a moment before glancing back up at Piper, "that's what I came here to say."
"Thanks, um, well, what exactly am I supposed to call you?"
"My name is fine," Two replied a little cheekily. "Unless I'm in the field, no one is supposed to know what my codename is. That was a good job earlier, by the way? With that Samson idiot? I saw the look in your eye. You were about to expose me but you caught yourself." He chucked my chin gently with his good hand. "Good catch, petal."
Pet names had always been a tricky subject with Piper. She hated those guys who were always like 'alright baby?' or 'fetch me a drink ducky'. But coming from Harry's mouth, even a name like 'petal' sounded insanely sexy and she sort of loved it.
"Thanks," she muttered, clearing her throat when the words stuck there. Christ, this man had a power over her brain. It seemed to shut off when he was involved. "I figured that the last person anyone would want knowing about, you know," Piper leaned closer and whispered, "One Direction, is Samson. Thicker than a brick wall, he is."
The easy look fell off of Two's face and he crossed his arms, careful not to jostle his wounded arm. "Has he been bothering you?" he asked serious and sombrely. "Because I can deal with him if you want me to."
"Nah, I can handle Samson," Piper said, shrugging it off. That may be an exaggeration seeing as Samson was twice her size, but she figured she had done a pretty good job earlier before Two had shown up. "And if he tries to act up with me again, I'll just shoot him."
Harry chuckled. "Right, the paintball match. I heard him mention it earlier." Piper had been thinking more along the lines of an assault rifle but figured that made her look homicidal so she just nodded along. "I didn't think they still did those matches for new agents but I guess so," Two continued with a shrug of his shoulders. He winced a little when he tugged at his bullet wound but the discomfort disappeared from his face almost immediately.
"I would be looking forward to having permission to shoot Samson if it didn't mean I was going to embarrass myself in front of a whole team of senior agents. I have no one else to join my team and my skills with a weapon are rusty." Piper sighed, pursing her lips unhappily. "I'm going to get my arse handed to me."
"Hmm," Harry hummed, glancing sideways for a moment as if he was thinking about something. "How about this," he suggested, looking back at Piper with a gleam in his eyes, "leave the team to me. I'll sort you out with a couple agents who are capable enough to help you out."
"Really?" Piper said hopefully, looking pleadingly at Two. "Could you?"
"For you? Anything." Two stood up from where he had been leaning against the desk, rising to his full height and towering over Piper. "I really do have to be going but it really was great meeting you, Piper."
"You too," Piper said honestly. Her curiosity about the mysterious Two had been officially satiated. In her mind she had been picturing a sort of Pierce Brosnan figure but the real Two standing before her was much, much better. "I hope we get another chance to work together again, er, Styles."
"Harry, please."
"Harry," Piper echoed, feeling her whole face flushing. Christ, she couldn't keep it together for one more minute until he was gone? Instead her body had to go into hormonal overdrive while he was still fucking standing there?
She nearly had a cardiac episode when Two – Harry! – reached over, running his fingers gracefully over her warm cheeks. "So sweet," he muttered before carefully removing his hand and taking a step back. "Let me know when Samson gives you a date," he added as he rounded the desk.
It took Piper a moment to remember the promise he had just made to her less than a minute ago. "Er, right. Thanks."
"Good." He smiled down at her and she nearly melted straight into a puddle on her chair. "Until Thursday, then."
He had managed to walk a good five steps before his words sunk in. "Thursday?" Piper called after him, leaning across her desk so she could see him. "What's happening on Thursday?"
"Forgotten already?" Harry called back, turning and taking the next few steps backward so he was facing her. "You promised me drinks when I got back onto English soil."
"I promised you no such thing." Her voice was starting to sound a little shrill and it echoed throughout T branch. There was absolutely no way she was going out for drinks with Harry Styles aka Two aka a member of an elite black ops group. She could barely sit at her own desk and talk to him without acting like a pathetic girly girl. Imagine how bad it would be with drinks?
Answer: very, very bad.
"I'll pick you up at eight."
"You don't know where I live."
"Be ready to leave."
"I'm not going."
"Oh, and wear something nice."
"Who do you think you are telling me what to wear?" Piper shot back, shouting as she stood from her desk so she could still see him on the other side of the room. She was somewhat aware that people were staring but she didn't really care. She was focused on the insufferably gorgeous man whose dimples could send her into a dead faint as he walked out the door.
"Until then, petal!"
Before she could say anything more, he had gone and she was left standing alone in T branch surrounded by junior techs who were watching with wide eyes and dropped jaws. With a huff she sat down in her chair, glaring at anyone who was still staring. "Don't you all have jobs?" she snapped, sending everyone back to their work in a flurry of activity.
Meanwhile, Piper tapped her computer screen, bringing it back to life. After going through her series of security measures, entering passwords that no one could ever guess at, she opened up her browser, typing 'Jenny Packham' into google.
It would seem she needed a dress.