The former Mr. 007 wore a smile that was a touch too polished, a touch too practiced, but judged purely on looks, he was undeniably a handsome older gentleman.
"What should I call you? Mr. Bond?"
007 waved his hands frantically. "No, no. I have no idea who this 'Bond' person is. I'm just a disabled old man. Call me Brian."
An obvious alias. Bella nodded without caring.
"Mr. Brian, thank you for the heads-up. I'll handle this properly."
"Then you'd better hurry. My old friend's been dying to get me to work for him. He's offering five hundred dollars a day. Heh..." 007's trademark half-smile played across his lips. "Honestly, the school doesn't pay much, but I do enjoy my job at the library."
His gaze drifted toward the school gates. Two men in dark suits stood outside like bodyguards. Bella hadn't met them before, but she was fairly certain they were 006's people, apparently here to escort 007 to the Central Park "shelter" for his new job.
She barely knew whether to laugh or groan.
"...I understand, Mr. Brian." Bella said her polite goodbyes and left.
She wasn't worried about 007 revealing the truth. Not in the slightest.
The world was ruthlessly practical. Back when 006 had "died," 007 was still an elite operative, so 007's word had been gospel. Now that 007 was crippled and 006 was the CEO of a multinational corporation, nothing 007 said would carry any weight. The power dynamic had completely inverted.
If anything, 007's little tip-off might be an attempt to mend fences, proving he bore no ill will.
Bella stepped out of the library feeling nothing but absurdity. What on earth was wrong with 006? King of the Gods? Zeus?
She rushed to the top floor of the Empire State Building and pushed through the doors to find 006 seated dead center in the main hall, radiating full sovereign grandeur.
The old comrade was in high spirits, looking far more impressive than his former brother-in-arms 007 ever had.
006 was decked out in golden armor, a white cape draped over his shoulders, and a solid gold crown perched on his head. The moment Bella opened the door, he was in the middle of a furious tirade: "My thunderbolt has been stolen! Wretched thieves! This is a conspiracy! Has my brother not arrived yet?"
He turned to his assistant, Mr. "Apollo."
The assistant had no earthly idea what psychotic episode his employer was experiencing, but as a polished professional and executive assistant to a major corporation's CEO, his work ethic was ironclad: you pay my salary, I do whatever you need, and whether that means processing meeting agendas or notifying the so-called "God of the Sea" makes no difference.
He cleared his throat. "My apologies, Your Majesty. No word from the Sea God yet."
006 slammed the armrest. "Betrayal! Shameless betrayal! Do they think stealing my thunderbolt will strip me of my power? Tell him! Tell my brothers! If they want war, then Zeus, King of the Gods, will give them war!"
Bella's face went dark at the spectacle. What was this, a stage play? 006 didn't seem the least bit embarrassed, but as someone who actually knew him, she was mortified on his behalf. Natasha would have died laughing.
006's assistant recognized her. He knew she was his boss's boss, and right now he was waving his hands desperately behind 006's back, tapping the side of his own head in the universal gesture for he's lost it, please don't set him off.
006 spotted Bella. He beckoned with regal flair.
"Aphrodite, my daughter! Have you come to persuade me as well? Say no more. I must make that wretched thief pay—"
"Hold on, hold on! Stop. What kind of nonsense is this? Snap out of it!" Bella cut off his royal decree mid-sentence. What the hell? She'd treated him as a friend, and now he wanted to play her father? Was he trying to get himself killed?
The assistant hurriedly recounted the bizarre events of the past three days.
He made a point of noting that she had been officially appointed by His Majesty Zeus, Father of the Gods, as Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty.
There was even a seat reserved for her in the room.
Bella was so furious she laughed. Admittedly, Aphrodite's rank was nothing to sneeze at: one of the twelve Olympian gods. But the whole affair was ludicrous from every conceivable angle.
Her eyes flashed with a piercing psychic glow as she peered into 006's mental landscape.
What she found surprised her. On the surface, 006 was still an ordinary human, but his psyche had grown a new layer of shielding. It reminded her of the barrier she'd encountered when facing the God of the Winter Solstice.
Had 006 actually become a god? Bella studied it closely for a moment, then shook her head. Not quite.
The barrier enveloping 006's mind was resilient, composed of multiple layers of fine netting stacked together with extraordinary precision. But it lacked depth. With enough effort, she could punch through it.
Yet just as she was about to push harder, she realized something critical: 006's own consciousness had fused with the barrier. If she shattered it, she might shatter him along with it.
"What did Kronos say to you?" Bella asked abruptly.
006's expression flickered with a brief moment of confusion. His eyes bulged, round as saucers, like a Guinean gorilla had slapped him across the face eighteen times running.
"So it was Kronos after all." Bella sighed, looking at this man who could get hit on the head by a nuclear warhead and somehow still be standing. "Old friend, your luck is really... how do I put this..."
Based on her examination, this appeared to be a fragment of a god's memory that had merged with some of 006's own desires and thoughts, snowballing through a chain of unfortunate coincidences into this absurd result.
006's situation defied any simple characterization as good or bad luck.
If his luck were good, he wouldn't be stuck in this half-crazed state. He could have just found somewhere to sleep it off, or gone back to his farm to hum "The Internationale" in peace. That would have been perfectly fine.
But calling his luck bad wasn't right either. The humans, vampires, and vengeful spirits who had merely stood within range of Kronos's temporal power had all perished without exception, let alone anyone directly contaminated by the memory itself.
The memory fragment clearly wasn't Kronos's own; it appeared to be Zeus's. Not only would 006 avoid having his life drained by the power of time, he would likely gain something from it.
Bella waited three minutes. 006 froze like a crashed computer, his eyes slowly clearing from the chaos before being swallowed once more by that kingly aura. He looked at Bella. "Aphrodite, my daughter. What brings you to me?"
His pitch climbed steadily higher. "...Wait! Where is my power? Such contemptible treachery! It must be the thieves! Those thieves stole my thunderbolt! Do they really believe this will rob me of my divine power? Fools! Tell my brothers! If they want war, then Zeus, King of the Gods, will give them war!"
The man was almost beyond saving.
Bella stood with her arms crossed, staring at him in vexed resignation. What in the world would it take to snap him out of this?