Penny

My eyes flicker open, and I slowly adjust to the brightness of the room, glancing down at my chains to see if I've made any more progress. By my calculations, by grinding the mechanism within the cuffs each day, it should gradually wear away, meaning they'll eventually break. It should only take 245 more days to make the pin holding the cuffs together, into a thin enough bar to snap in half. So each night, after saving all my strength, I use as much force as I can to pull on the mechanism. So far, they don't seem any looser. But science can't be wrong, I just have to keep tr-

Wait.

Looking at the floor, I see the chain, pooled around my feet in a loose string of links. Experimentally, I take a step forward, and find no restriction. I'm free. Which means Talon is planning something. If he hadn't taken my vitual cuff, I could call Brain, but judging by my bare arms, and the damaged state I saw it in before he took it away, I highly doubt it'll be working again any time soon anyway.

After stretching for a moment, I begin to scour the lair, trying to find Talon. But five chambers later, he's still nowhere to be found. Feeling a little disappointed, I return to my room, only to find him sprawled on my bed, with nothing but a pillow to cover his modesty, watching me.

"W-Wha?" The indignant speech I had planned for endless hours, melts away as I stare at him in disbelief. The soft raven hair that's way too overgrown, almost to his shoulders now, yet still looks sleek and glossy. The unshaven stubble lining his jaw, adding to the heat of his smoulder, making him look rough, though in a sexy kind of way. The shape of his slender, tanned, smooth body, muscular and toned. My heart begins to pound. His deep brown eyes are gentle as they meet mine, but intense. So intense. I can almost feel him reading my innermost thoughts, and I know the blush in my cheeks is growing. As he speaks, his voice is warm and seductive. "Good morning, Pretty Penny."

"T-Talon..." The tenacity that fuelled my hatred until now, has taken a step back, leaving me to stammer and blush, frozen to the spot. I know he killed Uncle Gadget, but I saw it for myself, and the ice shard was going to fall on me, he only redirected it to save my life. I shouldn't hold that against him, even if he does keep reminding me of it. However, he could have chosen any day to try and change my mind. Why now? Why like this? I fantasised about this day for years when I was younger, but everything has changed. We can finally be together, and the passion is gone.

Yet one look at MAD boy dispells any doubts, I'm still undeniably attracted to him. I want nothing more than to stroke his face, look into those soft brown eyes, and nestle into the warmth of his body. We're both adults now. The last three years, we've been at each other's throats for one reason or another. Even in hate, we're passionate, strong, it's a feeling that sometimes overwhelms me, and I fight it. I push it back because if I accept it, I may become weak, and a good agent must always be ready for anything.

...Even a naked man on her duvet with nothing more than a conveniently placed pillow.

We stare at each other in silence for a moment, and I know he's waiting for my reaction. I could snap at him, I could throw him out of my room, I could refuse to speak to him for weeks. Pulling a stunt like this is a big risk on his side, he already knows I'm dangerous when riled. However, his gesture isn't an arrogant one, his intentions seem pure, despite the way he's displaying them. Talon and I have been on tenterhooks around each other for too long. If this is the choice that labels us lovers or enemies, then I need to judge it based on more than just his looks.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes, and think back to all the times I've felt a spark with him.

'Hey pretty girl, my name's Talon. What's yours?' Aah, the way his eyes sparkled as we saw each other for the first time...

'Hey Penny, how's it going?' The charming smile that came with those words...

'If this is the end, there's something I need to tell you...' Those unspoken words when we'd been trapped in the MAD lair last time, and it was about to self-destruct...

Those are just a few of our many encounters, and some situations didn't even need words. There was the time he stopped MADthew from throwing me off a building to my death, the time he risked his own life to try and stop me falling from a plimp, the time he tried to ask me out disguised as Nigel, the time he held my hand to 'keep me warm' when we were looking for the Yeti. Even Valentine's Day, my most hated day of the year, was wonderful because Talon was with me.

Slowly coming back to reality, I lock eyes with him again, and return his smile with a tender one. Unspeaking, he extends a hand to me, inviting me to join him on the bed. I reach out, softly placing my hand in his, feeling time moving in slow motion.

Then his grip tightens...