For the record, I changed the mechanical locks in the story to digital and computer pass codes for this. It's fanfiction. ;)

oOo

She left a trail of blood from where the glass was on the floor, to the elevator- where she managed to pick some of the glass out of her foot- all the way down to the floor where the safe was. The glass was in her right foot, calf, thigh and hip, and some was in her right arm and shoulder as well. Karl helped her limp into the elevator but got off on the floor where the hostages were. For the briefest of moments she saw Holly still sitting in the atrium. When her boss saw her bleeding in the elevator she covered her mouth, eyes wide. She and several others gasping in shock could be heard from across the room before the doors closed behind Karl. Hans said nothing until they arrived where Theo was still at his computer. When the doors opened Hans pushed her forward, meaning only to usher her out of the elevator, but she didn't catch herself. She couldn't even if she wanted to. Her right leg had completely given out on her now, shaking uncontrollably from the pain and unable to bear her weight. She collapsed on the floor with a soft whimper and Hans still said nothing. He didn't yell, sneer or snarl. Even when he had to carry her from the elevator- his grip tighter than necessary- he was silent. He wasn't a very brawny man but he didn't seem to be struggling with her weight.

"Who's this- oh!" Theo started to ask as he looked up from his work. It took him a moment to fully recognize Charlie. She looked so much worse since the last time he saw her.

"Move." Hans finally spoke, but only to Theo, who immediately jumped up from his seat.

"What's going on?" He asked as Hans placed her in the seat at the computer. She could see her own blood glistening on the fabric of his nice suit.

"She says she can open the safe." Hans explained as he stood up straight, crossed his arms across his chest, and then fixed his glare on her. "Even the electromagnetic lock."

Theo's look of astonishment would have been more amusing if she hadn't been in so much pain. "How?" he asked her after a second.

"I-I.. designed the software that operates it." She replied in a strained voice, tears were still falling down her face. "Along with… two of the others."

"So do it." Hans said sternly. Immediately she put her fingers to the keyboard, picking up where Theo had left off. He wasn't too far away. They watched her for a moment while she worked, grinding her teeth against the pain. Her hands were trembling slightly from both pain and fear. She kept having to go back and correct mistakes, and she was quickly starting to leave bloody fingerprints on the keys as she typed.

From the radio, John's voice crackled. "…-ear me? What are you doing…? Hans?" Everyone stopped to stare at the device, Charlie even halted her typing. "Hans, you motherfucker! Answer me!"

Hans immediately brought the device to his face and said "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"What did you do to her, Hans?"

Realization dawned on his features for a second, and after another he said. "None of your business, McClane."

"Is she alive?" John demanded angrily.

"For the moment." Hans replied with a hint of a smirk, enjoying John's distress.

"Charlotte! Can you hear me?" John asked. "If you can hear me, don't panic! You're going to be okay, I promise!"

"You can't promise anything of the sort." Hans sneered. "You are no longer in a position to do anything."

"If you do anything to that girl, Hans, I swear I'll fucking kill you! Do you hear me?" John snapped back.

"Does she mean something to you, Cowboy?" Hans asked, his tone turning playful and sinister. He glanced over to Charlie. "A friend? A lover perhaps?"

"Fuck you, Hans! I just met her tonight- I don't even know her!" John insisted.

"Oh? Then you shouldn't mind if I throw her on the floor here, and have my way with her. We can all take turns holding her down, although she doesn't seem to have much fight left in her..."

Charlie swallowed nervously, wishing he would be the first to break eye contact with her because she just couldn't do it this time. She felt her face getting warm. He wouldn't…

"You twisted fuck!" John snarled through the speaker. "She's just a kid!"

"Not for long she isn't, I'm going to make a woman of her. Not much else to do around here while we wait for our helicopter." Hans snarked back, with a satisfied grin and then he switched off the device before John could reply. He was still staring at her. The tension was thick in the air around them.

"…Hans?" Theo asked quietly.

"Don't you have work you should be doing?" Hans asked her. She swallowed again, and turned back to the computer, picking up again where she'd left off.

"So what am I supposed to do now?" Theo asked.

After a second Hans said, "Start pulling the glass out of her."

"I'm not a doctor, Hans." Theo murmured back.

"Then don't, I don't care." Hans snapped back and started to leave. "Call me when she gets to the electromagnetic lock."

"Okay fine. See if you can't find some kind of antiseptic." Theo sighed. "And an anesthetic? Maybe get her a drink."

"No." Hans called over his shoulder, a slight smirk on his face. "I don't want to hinder her work."

Theo's eyes caught hers at this comment and he looked apologetic. "And, Theo?" Hans called. They both looked to find him facing them again, standing in the doorway. "If she stops, or for any reason you think she's just wasting our time… kill her." He left. They both quietly got to work.

"Don't mind him." Theo spoke after a few minutes had passed. He was sitting at her feet while she worked, carefully pulling the glass shards out of her leg and placing them in a small bloody pile on the floor. Some he wouldn't take out because of how much she squirmed when he touched them or because they were very large pieces that began to release a lot of blood when he messed with them. She was lucky not to have gotten any of it in her hand, forearm or elbow joint, otherwise her fingers might not have worked.

"You did warn me not to piss him off." She replied quietly, and the silence between them returned for a while.

"What happened… when you left?" Theo finally asked. "What did… did he do this to you?"

She told him everything that had happened after she and Hans left him here earlier. About him not letting her join the other hostages, about John "Roy Rogers" McClane running around messing things up for them. She told him how she escaped, found McClane, and how Hans had impersonated an employee by using a convincing American accent.

"…then he tackled me, put the gun in my face and… I just panicked." She said with a wince as another shard was pulled from her ankle.

"You knew the passwords to the vault the whole time?" Theo asked, a mischievous grin on his face. She hissed as he pulled another shard out of her calf.

"I never said that." She replied.

"Then how do you plan to get past the electromag-"

"Okay, that one I have the code for… kind of. I wrote the algorithm that changes the code everyday so I can get around it." She took a deep breath and sighed. "The rest… well, I helped design some of the locks, so I know how they work." Theo laughed slightly at this, and they fell back into a more comfortable silence. "Theo…" she asked timidly.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"You don't… it's just that, you don't seem…"

"I don't seem like the rest of them?" He finished. "What am I doing here?"

She nodded carefully.

"It's a paycheck." He explained as if it were that simple. "I'm good with computers, this job required someone with my skill set…" He shook his head and then laughed a bit louder than before. "And yet here you are doing my job for me!"

She couldn't help but laugh a bit with him. He had an infectious laugh. "You probably loosened it up for me." She joked, and they shared another giggle at that too. Then she caught him off guard.

"He's going to kill me anyway… isn't he?" She asked, still smiling from their laugh but deadly serious.

It took a second for Theo to recover from the sudden change in the conversation. "Huh. Way to blindside me with that." He said with a small smile.

"But I'm right, aren't I? As soon as I'm finished here…"

"I honestly don't know." He replied truthfully. He'd stopped picking at the glass- much was still left- but he'd gotten a lot of it out. Ribbons of blood streamed down her leg from the open wounds. She'd managed to stop crying too, the pain was easier to deal with now that she wasn't moving as much but it continued to burn and throb. "From what you've told me, I'm surprised you're even still alive."

This didn't reassure her. "Did you guys plan to kill a lot of people tonight?"

He didn't answer, and she decided his silence wasn't any more reassuring. He could see her beginning to panic.

"Look, all I'm going to say is this: Hans isn't the kind of guy to put up with shit unless he has a reason. So either you're the luckiest lady in the world right now, or he really likes you. 'Cause anyone else would have been dead in the conference room with Takagi."

A loud deafening CLANG erupted from the vault on the other side of the room, making them both jump. She'd reached the electromagnetic lock.

"You'd better call Hans." She said quietly, though she wouldn't meet his gaze.

oOo

Hans and a young man with black hair named Kristoff, arrived, bringing up a bottle of vodka from the bar. Hans set it on the desk in front of her, along with a few of the fine cloth napkins from the party, and said "Now, open the vault." It only took a few seconds to enter the new code that she had set up while talking to Theo, the vault gave a buzzing noise and the door slowly swung open.

All of them- even Charlie who had never actually seen the inside of the safe before- stared in awe at the contents. It looked like something out of the Smithsonian, ancient looking statues, pottery and paintings.

"Whoa." She breathed.

"Merry Christmas!" Theo exclaimed excitedly.

Charlie watched as they took a moment to rummage through the contents. It would have been another perfect opportunity to escape if she could still walk. Theo started laughing as he flipped through what looked like stacks of papers, and she realized they were the bearer bonds. These guys were about to steal a lot of money.

"Alright," Said Hans. "Start bagging these up, and you two get them down to the ambulance."

Ambulance?

"I'll tell Karl, Eddie, and Uli to move the hostages to the roof, then alert the FBI." Hans continued, a smile playing at his face. "We will continue with the rest of the plan, but luckily…" Now he turned back to Charlie, any anger he was feeling earlier was now forgotten. His smile widened. "We are ahead of schedule."

She watched with a slight interest as they loaded the bonds into their duffel bags, and started taking them down the elevator, having to make several trips. Hans started giving instructions through his radio to whoever was still alive to follow them. He had told someone named 'Uli' to move the hostages to the roof, and then angrily told the FBI that he was still waiting for his helicopter. The FBI assured him it was en route.

"You know, you could give us a hand with these." Theo told him as he and Kristoff loaded the elevator, making their third trip.

"I will be with you momentarily." Hans replied and the other two left in the elevator again, leaving her alone with him.

When he returned to where she still sat at the desk, she was picking at some of the remaining glass in her leg, her mind swimming from blood loss. She was startled by the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor and looked up to see him dragging it toward her. He said nothing at first, as he sat down next to her, grabbed the bottle of vodka in one hand, and a napkin in the other. He pulled the cork stopper out with his teeth and wet the napkin.

Seeing where he was going with this, she grabbed the bottle from his hand when he went to set it back on the table and took three very long- burning- gulps from it. Coughing slightly, she nodded. Eyes watering. "O-Okay." She managed to say around her coughing.

He smirked again at this, and even looked a little impressed. "Okay." He repeated back, and started wiping the blood away from around the remaining glass.

She hissed in pain, gripping the seat of the chair tightly as the alcohol seemed to singe her already raw skin. She tried to fight back fresh tears, even as her breath came in shallow gasps, but a few slipped past and down her cheeks. Slowly the alcohol worked through her system, slightly numbing the pain, or rather, taking her focus off of it.

"Breathe." He said softly. "Deep breath, Charlie."

She did as he asked and watched as he re-wet the cloth, and continued to carefully clean the gashes on her leg. It didn't hurt as bad now, but still enough that she stole the bottle again and took another swig.

"You should be more careful with that." Hans said without looking up from her thigh where he was easing a large shard out from her skin. "If we hit another snag down the road, you'll need to keep your wits about you."

Down the road? She thought, not fully understanding. Then she realized, "You're taking me with you." It wasn't a question. "I thought…?"

He was moving his hands up to her hip- under her dress!- to wash the cuts there, but her breath still hitched and she blushed heavily at his touch. Seeing this, he smirked up at her. "You thought what?" he murmured, finally meeting her eyes as he pushed the hem of the dress up her thighs, revealing more of the larger pieces of glass that Theo had missed.

"…I thought… you were going to kill me." She managed to say without sounding too nervous, though now her heart was pounding in her chest. Slick bastard! …Charming asshole!

"I still might." He replied, but she could tell somehow that he was lying. He wouldn't be bothering with cleaning her wounds if he planned on killing her. Something had changed since opening the vault. Their dynamic was different.

"You're going to kill the rest of the hostages though." She noted. "That's what the explosives are for… aren't they?"

His eyebrows raised slightly. "Did Theo tell you this?"

"No," She shook her head, which was starting to spin. The effects of the vodka already lifting her inhibitions. "I figger'd it out m-myself… you plan to blow the roof when th' chopper shows up."

"…Clever girl." He said, his eyes glancing over her again as if reassessing what he saw before him. Then resumed the careful work of picking glass out of her hip. Like Theo, he also left the largest shards in her thigh and calf where they were. After wiping the wet cloth over the swell of her hip one last time, he set it on the desk and grabbed the bottle, taking a swig himself.

"Aren't you worried 'bout running into trouble down the road?" She asked.

"Not if you cooperate, and play along." He said.

Before she could ask him to elaborate, the familiar DING down the hall announced an arrival and since they were expecting Theo and Kristoff's return, Hans was quick to pull her dress back down her legs. The person who entered the vault room instead caught them both by surprise and in just a few short seconds several things happened at once. Hans glanced over his shoulder and then immediately snatched his gun up, spun around and crouched behind Charlie, his gun against the back of her head as a warning to John McClane.

John entered the room, using a machine gun to lead the way, limping badly. When he spotted Hans he let loose a few bullets which missed as Hans was quicker to react. He stopped shooting when his target jumped behind its hostage but kept the barrel pointed in their direction. He didn't immediately see the open vault.

Charlie was fortunate to not get hit with any of John's shots but now she found herself in a very tense situation with two guns pointed at her from either direction.

"You alright, Charlotte?" John asked immediately, he looked furious.

"No." She answered honestly, a tremor in her voice. Hans gripped her shoulder, maybe in a warning but she wasn't sure and didn't care anymore.

John's expression darkened and he glanced just over her shoulder where he could barely see Hans peeking out from behind her head. "Did he… did he hurt you?"

She glanced down to her legs and the floor where the blood was still collecting. "I mean…" she gestured vaguely to the blood and the glass. "I din' do this to m'self." She was slurring noticeably now.

"I mean did he…" John couldn't bring himself to ask.

Hans snorted and before Charlie could respond he taunted "He wants to know if the boys and I had our fun with you."

"Oh… right. That." She had honestly forgotten about that in the last few minutes. "Nah, tha' dinnit happen."

"What's wrong with her?" John asked. He then noticed the half empty bottle of vodka on the table and the bloody napkin next to it. He seemed to put two and two together but nonetheless still asked "What did you do to her?"

"Well no one here is a doctor, that we know of anyway, and since we didn't anticipate some little shit, American with a hero complex to fuck up our plans, we didn't bring a doctor either." Hans replied with an air of explaining the obvious to an idiot.

"Why do you care what happens to her? You killed Takagi and Ellis."

"She just happened to be more valuable than I realized, although now that value has expired, McClane, and if you don't drop your gun, I will kill her too."

John ignored the demand. "Valuable how?"

Hans chuckled a bit and Charlie felt his warm breath across the back of her neck. She glanced over at the open vault and then back to John. Taking the hint, John followed her gaze and finally saw the vault.

"That's what this is about? A robbery?"

"Put down the gun." Hans repeated more forcefully, and then he slipped his unarmed hand under her shoulder to wrap around her chest, yanked her into a standing position, and brought the gun around from the back of her head to point it at her temple instead, giving John a very clear view. "Now!"

John glared at him for a few more seconds before he let go of the machine gun, allowing it to hang loosely on his shoulder by the strap.

"Take it off. Throw it on the floor." Hans instructed, pulling Charlie with him as he took a few small steps away from John.

John did as he was told, the gun thudded heavily at his feet, and then he held his hands up. Slowly he laced his fingers together and rested his hands behind his head. Hans finally stood up straight behind her, bringing his head and shoulders into full view of John.

Oh my god, he's going to die now. Charlie thought with a sinking feeling. She thought of Holly and her kids. For a second she imagined a tombstone reading 'Beloved Father and Husband' and she felt sick.

"You got me." John sighed.

"Still the cowboy, Mr. McClane." Hans sneered. "Americans… all alike. Well, this time, John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly."

"That was Gary Cooper." John corrected. "Asshole."

"Enough jokes." Hans sighed, annoyed.

"You'd have made a pretty good cowboy yourself, Hans." John said with a slight smirk.

Hans snorted. "Oh yes. What was it you said to me before?" he asked, lifting the barrel of the gun away from Charlie's head. "Yippee-ki-yay… motherfucker." He leveled the gun at John using her shoulder to brace his arm. Here it comes. She thought nervously. I can't watch him kill another person!

John started laughing at that, making Hans pause. It started as a soft chuckle that within a few short seconds grew into full on laughter, John's head tilting back to laugh heartily at the ceiling. It seemed Hans could help himself and he began laughing too, letting his gun lift up a bit. Charlie glanced over her shoulder to look up at him and saw a bemused look on his face. He shook his head slightly, still chuckling, and began aiming his gun at John again… Charlie felt a sudden surge of adrenaline spike through her veins. What happened next caught all three of them by surprise again.

The lights went out on the entire floor, though there was still some visibility from the lights outside.

For a split second nobody moved, but then Charlie reached up and grabbed Hans by the arm that was resting on her shoulder. She pushed it up high with all of her strength just as she heard his gun go off. Hans fought to yank his arm out of her grasp and in the struggle his other arm loosened from her chest. Hans let out a frustrated grunt as he tried to pull his arm from her grasp and she felt her grip slipping.

She spun around and managed to reposition her grip to his elbow and hand and held them tightly, using all of her strength to push his aim away from John, hoping John was using the confusion to escape again. Instead she heard two more gunshots from far behind her and felt something punch her hard in the back of her shoulder and then rip out the other side of the front of her shoulder. A small cry escaped her lips and she slumped against Hans just as the lights flickered back on. Hans hissed in pain and surprise as he struggled to support her and regain control of his gun at the same time. Instead they both sank to the floor, Charlie going completely limp against him now. Hans looked up to John and they both shared concerned looks of shock.

"Ch-Charlotte?" John called nervously, his arms still outstretched where he was pointing his gun at them. "Oh god, Charlotte!"

Hans was first to recover, now free to use his arm unhindered again he threw his aim back at John and began to fire. John had been holding his handgun- Hans had no idea where he'd pulled it from, he didn't care either- but managed to duck out of the line of fire just in time. Instead of returning fire, he turned and ran through the hallway he'd come through. Hans continued to fire after him until John disappeared from his sight, and he growled angrily in frustration at losing yet another chance to eliminate his main problem. He looked down to the girl half in his lap and half on the floor. Her eyes were open and she was breathing shallowly but she seemed to just be in shock. He glanced over himself and found where he had also been shot- the bullet had gone through her and hit him- and he cursed angrily, waiting for the pain to set in and hoping it wouldn't be fatal. It had grazed his ribs underneath his arm but didn't seem to be terribly deep.

Charlie on the other hand had taken the full force of it directly through her shoulder. From where her dress was cut low in the back he could see that it had barely missed the outer edge of her scapula so hopefully it didn't damage her lungs or heart. He was struggling to decide if he should be mad about her ruining his chance to kill John, or worried about her being shot. To his great surprise he found that he was more worried than angry.

"Charlie?" He asked urgently, he placed his hand on her shoulder but stopped himself from shaking her to get her attention. "Charlie, look at me!"

He rolled her carefully off of his lap and onto the floor, facing her upright where he could see her better. He took the fact that she was still breathing, even shallowly, as a good sign that her lungs hadn't been compromised.

The elevator DING came again but he didn't care who it was this time. That is, until it was accompanied by shouting and gunshots and his head pivoted back to the hallway. It only lasted for a few seconds, and then silence. Finally Kristoff and Theo came running down the hallway, guns drawn and ready. They stopped when they saw Hans on his knees leaning over an unresponsive Charlie.

"What's going on?" Kristoff asked suddenly, his accent was french.

"We were on our way back up but the elevator stopped."

"That," Hans said as he stood up, trying to regain some of his composure. Trying not to look weak in front of his men. "Was the original plan. In the event of a terrorist attack, the FBI cut the power." He gave Theo a pointed look.

"Oh…" Theo said, obviously understanding something. "So the circuits we couldn't cut before-"

"Are cut automatically." Hans finished. "Grab the rest of the bags and let's head to the garage." He turned back to Charlie and, after a few seconds to debate his options, lifted her again, carrying her to the elevators. The bullet in his ribs finally making itself known as pain erupted under his arm.

"Did you get shot?" Theo asked, noticing the blood seeping from his side.

"I got grazed." Hans lied smoothly, deflecting the worry from himself. "She got shot."

"Oh shit! Do you want me to… carry…" Theo trailed off as Hans walked past him to the elevator.

"Just grab the rest of the bags. We need to move before he comes back." Hans snapped.

"You're going to hurt yourself." Charlie finally spoke, very softly. Her eyes were unfocused and staring off into space in front of her. Silent tears were leaving tracks down her cheeks.

"Are you having trouble breathing? Can you taste blood?" Hans asked her quietly but she only shook her head, still staring blankly into space. She may be in shock but at least she's coherent. He thought with a hint of relief.

"Why is it that are you bringing her?" Kristoff asked in broken English when they all caught up and entered the elevator. He didn't sound angry or snide, as she had expected. Only curious.

"We need a patient." Hans answered. "She fits the part."