#au april

dixkens:

James Bond is the newest handler at the London Dollhouse.

Did I Fall Asleep? - hypatia - James Bond (Craig Movies) [Archive of Our Own]

“Everything’s going to be all right,” Bond said, the scripted line he’d been given.

“Now that you’re here,” said Merlin, speaking the programmed response while his eyes were locked on Bond’s.

“Do you trust me?” asked Bond. He suddenly hated that Q and R were watching them. This felt private. Intimate.

“With my life,” said Merlin, smiling shyly.

Bond couldn’t resist squeezing the hand he held in reassurance.

Apparently dosing myself with iced coffee and being at work makes for a more productive Sea…

//

These kinds of people are always easily side-tracked. A pretty face, a polite smile, focussed attention. She found it always worked, regardless of the person.

“Mr Humphries!” Penelope kept her tone light and excited. “How wonderful to see you!”

“Lady Penelope, why don’t you look as gorgeous as ever,” He kissed her cheek in greeting, and she suppressed a shudder. “I was so pleasantly surprised to receive your invitation, things have been so quiet since my dear Camilla passed away. It really brought to light what people actually thought of me after thinking they were my friends for so long,” He tutted. “And those accusations…” He sighed an shook his head. “Some people really do believe me to be the devil still,”

“I had heard the stories! It really is awful that they believe you to be capable of such a thing,”

“I’m trying to put it behind me now. It does help to know that I still have some friends that would stand by me,”

“Well, you and I were always such good friends. It seems a waste to throw that friendship away over such silly accusations with no grounds,” She moved closer to him, laying a hand on his arm.

He glanced down in response to the touch. He placed a hand over hers, and when he met her eyes again a smirk had formed on his lips.

“Such a waste my lady,”

They talked and flirted for most of the night thereafter, but she made sure to not overdo it. She took breaks to talk to other people and lavish them with her attention but kept finding her way back to Albert Humphries, however briefly.

She made sure to great everybody else who came through the door with the same level of enthusiasm. She couldn’t be seen to be giving favouritism should something unforeseen happen to her old friend, how would that look to the outsider?

“A dance, your ladyship?” A friendly hand on her shoulder.

“Why of course Mr Tracy,” She took the hand he offered. “What lady could refuse? I suspect we’ll make an awful lot of them jealous,”

“I suspect you’re not far wrong,”

Scott steered her away from her target before she could even get to him again.

“I thought we had an understanding, Scott.”

The judgement in those blue eyes was to be expected.

“And what understanding was that? You lure these people to their deaths, and we just stand back and watch it happen?” He took her waist with his other hand as they made their way amongst the other dancing couples.

“Yes. You leave me to my work, and I leave all of you out of it,”

“I can’t just watch this happen,” They twirled around the dancefloor. “I can’t just let you…”

She frowned at him. “You seem to be under the incorrect impression that I need your permission for any of this. You know far better than that Scott Tracy,”

“That’s not what I…” He shook his head, trying to set his words straight in his mind. “They’re just people, you can’t just go around - -”

“Notice how you left ‘innocent’ out of that sentence? Unfortunately, these people don’t share your level of moral values. I’m just giving them what they deserve.”

“Penelope…”

“You’re a good man Scott, all of your family are good people. It’s why, despite our differences in opinion I like having you all around. It’s just unfortunate for you to see the world in black and white while ignoring the grey,”

“And you think you’re the grey?”

Another circuit of the floor.

“Albeit a little on the darker side, yes,”

“So there’s levels now?”

“Yes. You and your brothers, you’re all on the whiter side of the spectrum. Though I think we can both admit that John and some of his past actions lean a little more towards the grey, but still light enough for people to simply not see it.” She was surprised he didn’t argue, but they both knew her words were true. “Kayo, I know she shares some of my values, she’s a little less against what I do. But, she’d never act upon it. Still, she’s tending a little more towards the grey area than the rest of you.” Again, she received no argument, only a tight-lipped stare. “Now, I’m not fully on the dark side. I don’t do what I do for fun, and I pick and choose very carefully from those that are walking the line deeper into the dark side than myself. They do bad things for bad reasons. I do them for good reasons,”

“There’s no good reason…”

“There it is again, that ticking over moral compass. You have a good heart Scott, but please stop trying to change mine. As much as I view you as it, you’re not my big brother, and you don’t need to concern yourself with me,”

During their conversation they had made their way to the edge of the dancefloor.

“Now, please go enjoy the party. I have things I need to do.” She removed herself from his hold, making sure to make it look like a mutual end to the dance.

“You don’t needto do this,”

“We’ll talk later darling,” Penelope waved over her shoulder at him as she walked away. “I think I need a drink.

I have a title! And I may have been working on this while at work… Oops?

//

“I wonder who the new flavour of the night is,”

“Does it matter?” Gordon downed the last of his beer. “He’ll be gone by tomorrow, one way or another,”

“Gordon!” Scott’s tone was admonishing, despite having invited the remark.

“Tell me I’m wrong!” He protested.

They all remained silent.

He wagged a finger at them all. “Exactly.”

“Who knows, she dated that last one for a couple of months before he vanished,” Alan shrugged.

“Alan!”

“Look. You can be as annoyed as you want by them Scott, but we all know it’s true,”

Virgil had long since joined the other members of his family in attendance at the party, filling them in on his and Penelope’s exchange before pointing out the oblivious blond gentleman, clearly enjoying all of the attention from their hostess.

“Nothing’s true unless you can prove it,”

“Kayo!”

“I’m just saying, they’re not exactly the most desirable people to keep on the planet. Maybe she’s doing us all a favour,”

Scott fixed them all with a stare that put paid to any other remarks they might have. Kayo rolled her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter what they’ve done or who they are. It’s not for us to pass judgement on things like that, and especially not take matters into our own hands.”

“We don’t have to, she does it for us,” John didn’t even look up from his phone to see the glare his eldest brother sent his way. “Our new friend is Albert Humphries. New money, inherited a French estate as well as… Four other properties in different countries when his seventy-eight-year-old wife passed away last spring…”

Gordon narrowed his eyes at his usually space dwelling brother.

“What did she die of?”

“Apparently, she had a heart condition that she was on daily medication for. She was supposed to take two tablets each morning and then she was able to take more if she started to feel unwell, like an emergency dose. He was out for the day, came home and found her collapsed on the floor in the bathroom, bottle of pills in her hand,”

“So, natural causes. Couldn’t get her meds in time and she died?”

“That’s what they’re saying, now at least. There was some controversy for a few months afterwards, surrounding Mr Humphries, accusations that he often withheld her medication. But he had multiple alibis, they had no evidence, so they couldn’t prove anything.”

“You know what,” Gordon sat back in his seat. “I think I’ll let her have this one,”

“What did I just say?”

“Oh, come on Scott. It’s not like they’ll be able to prove anything anyway. They never can, she doesn’t even fall on the radar half the time. We just know it’s her because we know her,”

To an outsider who knew each family’s story it would have seemed extremely unusual for them to even associate with each other, let alone be friends as they were seen to be. But it had been an odd set of circumstances. Both families having money had meant that Mr and Mrs Tracy had run in the same social circles as Lord and Lady Creighton-Ward, unavoidable that they should meet really. And when they did, the children getting along well had cemented their friendship somewhat.

That’s not to say Jeff Tracy was blind, far from it. He had heard the rumours, seen the circumstantial evidence, even gotten the story straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. But, as with his daughter, that is all the evidence against the English aristocrat ever was circumstantial at best. The accusations were quietened down with threats of lawsuits for harassment without proof, and those who didn’t run in the right circles were often non-the-wiser, save for the usual whispers. The Creighton-Wards gave to charity, they hosted benefits, they were polite and kind, and always looked after their friends.

Gentleman thief. That was the term the three eldest had heard their parents toss around in casual conversation where Lord Creighton-Ward came up.

‘Such a lovely little girl’ that had been their mother’s take on Penelope. Often said with a sad sigh from her, and a look of sympathy on their father’s face.

Taken a little further expansion into my new fixation from this afternoon of the Villain!Penny AU with a bit of a rough introductory chapter. I’m not sure how far this will go but I’m having fun at the moment!

//

The eight year old frowned down at the frilly yellow dress that only two weeks ago she had insisted she wanted to buy, and only yesterday had been very excited to wear.

“I don’t want to be ladylike,” She grabbed a handful of the daffodil cotton in each hand as she turned to face the mirror. She released the fabric and smoothed it out as the hem brushed the floor. Looking back up to meet their reflection in the mirror she grinned. “I want to lure men to their death.”

//

It was iconic. The brush strokes, the colour, the way the artist had signed their name and left a thumbprint in the acrylic down by the bottom right corner. Seeing the masterpiece in the flesh would have been a true honour, if it wasn’t for the circumstances.

“Enjoying the view?”

He didn’t give a verbal response, only a glance to his side to confirm the identity of his hostess.

“I’d say you are,”

“I’m less concerned by the view and more intrigued with how you came to acquire it. Didn’t this piece mysteriously vanish years ago?” He still didn’t meet her eyes.

“Well, you do amuse me darling,” Her tone was light and practiced. “I would have thought an artist’s eye like yours would be able to tell the original from a copy,”

“A copy?” He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Really. Mother was good at that kind of thing, imitation.” She shrugged, noncommittal.

“Was she?”

“Oh yes,” She nodded, raising the glass of champagne to her lips. “Very,”

“I always wondered where you got it from.”

“Don’t be rude darling, it doesn’t suit you.”

“I bet she took inspiration from a lot of the old masters that are no longer around,” He glanced around the room spotting what were no doubt at least four other ‘copies’ of missing masterpieces.

“Nothing if not adaptable,” Another shrug and a quirk of red painted lips.

“Hm…”

“I do believe this is a rare night off for our faithful rescuers. Why don’t you re-join your brothers and enjoy the party?”

She wrapped a less than gentle hand around his elbow and steered him away from the carefully curated artwork.

“You know Virgil, you’re lucky I like you.” Nails manicured to a perfect point dug into his arm through the sleeve of his suit jacket. “All five of you boys are, in fact,” She nodded. “Exceedingly lucky,”

He stopped allowing himself to be guided, wrenching his arm free, putting a stall in her step too.

“Is that a threat?”

She met his stare. “Does it need to be?”

After only a few seconds their silent standoff was interrupted.

“Excuse me, m’lady, but another of your VIP guests has arrived,”

Impeccable timing, as always.

“Perfect, thank you Parker,”

A glance across the room took Virgil’s attention to a tall blonde man who was handing his coat to a doorman. He knew his face from somewhere but couldn’t quite place him.

“If you’ll excuse me, my dear,” She smirked after following his gaze. “I have other guests to attend to. Do tell your brothers and Kayo I say hello,”

“What are you going to do to him?”

“Nothing you can prove,”

He didn’t move for a few minutes, watching her replace her usual self with the perfect lady façade reserved for those who didn’t really know what she was capable of, and fawn over her clearly important guest.

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was a force to be reckoned with. And fortunately for her, she was good at hiding what she did.

At least, from most people, anyway.