Annela's startled eyes fixate the smug smile of the man in front of her. Three men against a woman makes her lose a bit of her cold blood. She squints her eyes in disgust at the officer, not wearing his uniform. His grey T-shirt is drenched in sweat for there is no air-conditioner in the lobby of the apartment, and he had to climb up three flights of stairs. His black jeans stick uncomfortably to his thick legs. 

          The young woman observes the two other men keenly. The one on his right seems more experienced, older than the man on Tim's right. She recognizes the tuft of brown hair the man on his right has, that she spotted before he disappeared down the stairs the other day, helping Tim try to win over the mind of Anella. His oblong face shape ends with a cleft chin. Tim doesn't have time to utter another sound before his partner on his right crumbles to the ground with a  thump. Annela neutralized a danger and Tim quickly regains his composure professionally, but the younger agent's chest rises up and down, paining to control his breathing. 

          Tim throws her a dark look. 

          I have no idea why you keep persisting to see me, Anella states, an eyebrow raising in disdain. 

          I don't know anything you don't already. If your method of winning this race is to stick to me hoping I'll do the job for you, I've never heard anything as pathetic as this, she mentally spits into his mind. 

          She lets her heart out, knowing their powerlessness against the Strong facing them. Tim only has what seems to be a newbie agent to Annela. Tim stays impassible. Annela could kill them with the snap of her fingers, but getting rid of the bodies would be such a burden. 

           Another action successes the previous with a head-spinning speed.

          The younger man's face shows the focus he suddenly braces to attack Annela's mind. 

          Faint. 

          The order he gives out holds so little power Annela barely feels her heartbeat falter. She's never seen such stupidity. 

          Faint. 

          Annela strongly strikes. He doesn't have time to warn Tim of what he did before his body hits the floor with a thud. The only man standing left doesn't even look at the distorted bodies, laying on the floor in impossible positions, resembling puppets. Either he is incredibly idiot, or... idiot, thinks Anella. Nothing else seems possible to the young confident woman. 

          He breaths in, never once had he left his eyes off the young lady. Suddenly Annela feels a warm feeling insinuate itself in her body. She rolls her eyes, unimpressed, but her haughty expression changes to a less assured one. The feeling of attraction is more powerful, almost as if two persons were pulling her towards Tim. 

          H-how is this possible... Annela breaths, resisting. She catches the figure of a woman passing through her doorstep as her vision begins to blur. She is out powered. 

           "Well aren't you just full of surprises", she grunts out loud under the efforts. 

           Faint, the woman orders, and the girl's mind shuts down. She falls to her knees and then to her side, knocking her skull on the floor. 

           Take care of the the bodies, I'll handle the girl, Tim orders. 

***

           Annela wakes up, blindfolded. Her knees aching badly, and a big lump on the side of her head. She winces in discomfort, hands tied behind her with a cable tie, behind a wooden beam. She feels the cold wooden floor through the thin fabric of her white pants. She sits up, all senses alert, and opens her mind. There is no air conditioner in the room, if the space in which she is hostage is indeed a room. She guesses perhaps a cabin, or an old farm house since no many modern architectures have big wooden beams. Her loose hair sticks to her neck with the sweat. The place smells rustic and dusty. 

          Finally... Tim Bailey's voice echoes through her mind. You're awake. 

          She doesn't know for how long she's been unconscious for, but her stomach pains of hunger. At least a day she vaguely estimates. Her nerves are on edge, as discomforts pile up over each other. 

          "Stop complaining, you're the ones who put me unconscious", she blows, frustrated, not concentrated enough to send her thoughts to him. She doesn't hear anyone else in her surroundings, hope fills her mind's gears spinning fast to find a solution to get her out of this mess. 

          Ooh, someone's feisty... he provokes. I like it. She feels the satisfied smirk on his face, her head turns from side to side, not knowing his emplacement regarding her. 

          "You're all taking awfully drastic measures for the little information I have", she huffs, trying to convince him keeping her hostage isn't useful. 

          "Oh we know how you guys work," Tim voices out. He is close, on her left, crouched to her level, her head turns quickly to the sound. 

          "We've... let's say," he searches for his words. "Tried persuading... enough of the members of your side to understand that they really weren't lying when they claimed not to know anything. You are all so ignorant of what happens, no one knows each other, but somehow the organization still stands. The strategy it's pretty intelligent..." he halfheartedly admits. 

          "So what is the POINT of keeping me here??" Annela's tone elevates, giving a thrust of her hands, hating her helplessness. He lifts her blindfold off. She squints her eyes as they accustom themselves to the small dimly lit living room they are in. She estimates the time of the day to be an early evening. 

          "Not so confident are we now," he whispers in her ear. 

          "Not an answer," she sarcastically explicits, turning her head away from him, a feeling of repugnance filling her. The feeling steadily turns to a familiar attraction she immediately recognizes. 

          "You reaaaally need to stop doing that," she sighs, tiredly resting her head against the wooden beam behind her, the room seeming to heat up for the girl. He brings a strand of her messy black hair behind her ear, and she gasps at the contact, jumping to action to concentrate on keeping him out her mind. 

          I'm not interested in your information, he softly explains. She weakly thrusts her hands once again to try to break the cable tie burning in her skin. She fights to keep his influence from gaining depth. 

          "What do you want?" She coldly asks. He backs his head a little to plunge his cerrulean eyes in hers. The black of her eyes strikes him again. 

          "You." He pauses, thinking. "Your power." He enforces his attraction and she battles to limit it as much as she can, but she starts losing herself in his eyes, and she notices her liking of his growing unkept beard needing to be cut, and the muscled shoulders holding his head.

          "Transferring power only works if both people give their consent," she reminds, annoyed in the deepest parts of herself. "Or if you kill me, which won't ever happen." Her confidence resides in the fact that his powers are extremely limited compared to her own. 

          "Oh but you will give me your consent," he assures, chuckling. "Killing your beautiful body would be such a shame."