by Joseph Anderson
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I don't own James Bond, and no copyright infringement is intended. This is fanfic and may not be sold, may be copied for personal use only, and must include all notices of copyright.

The lab was just where he thought it would be and Bond cooly let his eyes move around the room searching for the cannister containing the MC-guPh-In virus. He smoothly turned and caught the man sneaking up behind him. James Bond's left hand lashed out crushing his throat and his other hand grabbed the man's gun. There was a silencer on it, so he used it to shoot another man who had just seen them and was about to hit an alarm on the wall. Bond turned back to the room and felt a sharp pain in his hand and he was no longer holding the gun. Instead a much smaller figure was smiling at him, casually holding the pistol and pointing it at the floor.

"Jilly," James Bond said with a bitter smile.

The slender blonde exaggeratedly looked at the two dead men. "Sometimes Langland really gets on my nerves, you know, 007? He told me not to bother eliminating these incompetent fools, that you would do it for us. Irritates the hell out of me, lemme tell you! Does he ALWAYS have to be right? Oh well. Whatcha gonna do?"

James Bond kicked at her but she wasn't there any more. She continued as if nothing had happened. "I warned you. Didn't I warn you?" Bond eased a throwing knife into his hand from his cuff and threw it. Jilly barely turned her body a fraction of an inch and the knife imbedded in a wall behind her. She rolled her eyes saying, "Stay out of my and Langland's way, I said." She looked him in the eyes. "Now I have to kill you," she said sadly. She lifted the gun and pointed it at him.

"Two-billion dead, Jilly. Can you live with that?"

She stopped and said with irritation. "I told you not to try and turn me against Langland. And especially not with stupid lies. There's no two-billion dead in anything we do. It wouldn't be profitable and Langland never does anything unprofitable."

James Bond said, "This is profitable though, Jilly. He's going to wipe out every human being in Africa so he will have the natural resources. Langland has brainwashed zombies, millions of them ready to come in and work for him. The MC-guPh-In virus will eat the bodies so there won't even be any mess."

"I told you to shut up!" Jilly said angrily. "He wouldn't do that. He's barely killed a fraction of the people practically everyone I know has."

"Maybe not," Bond said, "but only because he didn't have a reason. Now he does. And he won't do it like you or Xena or your mother would: in battle where they might conceivably have a chance. He'll kill babies in their sleep; cooks will drop dead on their stoves and sizzle; doctors, nurses and patients will all die together in the operating room. Just for money. Just for power."

"SHUT UP! He wouldn't do that!" Jilly's eyes were wide and her mouth was twitching.

"Look in yourself, Jilly. You know he would. He'd do anything. He's not even evil. It's just business. With the collapse of Africa, the entire world will be thrown into a depression. Even if Africa itself doesn't cause America's finances to collapse, Asia will. It will be like dominoes, Jilly. With you and Langland waiting to pick up the pieces."

The woman's brown eyes had white all around them. She was pale.

Bond said, "What would Kimberly think, Jilly? How would your mother feel about this?" The woman slowly lowered the gun. Suddenly she cried out and grabbed her head and fell to the floor.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her talk to you, Mr. Bond, but she insisted. I can't say no to her." The handsome young man came sauntering into the room from the open door. James Bond tried to leap at Langland but an electrical current seemed to surge through his body and he found himself on the floor next to Jilly. The young man came over and gently straightened out Jilly. He removed his sports jacket, folded it and put it under her head. Then he picked up the pistol and just seemed to consider Bond and Jilly a moment.

"So, you'll kill us both and continue with your sick plans," Bond said with disgust. He was still too weak to get up and all of his body tingled.

Langland smiled. "No, I'll kill YOU and continue with my sick plans. I can't kill Jilly, smart as that would be. Aside from the fact that I have been absolutely forbidden on pain of eternal torment, I wouldn't anyway. I love her. Maybe you can't imagine that but it's true. Unlike you, 007, I'm not afraid of committment."

James Bond said, "I was wrong: you are evil. I thought you couldn't even appreciate what you were doing--but you can. What happens after Jilly wakes up and realizes you've slaughtered a continent? I have a feeling she won't have the same problem killing you as you do her."

"Certainly not," Langland said with a self-deprecating laugh. "All right, Mr. Bond...you win."

"What?" Bond said surprised.

"I said, you win. I'll cancel my plans for Africa and send my zombies to vocational rehabilitation." Langland went over to Jilly, carefully took his sports jacket and put it back on, then picked her up with difficulty. He wasn't that much bigger than she was.

"Goodby," he said and simply walked out with her. After a moment 007 heard the sound of a helicopter. Bond shook his head, trying to clear it. This was too strange.

The End