Max twisted and turned until her wrists bleed and her arms ached. She had been struggling for hours to free her hands and it seemed that all her work had finally paid off. She had managed to get one hand free and was now working on the other one. A thick belt of rope had been secured tightly around her waist forcing her to stand in an upright position, another had been secured around her knees, another around her ankles and yet another (had up until now) held her bloody wrists together at her back. Her mouth was filled with the taste of grease from the dirty rag that muffled her cries and hid her obscenities. Right now she hated Ames White…This was all his doing no doubt, 'what does a girl have to do to get a break'? She wondered as she gave up her struggle with her constraints and let her head fall back and bang softly against the cold concrete pillar that she had been tied to.

He hadn't even had the decency to tie her up himself; instead he had enlisted the help of the B-group, thus of course being his trusty sidekick and partner in crime Otto. If only he was here right now and she was free, she'd sure give him a piece of her mind.

Just then a door at the back of the Warehouse (which was her prison) opened and as though her prayers had been answered in walked the man himself…. Agent Ames White.

He smiled coyly as he approached her and shook his head from side to side.

"Well if it isn't the 'Oh so elusive 452'"

His eyes shifted from her face to her restraints.

"Comfy"? He said mockingly

"Mmmmphhhh mmmmppphhh" Max managed through the rag as she managed to free the other hand…

"Ah what was that sorry 452…?" he asked jokingly as he tilted his head and raised his hand to his ear motioning her to speak up or repeat, two things he knew she could not possibly do.

"Mmmmmphh mmmmpphhhh mmmmmmmmmppphhhhh" Max screamed again.

White took a step closer and for the first time in all the time she had known and fought White Max felt afraid. Part of this fear was due largely to the fact that she was tied up, helpless…. as she thought of her present situation over in her head the word 'vulnerable' came to her mind.

"You know 452…" White began

"I like you a whole lot better when you can't talk…it's actually a pity that I have to kill you right now…" His eyes once again wondered but this time to her neck…. across her throat…down to her breasts….

This was enough…Max had had it, she wasn't going to waste any more time hanging around in some dingy downtown Warehouse for White to taunt…However, once again reviewing her situation the words 'drool over' had come to mind to replace 'taunt', had he really just been staring at her breasts just then? The mere though of it made her sick. She ripped her hands out of the ropes and swung them around to the front and before White had the chance to stop her she nailed him square in the jaw.

The force of her blow had caused White's jaw to dislocate….

"Bitch" he screamed as he tried to click it back into socket. By this time Max had already freed both her knees and her waist and was now working on her ankles.

Once they were done she ripped the dirty rag outta her mouth and spat a mixture of blood and spit onto the ground.

"Damn" she said to White as he rose himself from the floor, jaw once again fully intact.

"Should've saved that for your face"

She hurled herself at White, she moved like a blur, she had the speed and the will this would be the end for sure….

He ran at her and she hurled him into the pillar, his face made contact with the concrete hard but that didn't stop him, after all…. pain is only a phantom of the mind…

White turned and wiped the blood from his mouth onto his sleeve…

"This is it Ames…I'm through running…this ends tonight…. and dead or alive I'm leaving this Warehouse free"

"You know 452…" he said

"I'm glad you got rid of those restraints"

"Oh yeah"? Max said curiously

"And why is that"?

"It would have been a shame to kill a soldier without granting them that one last fight…that one last fight I will now give you… before I give you that proper soldier's death"

He launched himself high into the air and came towards her with the force of a full blown tornado but Max was far too skilled and determined to let him win so easily, with the speed of a bullet she reached up and grabbed his legs twisting them cruelly and sending him head first into the ground. She was on him in a flash punching him hard in the face but he bettered this by grabbing her hair and slamming her face hard into the floor. For a moment things seemed blurry as she raised her head and body so that she was crouching on all fours. White was quick to act on Max's moment of weakness and he kicked her hard in the stomach, she squirmed and fell onto the ground and rolled onto her back….

'This is it'

'This is how I die' Max thought as she fought to breath.

White stood over her and placed his foot hard against her chin forcing her to turn her neck sideways…she knew that with a bit of force he could snap her neck…. something he was bound to do any second now.

For ages she awaited it…awaited hearing the disks in her neck crack as her mind faded out of all existence, but for some reason it never came and as White lifted his shoe from her face, this was it she thought, this was her chance. As the sole of his shoe departed from her face she grabbed his foot and pulled him down. Using all her remaining strength she leaped on top of him and pinned him down hard.

Her breathing became shallow as she came face to face with White…. her enemy…her nemesis, oh how long she had waited for this moment to arrive…. but now…staring into his face…. into his deep…blue…what was she thinking? Was she insane? This was White…Agent Ames White assigned to hunt her down along with the rest of her kind and assassinated them…White was bad…he was evil…but were those muscles rippling under that shirt and tensing between her thighs? She suddenly realised how silent things had got…why wasn't he saying anything? Why wasn't he making any effort to get away? Why was his face now moving as if in slow motion towards her? Why were his lips now touching hers? … Max felt her eyelids close…

The kiss, although it was stolen, White could tell that it was enjoyed and it wasn't long before her tongue knocked through his lips and visited his. He couldn't believe what was happening…so many days he had thought of this and at nights dreamed of this. Dreamed of this moment, the moment that Max would abandon reason and throw all caution to the wind…. that moment had finally arrived and despite all his endless hours of wishing and sleepless nights of dreaming she far excelled his highest hopes and wildest fantasies, she was……….she was…

She was getting up and walking away…. no…she was running away….

'Should I go after her'? He thought to himself

'Tell her I'm sorry? That I shouldn't have kissed her? That it was wrong of me to take advantage of our situation the way I…. What the hell am I thinking? That was 452…. I'm supposed to kill her…not kiss her…'

Whites chain of thought was broken by the ringing of his cell phone, reaching down into his pants pocket he retrieved his phone and flipped back the cover

"White here" he said into the mouthpiece.

"Fenos tol brother" came the voice at the other end.

"Fenos tol" he replied in answer.

"How are things going with the recapture of X5452?" asked the voice

Just the mention of her caused images to flood Whites brain and tickles his senses…. he remembered everything…the touch of her hands…. the smell of her hair…the taste of her lips….

"Things are under control" he lied

 "Though at this time there's nothing new to report"

"Very well, I will call again" the stranger replied

The phone rang out dial tone; White replaced the cover and put the phone back in his pocket.