The helicopter was now only crawling through the sky, descending towards an unknown island. Q had his eyes closed against the pain and he gasped as it jolted on landing. He heard the engine fade away and die, and there was movement around him as his captors prepared to leave. He tried to stay as still as possible, not even letting his chest rise and fall with his tiny breaths.

"Where are we putting him?" A voice rang out through the cabin.

"You are putting him in the main building, LG114. I am going to go get some food. It must have been at least 6 hours since I last ate." That was the man Q had come to think of as the first man, the first one he saw, at the apartment, and the one who always started the pain.

"Hey, wait up, I haven't eaten since then, either!"

"Tough luck then, isn't it?"

The other man grumbled and moved to the other side of the small space they were in.

"At least bring some back, won't you? Anything, even a-"

But he was cut off, as the sound of another helicopter engine came from overhead. In a second blinding light filled the cabin, and Q opened his eyes, squinting against it, but needing to see. The next words echoed from a loudspeaker.

"Helicopter on the ground, you are surrounded by three helicopters overhead, and a team of people on foot who you really don't want to cross. Come out slowly, with your hands up. We know your cargo, leave him on board."

For one second, Q completely forgot the pain, and smiled.

Four of the remaining agents surrounded the helicopter, the other five were moving through the main building on the island. Bond was at the front of the four, gun aimed squarely at the door of the helicopter, waiting for some kind of movement from the inside. Then, slowly, the door opened and two men stepped out. The first was another face Bond had never seen before, and was obviously the pilot. He was wearing an aviation headset, and walked stiffly, like he'd been sitting down for hours. The second man was the second man from the house, and the videos. Bond's jaw gritted as he saw him in the flesh. The two men jumped cautiously onto the tarmac, with their hands in the air. As soon as their feet touched the ground two agents on either side of him, Finch and 009, handcuffed them, and led them out of the way of the landed helicopter.

"R," Bond said into his earpiece. "There's still the first man in their helicopter, with Q. He's not coming out."

"On it," R said. A few seconds later the loudspeaker came on again.

"We know that there is still one other person in the helicopter. Come out now, with your hands up, or we're coming in."

There was no change.

"Go for it, 007. But please remember that we'd like him alive."

"Conscious?" Bond asked.

"That's completely up to you," R said, her calm demeanour slipping.

Bond motioned to 003 that they were going in, and 003 walked to the side of the helicopter and bent his knees, cupping his hands together. Bond walked up to him and placed his foot in 003's hands, and was boosted into the cabin. His gun was already in his hand, and he took in the scene quickly.

The man, the first man, was standing at the back of the cabin, looking directly at Bond. He was holding a gun, but it wasn't pointed at him, it was nestled in the bloody mess of Q's hair, who was slumped on the ground at the man's feet. Bond's vision flickered red for a moment before his training overrode his emotions.

"Ah, Mr Bond," the man said, trying to look casual. "We meet at last. I must admit, I had begun to think you weren't going to make it in time."

"Put the gun down, Mr…" Bond trailed off. Q didn't move, even at the sound of his voice. Was he even awake?

"Mr Stuart, you can call me."

"That's not your real name," Bond countered.

"Oh, you're good," Mr Stuart's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"Put the gun down." This time it was an order.

"See, I don't think I will. I want to make a deal."

Bond wanted to roll his eyes. Why do they always want to make a deal?

"What makes you think that you have any power in this situation? You're completely surrounded. We already know quite a bit about the organisation, you can thank John and Tyler for that. Although, those aren't their real names, either. We have people moving through this building's personnel files as I speak, and soon we're going to have enough information to bring your whole group down. So put the gun away."

The man just laughed, the same laugh he did at the apartment, when Q didn't know that his gun was empty. It was the laugh of a man with nothing to lose.

"I think you underestimate me, Mr Bond. You want to see my power?" He pushed the barrel into Q's head, and Q let out a small groan. Bond's heart was in his throat, what was this insane person doing? He wouldn't shoot Q… Not now, not after all this… The barrel was pushed again, forcing Q to move his head, so was almost parallel to the ground, and his eyes were still closed. Bond couldn't stand it.

"What do you want?"

"See, now I have your full attention. I have all the information you need to get into the database, including the whereabouts of the boss. I want you to let me go, and I'll destroy the firewall. It's all yours. But you don't follow me, you don't keep tabs on me, and you don't kill me."

As the man was speaking, Q's eyes flickered open. Bond knew he could barely see without his glasses, but he saw where Bond was standing. At Stuart's words, Q slowly shook his head. Bond couldn't take his eyes away from Stuart, but in his peripheral vision he saw Q silently mouth the words "I can do it." Bond got the message. They didn't need Stuart, not to get the rest of them.

"You're not asking for protection?" Bond said, biding his time. He knew 003 was hanging off the door of the helicopter, out of Stuart's view, ready to leap in if needed. The only thing he had to do was to get the gun away from Q, and that wasn't going to happen by talking.

"No. You would sell me out in seconds, I'm not stupid."

"Oh, you're not?" Bond said. "See, you've made one very, very big mistake in the past fortnight. A huge mistake, and one which is going to cause you quite a bit of trouble later on. You've ah… how do I say this nicely… Pissed off the wrong people."

Q allowed himself a small smile again, but it was exactly the wrong thing to do. Stuart saw him move, and he knew that the game was up. If Bond knew Q was conscious, Q had probably already told him that he could get past the firewall himself, they didn't need him. Stuart thought fast. He was going to die. What could he do in the seconds he had left?

He pulled the trigger...