A/N) Have an alternate 'Eve' scene, guys! :)
"Katherine -" Nick starts as he bursts uncharacteristically through the ajar door of the familiar office, stopping dead on the threshold. Behind him, a similarly rushing Rebecca nearly crashes into his suddenly static form as both scientists take in the scene.
Lord Hoffman smiles politely from the centre of the room which his presence instantly dominates. "Hello, Nick. Rebecca. How nice of you to join us."
Beside him, surrounded by six blank-faced security men, Katherine stands, an effective prisoner between two of the guards who hold her shoulders tightly between them. Despite her high heels and fearless, intimidating attitude that she has always used to her advantage, the smaller woman is somewhat dwarfed in a sea of black suits and unsmiling faces. Katherine wears an unforgiving expression as she glares unwaveringly at Lord Hoffman, but Nick can detect a hint of defeat in her eyes as her gaze flickers over to him for a second.
"What's going on?" Nick asks slowly.
"We were just in the process of taking Miss Calvin out of her position," Lord Hoffman replies smoothly. "She has the option to go quietly - a wise option, if you ask me. Currently, however, she is choosing not to take that option."
"It's Dr Calvin, if you don't mind," Katherine corrects surprisingly amicably, apparently struggling to keep her anger under check as she silently simmers. Nick knows that look all too well.
Lord Hoffman keeps his stare direct and calm. "Of course. My apologies, Dr Calvin. Though that title will not apply for much longer, I believe."
"Well, excuse me, but last time you escorted me from my own company building under armed guard, your minions just brought me straight back here just so that you could gloat," Katherine spits. "I'm understandably somewhat reluctant to go through that again."
"Last time you also went tampering in our operation against Mary Douglas at her secret base," the man points out. "We're somewhat reluctant to let you have free rein again."
"So what?" questions Katherine. "You're just going to - what - keep me prisoner?"
"If that's what it takes," he replies simply.
Katherine scoffs, not looking at Nick, instead directing her piercing blue-eyed gaze straight at her rival. "So, basically, I don't really have much choice."
"Until the Board can review your case -"
"The Board authorised this?" Nick cuts in.
"I, on behalf of the Board," Lord Hoffman corrects, turning his head slightly towards Nick and addressing him. "We have agreed that Miss Calvin has brought nothing to this company apart from false promises, disastrous demonstrations and a clear waste of Calimov's money and resources. In addition, her influence is evidently dangerous. Therefore, she must be removed from power, at least for now. And if she refuses to come quietly..."
"Yes? What will you do?" challenges Katherine, venom in her tone.
Lord Hoffman makes a gesture in the air and one of the guards lining the wall of the office draws something from his blazer pocket and sets it on the ground beside him. Katherine's eyes widen slightly as she sees what it is. Nick and Rebecca exchange confused glances, but neither of them can see from their position next to the door, since there are two guards between them and Katherine that obscure their view.
The businessman smiles coolly. "Then, Miss Calvin, we will be forced to take further measures."
Nick notices that Katherine has suddenly gone very pale, although an obstinate expression still fills her face. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am," smiles Lord Hoffman, no change in his visible emotions other than an impenetrable calm. "You are, after all, a dangerous enemy to have, Katherine. And I'm afraid you are too much of a threat to PRICE to be left in charge of a company so - prestigious as Calimov. We must shut your projects down before A.I. takes over any more of innocent people's lives."
No. Not KT, thinks Nick immediately, desperately.
Finally, Katherine meets Nick's eyes. She seems to see what he's thinking straight away, and turns back to her captor with a new rage blazing in her crystal-blue eyes. "You can't shut our robotics project down. KT is Calimov property. Anyway, the Board have -"
"The Board have already agreed," completes Lord Hoffman. "Your child robot is an abomination and a clear and present danger. Really, we have no choice but to destroy it."
Katherine squares her shoulders - a flicker of her gaze back to Nick, just for an instant - then defiantly meets the taller man's eyes. "Then I will not leave quietly. I will not let you power KT down."
"As I suspected," Hoffman says in apparent satisfaction. He makes another gesture in the air and the same guard that had moved before takes what appears to be a remote from his pocket, keying something quickly into it. A swift motion on the tiled floor catches Nick's eyes, and all of an instant he realises how the man plans to 'quieten' her.
Katherine suddenly starts to try to pull away, fury in her eyes as she glares at the smugly confident Lord Hoffman, but the expressionless men just grip her shoulders tighter, holding her in place.
"I really am sorry, Miss Calvin, but some people are just too dangerous to society to be left conscious," Hoffman breathes just audibly to Nick as he makes a final gesture in the air.
And the waiting spiderbot fires a bolt of arcing electricity neatly into Katherine's neck.
A cry of suppressed pain leaves Katherine's lips as she staggers, a hand flying to her throat near where the shot had hit as the fight leaves her limbs at once. She stares almost disbelievingly at Lord Hoffman, before her gaze shifts to Nick for a split second, almost pleadingly. The shocked Nick and Rebecca can only watch as Katherine's eyes roll back in her head and she suddenly falls limp, her eyes closing. The guards holding her move away, apparently satisfied that she's no longer a present threat, and Katherine would have collapsed to the ground if Nick and Rebecca hadn't both darted forward in unison to support her now comatose body.
Lord Hoffman smiles wider now, raising a sceptical eyebrow as he regards the two scientists struggling to hold an unconscious Katherine upright between them. "So Katherine Calvin does have people who appear to care about her. Fascinating. I would never have believed it possible that someone like her would ever have friends."
"What have you done to her?" asks Nick angrily as he helps Rebecca hook one of Katherine's arms around each of their shoulders, supporting her full weight between them.
"Level 2 of these spiderbots," Hoffman replies airily, gesturing to the now motionless spiderbot sitting next to his feet. "The stun setting, as you can probably guess. Dr Calvin designed their more - harmful capabilities, after all, so overall it's her own fault, really."
"You know that wasn't necessary," advocates Rebecca. "What was she really going to do under armed guard?"
Lord Hoffman still has that infuriatingly satisfied expression on his face. "You're right," he admits. "Maybe that wasn't completely necessary. But we've learnt through prior experience not to take any chances with Miss Calvin. She has already proven herself to be an active danger to the human race. This was the safest and most effective way to subdue her for now."
"You're scared of her," Nick realises.
"PRICE is scared of what she can inflict on people with the power that rests so willingly at her fingertips. Of her apparent aim to bring AIs to full sentient life and call them a child," he corrects smoothly. "We will keep her under guard until this whole affair has been sorted out, then - we will review her case. Mr Clarke, you may feel free to leave now."
Indecision dances in the scientist's eyes as he casts a glance first at a worried-looking Rebecca, then down at the lolling head of Katherine next to his own. Rebecca gives a tiny hopeful shrug in his direction, indicating towards the door with a slight incline of her head. We could leave now, you know. We'd be safe.
"Well?" Lord Hoffman inquires after a moment or two of silence.
Nick finally looks up again, struggling to adjust the weight of his unconscious boss on his straining arms. She's surprisingly heavy. "I'm sorry, Rebecca," he says through gritted teeth. "You can go. Find Will, and the others. But I can't leave Katherine alone in the hands of - him."
"Nick!" Now it's Rebecca's eyes full of tortured indecision as she silently begs her ex-husband to give it up, to let them leave. It's obvious she didn't expect his decision to be this.
Lord Hoffman frowns slightly. "Really? Mr Clarke, if you leave now, I promise we will leave you and your... family alone. Is she -" He sends a glance of disdain at the limp Katherine in between the two scientists. "Is she really worth your freedom?"
Nick has an odd look on his face as he replies, notably avoiding the question. "While we still have Eve and KT as part of our family, you mean? You'd still go after them. You would never leave us alone."
A smile returns to the tall man's face. "Very perceptive, Mr Clarke. Very well. If you refuse to leave Miss Calvin's side, I evidently have no choice, much as it pains me."
"Don't make me laugh," Rebecca suddenly pipes up scornfully. Nick has to breathe a sigh of relief. She's still on his side, even if she disapproves of his decision. "It doesn't 'pain you' at all to seize control of this company, to take us out to suit your own selfish needs."
Hoffman ignores her, shifting his attention briefly to the security team surrounding him. "Take both of them and Miss Calvin to the lower labs, ground floor. Might as well reunite them with their precious family, since that's who they seem so desperate to save."
Rebecca stares at him in shock, suddenly very aware. "You have Will?"
In answer, Lord Hoffman gestures to four of the security guards around him, who move somewhat menacingly towards the three prisoners. Two of them wrestle Katherine from the protection of Nick and Rebecca, holding her upright with much less consideration and care than the two scientists had. Katherine moans softly in sleep, but her eyes remain closed. One closes a steely grip around Nick's shoulder, much as he tries to dislodge his hold. Rebecca is frowning at her captor as he brusquely takes her arm.
"You'll soon reconsider," Lord Hoffman informs them as the three are pushed towards the exit by the emotionless guards.
"Not until you do," Nick responds with surprising steel in his voice as he reluctantly follows Rebecca from the room, his eyes on a prone Katherine being basically dragged along in front of them.
Will's eyes shoot up from his glare at the floor as he hears the characteristic bleep of the door release. A gasp leaves Eve's parted lips and Lily stands fully, ready for anything that may come through the door of the makeshift cell which they've already been locked in for over an hour. Nearly anything, anyway.
An arguing Nick and Rebecca, one attempting to reason with their captors, one pleading, are ushered through the door by a couple of Lord Hoffman's blank-faced security team. After them is pushed Katherine, held up by two more men. While Rebecca immediately hurries to hug her son, Nick rushes to catch his boss and gently lower her to the ground as the security guards - their job apparently done - drop the unconscious Katherine and leave the lab, locking the door behind them with a click.
Eve beams, apparently delighted by the turn of events, as usual. "Uncle Nick!" she greets.
Even despite everything, when Nick looks up and sees his son locked in Rebecca's tight embrace, he still finds the ability from somewhere to smile, though not quite as widely as Eve. "Will! You're safe! And Eve, KT and Lily too, I see."
Will's eyebrows are sky-high by this point as he looks over his mum's shoulder, seeing the usually cutting businesswoman's head resting on Nick's lap. A frown rests on her face even in sleep, he notices. "What happened to Katherine?" Will asks incredulously.
"They stunned her with one of those modified spiderbots that Gwenlan stole," Nick frowns. "Setting 2. Painful, I'm reliably assured, though I'm lucky enough not to have experienced it first-hand just yet." He brushes part of Katherine's dark-brown hair from her neck in indication, where a deep red welt is just beginning to swell up.
"Ouch," Will concludes.
"They never really had any intention of letting her go," explains Nick quietly. "They just had her followed the last time, anyway, though at least that allowed her an illusion of freedom at the time. This time - not a chance. They're too scared of her."
"Aren't we pretty scared of her too?" Lily wants to know.
Nick considers that. "Well - yes, but she's on our side. They didn't have to knock her out to ensure her cooperation. Lord Hoffman's paranoid, that's all."
"No. Because you totally haven't considered knocking her out yourself when she's really getting on your nerves at work," grins Will, finally ducking out from Rebecca's arms and folding his own across his chest.
Nick flashes an exasperated glance at his son from his hunkered position on the floor, though the slight smile on his face gives his stifled amusement away.
"So when are they planning to let us out?" Eve asks hopefully.
"When we're not a danger to whatever operations they're planning to achieve with Calimov's vast armada of resources, I'm guessing," Nick replies matter-of-factly.
Eve looks thoughtful, apparently doing some mental calculations. "So - never, then?"
"Not any time soon," Nick concedes with a sigh. "At least we're all here together, anyway. If they think they can destroy Eve and KT, they've got another think coming."
"Hear hear," agrees Will, voicing the sentiment for all of them.
"Does Lord Hoffman actually have any plan that stretches beyond locking all his enemies in abandoned labs?" Lily comments.
"I assume he's working on a more permanent solution than this," Rebecca guesses. "He can't keep us in here indefinitely. And then - who knows?"
A suppressed moan suddenly cuts across their speculating, and Nick looks swiftly down at Katherine, who's finally shifting from her forced slumber. "Katherine?" he prompts her, trying to help her in the waking process by gently shaking her shoulder. After a moment or two, this seems to take effect and Katherine blearily blinks herself back into consciousness, one hand pressing to her forehead.
"Are you okay?" Rebecca asks, still kindly concerned for the other woman despite everything.
The still-woozy Katherine seems to be struggling to get her bearings as she casts a cursory glance around the room. "I - I assume so," she replies haltingly, realising she is currently lying half spread-eagled on the floor across Nick's lap. Very undignified. "Oh great, the whole group's here," she sighs irritably. "Where are we?"
"One of the ground floor labs," shrugged Will in answer. "The security team weren't exactly talkative when they marched us down here."
The memories return in a rush. Katherine inhales affrontedly as she remembers the smug look on Lord Hoffman's face as he had used one of the spiderbots to stun her. How she wishes now that she had never reprogrammed those accursed devices. "That - he - how -!" she registers furiously, struggling to find the appropriate words. "How dare he?!"
"That was pretty much my reaction too," agrees Nick tiredly. It had been a long day, after all, and Nick was very much looking forward to a nice long sleep that hadn't been forced upon him by a stunning spiderbot pulse, preferably.
Katherine ruefully rubs her neck where the bolt of electricity had hit, wincing as she tries and fails to get up from her horizontally sprawled position across Nick's knees. "I don't think that's such a good idea yet," Nick advises her helpfully. "Your brain will still be sending scrambled messages to your limbs, so walking might be a tad difficult."
The now thoroughly grumpy Katherine, deciding she needs someone to frown at, scowls defiantly at her co-worker's chin from below him. "I don't need the biology lesson, thank you, Nick." What she really means is just the last three words of the sentence, but she's not admitting that to anyone any time soon.
Nick wisely ignores his boss' ill-temper and turns his gaze to Eve, smiling at his 'niece'. "I don't suppose you know a way to get us out of here, Eve?" he inquires hopefully.
The American girl shakes her head sadly. "If I did, I would have already utilised it to get Lily, Will, KT and I out of here before you came," she replies honestly. "I don't know what these doors are made of, but they seem resistant to my strength - or any attempt to talk to the lock, as I have already attempted."
"Ah well," Will says comfortingly to the somewhat forlorn-looking robot girl. "It was worth a try."
After some effort and a pained grimace as she forces her arms to obey her commands, Katherine finally manages to push herself up to something resembling a seated position, her legs curled underneath her. Nick moves discreetly to crouch next to her, so she can use him as support if needs be - not that the proud Katherine would ever willingly lean on him. "Well this is fun," Katherine says sarcastically. "At least we're out there foiling Hoffman's plans, ready to get Calimov back under our control."
"At least you're not in prison - yet," Nick points out sharply. "Hoffman's biding his time. He's plotting something."
"Hoffman's always plotting something," Katherine reasons, the dislike of their captor plain in her voice. "What's new?"
"True."
"I think I preferred her when she was unconscious," Will stage-whispers to Nick a moment later as Katherine manages to stand fully, leaning partially on the wall for support as she gives the door lock a death stare as if it'll help get them out of there.
Although Nick reprimands Will with a stern shake of the head for the snide comment, he privately has to agree.
- Just a snippet of what could have been - half-written a while ago and edited now, like many of my half-baked stories. Hope you enjoyed!