Q walked out of MI6, his bag slung across his body. He immediantly saw the driver who was to drive him to the meeting place. He became nervous, silently praying everything would work according to plan.
"You must be my chauffuer," Q greeted the anonomous driver. The man only grunted in responce, and pulled out a blindfold. Q sighed and removed his glasses. "Well, let's get this bit over with."
The driver roughly tied the blind over Q's eyes, making sure he would not be able to see out. He then shoved Q into the passenger seat and closed the door behind him. The driver got in his own spot and started the car. They were soon driving to a location only the man driving knew. And Q feared for his life.
The drive took about 15 minutes. The entire time, the driver kept checking Q's blindfold to make sure he did not try to move it so he could see out. When they finally reached their destination, Q was pulled out from the car and dragged inside by two new people. They were not careful with him, instead walking at a brisk speed, causing him to fumble over his feet.
They reached a room and the blindfold was removed. Q blinked, and pulled his glasses out of his pocket. Putting them on, he saw that he was in an expansive underground cement room, much like a parking garage, only there were no cars. Instead, at the other end of the room, was Penelope handcuffed to a chair. Q's breathing stopped. The damage Pickerton had done to her was much worse in person- not to say that it was not bad on camera. He could see the blood, dried and crusting around her nose and on her arm. The bruises, new and old formed on her face, framing her eyes and covering her cheeks. Her lips were cut and her hair was stringy from sweat and blood and dirt. Her clothes were in shambles, ripped and bloody.
Q wanted to run to her, hug her, tell her she was going to he safe. Anything. He wanted to grab her and run. Take her somewhere safe. But he knew he could not do that. He had to keep himself composed. For both of their sakes.
"So you found my flashdrive," Pickerton walked into the room from a door behind Penelope. He looked at Q, a smug grin on his face. "I knew you would. You're to smart for your own good."
Q pulled the flashdrive out of his pocket. "So much trouble for a little piece of technology," he started. "What's on here anyways?"
"What? Are you telling me you, the all-mighty Quartermaster was not able to get into a basic flashdrive? Has the world stopped turning?"
"I have to admit, it was not a simple task," Q lied through his teeth with ease. "Penelope here is smarter than any of us ever imagined. Why M put her to work as a secretary instead of a coder I shall never know."
"No, you shan't. But this only dissapoints me," Eddie looked at Penelope, a look of faux saddness on his face. "I was hoping you could figure it out for me and I wouldn't have to waste any more precious time. Why would you make things difficult for me Penny dear?"
He stroked her cheek. Q fought the urge to rush over and beat his face in.
"Never the less, I still want it and you still want the girl, so let's trade, shall we?" Eddie looked back at Q. He pulled a small key intended for the handcuffs out of his pocket and unlocked the locks around Penelope's wrists. Once she was free, he yanked her to her feet. "Hand the drive to my man there," he pointed at one of them men who had dragged Q into the room. "And I'll give you the bitch."
Q reluctantly handed the flashdrive to the unnamed man. As soon as it was in his possession, Eddie threw Penelope foreward. She stumbled to the ground, but quickly got back to her feet and hobbled towards Q as fast as her injured body could allow her. Q met her halfway and they embraced in a hug. As soon as she was in his arms, Penelope started crying, much to her dismay. She was just so happy to be with someone trustworth again. Someone who would not hurt her. Q ran his hands through her matted hair, whispering to her that it was okay, that she was safe.
"Oh isn't that sweet?" They heard Eddie sneer. They pulled apart and looked at him. He held his flashdrive in his hand and a gun in the other, pointed at them. "You think you're going to get out of here alive? I bet you think that, don't you? Well, I have to admit, I sort of led you on, didn't I?"
"You have your flashdrive, now you have to let us go," Q argued.
"No I don't," Eddie shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't have to do anything. Now that I've got this, I can do anything I want. And I think I'll start by having you two killed off."
Penelope's hand tightened around Q's. She knew this would happen. Eddie was a sick man. He loved bloodshed. That was something she had learned first-hand over the last 15 hours. Q looked down at her, sensing her fear. Not sure what exactly was going to happen next, he wrapped his arms around her, Penelope tucking her face into his chest so she did not have to see the gun pointed at them. Q closed his eyes, waiting for the shot meant for them. But it never happened.
Instead, loud pinging noise zipped through the room, followed by the armed mens' cries of pain. Q looked up and saw all of of Eddie's men down on the ground dead. Pickerton looked at them, shocked. He waved his gun around, screaming, "Come out where I can see you!"
"If that's what you want," they heard Bond say as he stepped through a door.
"I should have known it was you," Eddie smiled at the agent.
"Not just me," Bond raised his eyebrows. Both sets of doors behind Eddie and Q were both opened, revealing a crowd of agents all weilding guns. They swarmed the room, surrounding Eddie. Realizing he had lost, he slowely put the gun down on the ground, and placed his hands behind his head.
"You really are a bloody idiot if you thought this stupid plan was going to work," Bond patronized Pickerton, his gun pointing at the head of the lunatic. Eddie only rolled his eyes, defeated.
"Looks like you've won this time Quartermaster," Eddie grinned at the young genius. "Oh, and dear Penny, don't worry about sending me love letters to my prison cell. I'll be out again soon, and I'll come find you. And I will destroy you."
Penelope tightened her arms around Q. Q took her out of the room, following Bond to the car that he had come in. The three of them got in, and the driver started the car, driving to MI6. None of them said a word, Penelope still holding onto Q from the shock. Feeling the need to comfort her, and show her that she truely was safe now, he gingerly rubbed her back with his hand, trying to be careful should she have any bruises there- which was inevitable after her beatings. Being reminded of them, he suddenly became very protective of her. He swore to himself that he would never let her be harmed again. As soon as they were back at MI6, Q was going to have Penelope hand over all the information she had and stow it away in his database, so should anyone try to get ahold of it, they would never know she was involved.