6

"Elle I have recognised that you displayed a great deal of power, but I can't let you go and do this mission. Someone else is already dealing with it, now in any case you have been benched you know it and I know it."

"Who's dealing with it? Daddy please, I don't want to be benched!" She said, desperately flailing her arms.

"However." Her dad said in a louder and more stern tone "However, I am willing to overlook this on some small, shall we say training missions." He said, in a patronising and cynical tone.

"Daddy don't patronise me!, I want to go after Adam, and Josephine" She said slyly.

"No way! Elle, you are not going after them."

"What if I take Haiti boy with me?" She said fluttering her eyes, her father merely turned his chair. "Pretty please?"

"No Elle." He said in one final word, without even turning to face her. "No"

"Fine then, because you know what I don't think you can stop me." she said turning on her heels. "Come on Haiti boy." She said gesturing to him, surprisingly he followed.

"What Elle! No Come back here don't you go with her!" He shouted at the pair, slowly the tall man in the dark clothing turned round to face Bob, who was sitting in his chair, looking frantic but authoritative. Though with every step this great man took this ebbed away. "You are not going with her, and she is not going" is about all Bob could muster in the face of fear. The man said nothing, he just reached his arm out to Bob's head, although now he was struggling desperately.

"I will take care of her, she'll be fine. She and I work for higher authorities now. You'll think nothing more of this I promise." He said in his deep, and chilling, but wise tone. Elle nodded at him, as he led her through the doors and out the building. After his encounter with Josephine, he'd been eager to locate her, face her once more. As he didn't take kindly to being so carelessly dealt with, and Elle's independence protests were his best hope of getting somewhere. He knew full well that, it is possible that Josie could be too much of a match for Elle, but it must be conceded Elle's power was unimaginable by most. Even she didn't truly know all she could do, but she was independent and determined. Since Peter had gone, the whole place had seemed more lonely, she wasn't about to let Adam slip through her fingers too. Especially when the truth is, it was him that she simply couldn't get out of her head at night, maybe it's only because her father had strictly forbidden her to speak with him. Though it never stopped her, but she knew it wasn't that, there was something about Adam Monroe, something unmistakable. Everyone noticed, he had an uncanny ability to make people trust him, he could talk so much, and not really mean anything but it convinced you. Elle just couldn't stand how, when she would look into Peter's eyes, he'd be looking back at her. Though when she'd stare into Adam's eyes, he wasn't really looking at her, he was looking at someone else, that wasn't her. It was that which drove her away, but you can't miss anything more, than when it's gone. She could remember every time she'd cried because of him, and every time she'd shouted, slamming the door as she left. No one had ever made her weak like Adam did, she could remember the worst time, it had been preserved perfectly in her memory, like a scarab beetle in amber.

She walked into the room, Adam was sitting on the chair. His right ankle was resting on his left knee, and the chair was on its back legs, his left hand was spread across the wall balancing him. She watched herself walk over to him slowly, he leant off of the wall onto all four legs, and looked up at her.

"I really wish you would stop looking at me like that." she heard her own voice echo through the room.

"I really wish you'd help me, oh no wait us." He paused looking back at the ground to the right of him "at least I though it was us" he muttered under his breath, before looking back up at her. "Get out of this place, Elle" She crossed her arms.

"I can't Adam, I told you already. My dad he'd find us, we can't leave." She said desperately pleading with him.

"I'm beginning to think you just don't want to. I'd protect you from him, remember I can't be hurt." Adam stood up as he spoke, stepping towards Elle forcing her back towards the door, he took her hand "I'd do anything for you, look we could leave right now." He said gesturing at the door.

"He has means." Elle could barely make out her own words, but she could remember what she'd said, immediately as he tossed her hand away like stale meat.

"This is all just a game to you isn't it keeping me here." He said staring at her with disgust suddenly "just a stupid game, well I'm not here to be broken I bet there have been so many others. I'm nothing like them Elle, you can't get me on a string. You aren't even worth it, not if we're in here, because I know you don't care other wise you wouldn't keep me fucking locked up!" He said, aggressively, and sinisterly, but not loudly. Elle let out a loud shriek, as shards of electricity shot into Adam's stomach. He was blown backwards, and for a moment lay a heap on the floor. Elle began to run towards him, but before she could even make a second stride he was on his feet. He threw off his shirt, and Elle now could see how she gazed as his body healed the bleeding wound. "look what you did, now I'm going to need a new tee shirt" He said, throwing the burnt crumple of clothe at her feet.

"You never listen do you? It's you who doesn't care." She looked at herself as she said it in her memory. Her finger pointing at him, and he didn't even flinch. She couldn't stand that she couldn't get control over Adam, but it intrigued her nonetheless. This was perfectly displayed in her face now, as she blinked every two words, and her brow was creased in frustration. Her lips were tight, and her voice was shrill and stern. "I don't know what I want to do okay, and when I do I'll tell you. Why isn't that enough for you? I'll tell you why because I'm not enough for you, and I see it in your eyes." He stared at her she waited for a response, but nothing. She snatched the shirt from the floor, and rushed out the room. "There's a spare in the draw." She said angrily before slamming the door behind her. Outside the though, she just dropped to her knees, weakened by the experience like a fragile porcelain doll. Her heart was beating so fast, and she couldn't help but cry. She put her hand over her mouth to stop the sound, but she never knew that Adam could see her, he was watching through his blinds.

"Elle you shouldn't dwell on it, I promised your father I'd take care of you. Do you want to find Adam or not?" Said the Haiti man, Elle shocked by what he'd said looked up at him and nodded once.

"Yeah you're right." she said turning and walking on behind him.

"We're on our way." Elle heard his voice say, she looked up and took no notice when she realised he was on the phone.

"Good" Replied the baleful, female tone "I think Elle has a little more work to do, before we can set her off into the big wide world."

"You don't mean-"

"Yes I do mean. It's the only way." She said decisively "besides, it'll do her some good toughen her up a bit. Like my boys." Elle's escort grunted in reply and then hung up the phone.

"Did that mind reader just hang up one me!" She said out aloud as she turned the final street corner, before she reached the tall menacing looking building, emphasised by the sun's glare coming out from behind it. "No matter".

There was a knock on the hotel door, Adam swung round to stare at it.

"Sir, madam, there is a call for you?" The voice said on the other side. Adam released his tensed breath and ambled over to the door, opening it with a grin on his face. He extended his hand, and held the phone to his ear.

"Hello Adam" Said the voice on the other end, he went to hang up, it was the first thing that came to his mind but the voice immediately replied. "Don't hang up, listen to me. This isn't The Company, but we know where you are. This isn't a warning, we already have you surrounded." Adam began panting and his eyes got wider, he looked at Josephine and she could tell something was wrong.

"What?!" she mouthed frantically at him but with no answer.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do Adam, though you're lucky we need you alive." Adam realised by now the voice was fake, done by machine. Though Josie still couldn't make out what was wrong, and felt forced to use her power. She forced herself into his mind, very cautiously, she wasn't sure whether she would always be detected. She'd hope as long as she worked within the short term memory, that the central executive wouldn't detect the interference. "You're surrounded, people outside. Can't run, not The Company" Adam glanced at her, and she thought she was done for, and quickly exited. The phone went dead, Adam brandished his most convincing smile at this moment, and handed the phone back to the young boy in uniform. He shut the door, and leant his back, and dropped his head against it, sliding slowly down till he hit the floor.

"We're surrounded Josephine. I don't even know who they are." He said, a look of despair swept his face, as his eyebrows arched up revealing the creases on his forehead.

"We could fight?" Josephine suggested, though this was always her only suggestion, almost as if it were what she was born and bred to do. "You, defeated White Beard's army, alone Adam. Me, well who knows what I'll pull out of my sleeve." She said looking at him with hope and admiration then winking, she paused awaiting his response. For a moment he looked ahead in thought, then caught her eye and nodded subtly.

The pair burst out the door, Adam strutted down the hall in the same confident fashion that he always did. His shoulders moving much like those of a leopard on the hunt, prowling. Josephine walked like a model, gliding along in an elegant but unmistakably sexy fashion. Her hips pressed out, moved from side to side, as one foot slid directly in front of the other. Her hands swayed gently by her side, silhouetting her slight elongated figure. Though the look on her face was perhaps what Adam found most arousing, she looked nothing short of ferocious, but smouldering and lecherous all the while. He'd have had her right there in that hallway, if there hadn't have been business to attend to. "I think they're on the roof" Josephine said as the entered the lift.

"How do you know?" Adam asked.

"I just do" She replied hitting the highest number, her stomach jerked as each floor went by. Not just from the lift, but she was nervous, the adrenaline navigated through her system. She hadn't felt this alive in such a long time, the anticipation was killing her. She leapt out of the lift in front of Adam when she heard the 'ding', and began pacing up the stairs, almost running. When finally she hit the last door which was bolted, and padlocked.

"Let's go through it." Adam said, taking her hand in his.

"No I think we should make an entrance at least." She said, charging up a ball of electricity in the other hand. Adam smiled, and gestured with his hand for her to continue. She lifted her other hand, to combine the power, and slowly dragging them apart the light was near blinding in the hallway, sparks flew about the hall. Adam ducked as a bulb blew above his head. Though amazingly Josephine had retained complete control. Adam was amazed by the display of power, though he could see the strain on her face. In one fast action, she flung her hands forwards and tossed the ball, it knocked straight through the iron doors, as the light from the sunset came flooding in. Slowly Josephine stepped out, but was deterred by Adam, who took it upon himself to go first. As he walked out into the evening's warm glow, all he could see were rows of steel bars, as he came fully out of the tunnel he could see it was a large steel grate. He could also see one on the other side of the roof, behind which he could make out a group of three or four people. He walked slowly behind the cage, with Josephine in toe.