Once Upon a Time in India || Bond!verse
The thing is, Sebastian Moran was never stupid. Quiet and slow to react, sure but he was never stupid. After he lost his parents he was sent to some of the best boarding schools in the country and eventually found himself at Cambridge where he graduated with honors. The real problem in Sebastian's life was that people were dull. He lived for a bit of an adventure but never found something worthwhile. Then when he tuned out boring people they tended to call him stupid. It was that need for adventure and the tendency for him to be overlooked, however, that led him exactly where he needed to be at exactly the right time.
Seb became an officer in the British army stationed abroad in Afghanistan, the blood and sand calmed him a little... until whispers and rumors of commanding officers running a little side action under the cover of their uniform perked up his ears to a hunt. People were disappearing, funds were being transferred to bank accounts, bodies of well known officers found after spending time with certain officers whose names featured in the whispers. A temptation too good to pass up. And, with air-brained commanding officers like he had, there had to be a much more interesting source. So... Seb started to dig. The officer known as Moran went rogue tracing bank accounts, and supposedly random crimes... all of which pointed to one single entity... a letter, not even a word... something he could not yet understand but was dying to.
It all came to a boil six months later in India. A hotel room officers conveniently never visited, but to which security detail was dedicated, internet access was flawless, and some sort of wireless scrambler made communication without an encrypted pass code impossible. Far too good for even a general. A hotel room in which Sebastian now sat in absolute darkness except for the burning red end of his cigarette. A hotel room where the lock was being flipped, and two gentlemen were stepping inside.
Seb watched for a moment tilting his head. One man wore a suit, sunglasses, and had a brief case strapped to his wrist. He was about the same size as Sebastian and gave off the impression of absolute control. He looked like the cliche of a drug lord or crooked dictator (like the villain in a move). The other was slight, well dressed, but completely understated with a glint in his eye that seemed like something more than the small body should be capable. Seb pulled the trigger and dropped the cliche in the time it took him to blink. One shot between the eyes without a sound. He smiled and for the first time in weeks he spoke
"The great and mysterious M... I presume" He smiled gun still in hand. Finally someone worth talking to.