Hostage.
Chapter Four.

Thick darkness turned into green and yellow blur, as Sophie’s heavy eyelids slowly opened. She quickly shut them tightly and then opened again.

Ah, that’s better.

Her vision focused. The first thing she saw were cells. Yes, six-sided bright green cells. It took Sophie a few more seconds to realize that she was lying on something quite soft. The girl blinked a few more times, before slowly rising up.

‘Damn it, my head!’ she thought with irritation, rubbing the back of her head as it ached when she rose. The girl looked around.

She was lying on a sofa in a vast sphere-like hall. The walls were all made of the cells of green and yellow and it seemed that light itself was coming from these cells, since the room was full of light, but there were no evident sources of it present. There were no windows or lamps, just a door on the very far side of the room.

‘Where am I? And how did I get here?’ Sophie thought. She tried to sit up a little straighter, but a sudden pain in her left shoulder stopped her. Sophie looked at her shoulder and slowly memories began to flood back to her head.

She remembered how she woke up at night from the strange sounds, how she and Krista went to the University’s main building to investigate, how they found Lee, Mu-team and Alpha Teens in the University’s lab, how Krista then led them to the roof, where they saw a helicopter, how Lee and everyone then came to the roof… She remembered a big fight and how she and Krista tried to escape, but someone was shooting at them, Krista was in the way and Sophie pushed her so she wouldn’t get hit, then… Then there was a sharp pain in shoulder and for a moment she felt herself flying backwards, and then there was nothing…

‘I wonder what happened to Krista…’ Sophie thought with concern.

“Aah, woken up, I see?” said a voice. Sophie snapped her head in the direction of the voice.

Janus Lee was standing in the doorway of the hall. With messy hair, strange, a little devilish, smile gracing his lips, he was once again in the jumpsuit Sophie had seen him in at the University, his red glasses on. Sophie never knew why, but she somehow was not surprised to see him.

A lot of questions were running through Sophie’s head as she saw the man in front of her. Like where was she? How did she get here? And how long had she been out? She decided to start with latter.

“How long have I been here?” she asked, her voice calm, her tone even.

Lee’s eyes widened a fraction. He was surprised at the girl’s calm and cool attitude. It was like she didn’t know who he was, like she had never been told that he was the most dangerous man in the city now.

“We brought you here several hours ago,” he answered in the same silky tone, “So who are you, may I require?”

Sophie looked up at Lee, although the reason for the question was pretty much obvious, she somehow didn’t see it coming. When she processed what Lee had just asked her, a striking thought occurred to her.

‘He does not remember me.’

For some unknown reason, Sophie felt a wave of joy at that idea. She felt that the fact gave her at least some advantage over the man in front of her: he didn’t know that she had met with him before, talked to him.

“Sophie Olin,” she finally answered.

“You work at Landmark City University, Mrs.Olin?” Lee asked walking further into the hall.

‘Ms.Olin? Working?!’ the words rang in Sophie’s head. ‘Wait a minute… He doesn’t know I’m only seventeen! Way to go! Another one for me!’

“Yes… I suppose you could say that,” Sophie looked at her knees, then turned her eyes back to her captor. There was a shot pause, then Sophie stood up slowly, afraid that something else except for her shoulder would start aching. She took out her cell phone, for she somehow expected it to be useless. She was right.

“The signal’s dead,” she observed quietly, putting the phone on a small table near the couch, “We must be very far from Landmark. Or something else is shutting done the signal.”

Lee narrowed hi eyes again. The girl was really strange: anyone else in such a situation would be panicking to the unknown extent by now.

“Both,” he answered, “We are in the mountain area not far from Landmark.”

Sophie was surprised and this time she didn’t bother to disguise it. For several moments she looked at Lee, and then slumped back onto the couch in defeat.

“Well… Look’s like that’s it. Either I’m dead, or I’ll spend the rest of my life here,” there was a tone of bitter laughter in her voice. The words surprised Lee.

“Now why would you say that?” he asked her.

She looked up at him and laughed, the beautiful sounds filling the hall.

“The whole city is looking for your hideout, Mr.Lee, and you just told of its whereabouts to a girl you’ve met for the first time in your life!” Sophie said, smiling widely.

‘Although “the first time” part is not quite true,’ Sophie added mentally.

“It’s pretty obvious, that either you’re going to keep me here as a prisoner or hostage or you’re about to kill me,” Sophie’s tone remained as light as ever and she kept smiling. Of course, deep in her soul she was terribly afraid, since she realized the danger she was in, but she dearly hoped that there was at least something left in the man in front of her from the Janus Lee she had been talking to less than six months ago. So, she decided to do everything possible to impress the man.

And she was quite successful so far, as Lee was now unable to suppress or even hide his surprise.

“So you know me?” he confirmed. Sophie merely nodded, and Lee continued sounding, to his own irritation, even more surprised, “And still you’re not aghast at the perspective of what might happen to you?”

Sophie chuckled.

“And what’s the point of panicking? It’s not going to help me,” she answered, still smiling.

‘She’s so calm… Too calm,’ Lee thought.

Silence fell for several moments.

“So…” Sophie finally spoke after several moments, looking up at Lee, “What IS going to happen to me?”

Mr.Lee looked at her for several moments, his eyebrows raised, as if the question took him off guard and he needed time to process it. Meanwhile Sophie smirked.

“Well, I cannot deny the fact that I’m not in the little bit interested in what’s going to happen to me,” she added sarcastically.

“Hm…” Lee eyed the girl carefully. Of course, he could get rid of her at once and not bother himself with that problem any further, but the girl seemed somewhat interesting to him. She was young, yes, it was apparent from her looks, but he couldn’t tell how old she was, since her speech, manners and even facial expressions were so mature.

‘She must be around 22 or 23…’

Lee pondered on the question further. On one hand, he could get rid of her and not oblige himself with further problems. But on the other, he could leave her around for a time being, at least just to figure out what formed this stoic appearance of hers.

‘Besides, she said she works in Landmark City University. She can be of some use to me if I want to get that disk,’ Lee smiled.

Sophie noticed her captor’s smile and his pleased expression.

‘Well… Here goes nothing,’ she thought. Although she never showed it, or rather did her best not to show it, she felt chill running through her, her legs suddenly becoming numb.

“Tell me, Sophie,” Lee finally broke the silence, addressing the girl in front of him, “You said you worked in Landmark University?”

“Y-Yes,” Sophie did her best to hide the lies. ‘I hope he’s not going to check,’ despite the fact that Sophie was in a life-or-death situation, random jokes kept popping up in her head.

“Do you think you could provide us with some valuable information about it?” Lee continued his inquiry.

Sophie narrowed her eyes.

‘So that’s what he wants. Whatever he came for, he must’ve failed to get. And now he supposes that I will be able to help him as a University’s “employee”. Well, looks like I don’t have a choice but to cooperate. Besides, who knows, maybe I’ll be successful enough and he’ll like me.’

Sophie, despite her extra caution, was never oblivious to what was happening in the University. She has been to its furthest and darkest corners, and she knew pretty much about it. She was also her teachers’ favorite, and hence had more access to the University’s facilities than any other regular student. At one point, the level of her awareness surpassed that of some of the University’s actual employees. Sophie always considered that to be her advantage, but now it seemed to be something much more important. Now that gave her a chance to save her life.

Sophie was quiet for a few moments, as those thoughts formed themselves in her mind. Then she finally answered:

“Depends on how much you already know,” she looked at Lee, her expression now completely serious.

It was Lee’s turn to narrow his eyes as he looked carefully at the girl, as though contemplating on something.

“Follow me,” he said curtly, turning around and heading for the door.

Sophie quickly grabbed her cell phone, put it in her pocket and hurried after Lee. The door slid open in front of them, and the two stepped on inside a long glass corridor with a moving floor. Sophie looked out curiously. They were indeed in mountains and, apparently, in some kind of a cleft. The construction of the building they were in was pretty much peculiar: Large spheres were joint together by long transparent corridors like the one they were in.

‘I wonder how he managed to build all of it and why this place hadn’t been discovered yet,’ Sophie thought. Since she didn’t have that much to lose in her current situation, she dared to speak.

“Mr.Lee, can I ask you something?” Lee half turned his head and gave her a leveling look, which Sophie took as a sign to continue.

“How did you manage to arrange this place? I mean it seems that something like this would be quite difficult to construct and would require a large number of people to work on. If so, then why had no one checked on this place so far?”

Lee turned around and looked at the girl, contemplating on whether to answer or not.

“This place is made of hardlight. So basically it was not so hard to create on my own.”

Lee decided that since he was not going to let Sophie go any time soon, he might as well tell her.

‘And she seems to be quite intelligent,’ he continued evaluating his hostage.

“Oh, I see,” Sophie was apparently impressed, “So, does that mean that you can create whole buildings- even cities- made of hardlight?”

“Yes…” Lee answered absent mindedly, “Yes, that’s true, but I will need more information for further research.”

“But that’s not the information you were looking for back in the University, is it?” Sophie asked more to herself, than to Lee, gazing outside.

“No, it isn’t,” Lee answered. He looked at the girl again and watched her. Her expression went from her previous sarcastically-sardonic to sad and nostalgic. It was as if she was recalling something.

Soon Mr.Lee and Sophie reached the next sphere. A door slid open and they entered. Sophie guessed that to be the main part of the whole complex, as there were many screens and computers there. A large table was littered with different papers, maps and drawings. One of those papers was the plan of Landmark City University.

Lee showed the plan to Sophie. Sophie looked at it carefully. At first she was surprised as she briefly studied the plan. Then a surge of happiness and self-contentment overwhelmed her.

“Where did you get those?’ Sophie asked surprised, still studying the maps of the University.

“My resources are none of your concern,” Lee snapped.

Sophie looked at him, her head still inclined over the maps.

“That’s not what I’m asking,” she said, “This plan is way too outdated.”

The statement had an amazing effect on Lee: his face fell and he looked at the girl as if she had grown a second head.

“WHAT?!!”

Sophie winced at Lee’s yell.

“The map is outdated. They made several reconstructions in the last few months,” Sophie looked at the plan once again, tapping her chin, “I can’t help you get another plan, since it is regarded as qualified information and so the access to it is restricted, but I could tell you a few things that I know my self.”

And Sophie started to remember her ‘trips’ around the University. Sometimes she went around the place on teachers’ orders, but usually it was Krista who got her into those ‘trips’, so Sophie knew the University pretty well.

‘Looks like I’ll be needed here for some time after all,’ Sophie mentally sighed with relief, and went on explaining.

Well))))) Kill me if you want))))) But mind it: if you do, you won't find out what happened next!

Life is just another game... Let's play.

The iron door slid closed behind Sophie, as she headed towards her bed and literally fell on it, face down.

It was already about a week since she had been taken hostage by the infamous Mr.Lee. Yes, Sophie had already come to calling the room she resided in hers, as she wasn’t treated that bad around this place. Of course, the Mu-team were not the friendliest people in the world, but they were tolerable. The good part was that Mr.Lee strictly prohibited them to hurt Sophie in the slightest bit, since she was an important part of his plan to retrieve some disk from the University. Sophie had not managed to find out what the disk was, but she wasn’t really upset about it. Instead, every time anyone from the Mu-team tried to say something nasty to her, she usually made fun of the offender, bluntly using the fact that they were not allowed to hurt her.

Mr.Lee himself stayed the same mean and cold persona with frequent outbursts of rage. Sophie watched twice as he scolded the Mu-team for failing the two missions he had given them that week. The clones got beaten by their originals, the Alpha Teens. Sophie was present during those scenes of Lee’s fury, but what she felt was quite contradictory: on one hand, she had been afraid that Lee would turn around and literally kill her just because of his blind rage, but on the other hand, she was doing her best not to burst out laughing – the man was really hilarious.

There was, however, one big advantage Sophie possessed at that moment: she had somehow made a deal with Lee that for the upcoming two months, she would stay at his place, but once in a while she would be allowed to go to Landmark accompanied by one of the members of the Mu-team. She was also permitted to choose the specific member and, what Sophie had absolutely not expected, Lee said that she would be provided with all the cash she needs. But Sophie would not be allowed to go somewhere near the University or contact anyone from there.

Sophie was quite content with her position right now.

‘It could’ve been worse. Much worse.’

She could’ve been thrown in a dark cell and given a bowl of something distantly resembling food once in a while. Conditions she was now in were… Well… Maybe even luxurious.

‘A bird in a golden cage…’

Nah, Sophie was not the one to complain, especially not since she was so lucky.

She was actually starting to like the place. A few days ago she stumbled on a greenhouse. It seemed to be endless and it was the only place that was not yellowish-green all around. Sophie started liking spending time in that greenhouse, although she was never interested in flora and fauna before. One day she met Lee there. He seemed to be annoyed (‘As much as usual,’ Sophie thought mentally rolling her eyes), so Sophie hurried away. But before she left, Lee called after her and asked her what she was doing. She answered him truthfully: She had just accidentally found this place. She complemented him on the beauty of some flowers and then left in a hurry, but she saw him stare at her as she exited the greenhouse.

Although Sophie did her best to keep her cool and indifferent faзade, she had been dead frightened when she understood that she was stuck as a hostage. Later on she relaxed a bit, but she had to admit that she did feel some fear towards Mr.Lee, especially since he was almost always in a bad mood. So she tried not to communicate with Lee too often, unless he required her presence, of course. In those cases he would usually send someone form his Mu-team to tell her to come to his lab.

A sliding noise came from the door as it opened. Sophie groaned into her pillow and tore her head away from it.

“What is it?” she said in annoyance and glanced towards the door. To her surprise, Razer was standing in the doorway.

“Razer?” Sophie asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you and the others went to retrieve the disk from the University?”

“We did,” Razer answered, “And we got it.”

“Really?!” Sophie jumped off the bed, happy to hear the good news, “But that’s great!”

“Yeah,” Razer answered emotionlessly, “Mr.Lee asked to tell you that he wants to see you right away.”

“Thanks,” and with that Sohie left ‘her’ room, quickly heading towards Lee’s lab.

Excitement was bubbling inside her. Was the man happy? Well, he should have been. After all, he got what he wanted, right?

Finally, Sophie reached the door to the ‘main meeting room’, as she called it, and stopped in front of it. She took a deep breath, propped her jacket and made a calm, a little pleasant face. Then she pushed the button on the controller, and the door slid open.

It was hard to tell what was going on from the atmosphere in the hall. Mr.Lee was standing in the centre with his back on the Mu-Team, of which only Razer wasn’t present. The Mu-Team members wore their indifferent faces, just like they did most of the time. When Sophie entered, silence fell. After a few seconds, the blond man was the first to break it.

“You’ve done a good job. Finally! Dismissed,” he added curtly, but he most definitely sounded pleased.

When the Mu-Team left, Lee finally turned to face Sophie. To her surprise, he was grinning, but not in the way that made her feel like she was in trouble. On the contrary, Lee WAS happy.

“So…” Sophie was the first to speak, “May I assume that the mission was a success?”

“Yes, it was indeed…” Lee began.

“My congratulations, then!” Sophie smiled sincerely.

“Thanks to the invaluable information you have given us, we managed to retrieve the disk, and now I have all the information I need!” Lee announced, “Looks like you are proving to be most useful to keep around!”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that!” Sophie kept smiling, although a part of her wanted to claw his mismatched eyes out.

‘Keep me around?! What am I, a pet?!!’

‘No. You’re a hostage, and could be dead by now,’ Sophie reminded herself once again, sighing mentally. Then she said:

“So… Mr.Lee, I can understand perfectly well that I’m a hostage and is very lucky to still be alive, but still, since I agreed to cooperate willingly…” Sophie did not get the chance to finish.

“Yes, yes, I remember, the deal,” Lee said as-a-matter-of-fact-ly. He looked at her and continued: “I will allow you to go to the city, but under two conditions: you must not get close to the University neighborhood or contact anyone you know, AND someone from my Mu-Team will accompany you.”

‘”Accompany”? What a nice way of saying “prevent you from running away”,’ Sophie thought sarcastically.

“Understood,” she nodded, “But I’d like Tilian to accompany me.”

Lee was very surprised to hear that. He knew that Tilian was… Well… The smartest of the Mu-Team, and he knew that Sophie was aware of that. Tilian would be the hardest to run away from. And yet, knowing all that, she chose him.

“All right…” he said slowly, still searching Sophie’s face for any sign of her wanting to change her mind, but as no such signs came, Lee turned around and looked at the screens in front of him. Then he spoke again: “You have a credit card, I believe?”

“Yes,” Sophie answered, not really getting the point of him asking something like that.

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t afford letting you use it…” Lee began, but was interrupted by Sophie.

“…Because if they already know I’m missing, they are keeping an eye on my transactions, and as soon as I use my credit card, they’ll know where I am,” the girl continued.

“Very good!” Lee smirked. “Now, I’m giving you this credit card, buy whatever you need. The PIN is 9562.”

He handed Sophie a credit card. Sophie was very surprised.

“Whatever I need?” she repeated, “Up till how much can that ‘whatever I need’ cost?”

“Well, I hope $25,000 would be enough for now,” Lee answered distractedly.

Sophie nearly choked.

‘WHAT?!’

Ok, so maybe she was used to a more or less luxurious life, since her farther was a very successful businessman and she earned herself good grades in University, but she never got more that $500 a month. But fifty times more for just one day of shopping?

‘I didn’t know that being a hostage pays you off that well,’ Sophie joked mentally.

“Thank you!” she said brightly and left to get her jacket… Oh, and Tilian.

A few hours later Sophie Olin entered Landmark City shopping gallery accompanied by a tall figure in a dark coat, hat, gloves and a scarf tied almost all around his face. Sophie was doing her best to ignore the weird glances people were throwing their way.

Sophie had been in this gallery before: it was like a centre with all the expensive Italian clothes. But she never bought more than two items on one occasion, on usually such an occasion occurred once every two months. Now, on the other hand, she had a chance of buying almost a whole wardrobe.

‘It would be absolutely perfect if only people stopped looking around that way,” Sophie thought, staring bluntly at the woman who stole a surprised glance her way. The staring contest made the woman look away. ‘Why did Mr.Lee have to make them so… so… Oh, I don’t know… Noticeable!’

Finally they came towards the boutique Sophie wanted to start with.

“Ok,” she said, turning around to look at Tilian. “Listen up!”

She pointed her right index finger into his chest, and looked at him with stern expression on her face.

“You don’t mess with my nerves, you don’t get us thrown out of this shop and you DON’T freak out other customers! Got it? Fine, let’s go,” she turned around and headed into the shop without waiting for an answer.

“You’d better be careful with what you are saying, girl,” Tilian hissed, following her.

“Mr.Lee didn’t give me any specific instructions on how to talk to you,” Sophie snapped, “On the contrary, I bet he told you NOT to mistreat me.”

As only a growl followed, Sophie assumed she was right. The girl smirked. She headed for the stand with different clothes and started picking out different items.

About fifteen minutes later, Sophie was finishing trying on the new clothes. She picked herself several shirts, a sweater, classic black jeans, a belt and matching bag and shoes.

“You know, I’m somehow surprised that Mr.Lee actually kept his word,” Sophie mused changing back into her own clothes, “I mean after all he had all the chances of not keeping his word… Well, really, why would he?”

“You’re right,” answered Tilian, who was standing right outside her changing room like a bodyguard, “But he needs to buy your trust.”

A loud ‘cling’ sound was heard, as the belt slipped out of the girl’s hands and fell to the floor.

“What?!”

Sophie marched out of the changing cabin and stared at Tiian.

“What did you just say?” she asked in a deadly quiet tone. Tilian, who realized, too late unfortunately, that he had said something he was not supposed to have said, closed his eyes and lowered his face. Still Sophie continued: “Are you telling me that he let me out and gave all this money to… buy me?!”

“He wants your loyalty and he is trying to earn it by lavishing you with all the money,” Tilian finally spoke, realizing that it didn’t matter any longer how much more he said, since Sophie had already figured out everything.

Sophie’s fists balled.

‘That bastard!’ her mind screamed. She wanted to punch the wall. ‘He thinks he can buy me… Damn it! He wants to BUY me!!!’

Sophie looked at the pile of expensive clothes in the corner of her changing room, enraged. Then, suddenly, a plan started forming itself in Sophie’s head. A smirk crept to her face, as she looked at her ‘bodyguard’.

“Tilian, have you ever heard a saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’?” she asked. Tilian looked at her, confused. He realized that his charge had something on her mind, but he had no idea what it could be.

Meanwhile Sophie took all of the clothes she had tried on previously and gave them back to the lady that worked in the shop and was helping her.

“Thank you,” Sophie smiled at the lady, “But I suddenly thought that I need something… a little different in style.”

And with that said, Sophie and the shop assistant started their trip around the shop once more. Tilian watched them curiously, wanting to know what Sophie was up to.

An hour later, Sophie and Tilian left the shop, both carrying several packages.

“Ok, next stop is…” Sophie looked around thoughtfully, then noticed what she was looking for, “Perfume and cosmetics. Try to survive that one as well, Tilian. ‘Cause I have plans. Big plans.”

Sophie smirked and headed for the said shop.

Ok... Here's chappie 5!))))) Hope you like it!))))

Добавлено (06.01.2008, 23.57.15)
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Oh... I had so much fun writing this chapter!

Hostage.
Chapter Six.

It was way past noon when Sophie and Tilian returned to the base. Sophie had visited the beauty salon, where she did her nails and hair, then they had dropped in a book store, where she got herself some books, CDs and DVDs. After that they had a snack ("Nice break from your bio diet, huh?" Sophie asked, watching Tillian consume his third burger.).

Tilian could see that the girl was up to something, but he couldn't figure out what it would be. Everything started when he had accidentally slipped out Mr.Lee's plans in regard to Sophie, Tilian knew this, but it didn't help him a tiny bit. At one point, he even tried to bluntly ask Sophie, but she dismissed his questions with a chuckle and a "You'll see...". By the time the two arrived back to the lab, Tilian had already given up trying to find out Sophie's plans. The only thought that still bothered him, however, was the fear that Mr.Lee would find out about his 'little' slip-up and... Well... Kill him or something.

Meanwhile Sophie was heading back to her room with all of her bags, when she almost bumped into Mr.Lee himself.

"Well, back from the town, I see?" he said in a sly voice, smirking.

'Oh, how I want to punch that smirk off his handsome face right now!' Sophie's insides were starting to boil. But she had already been used to concealing her emotions. And she was getting a lot of practice since she became a hostage. So, the girl just smiled brightly.

"Yes! Thank you SO much!" Sophie answered happily, "I had a great time and I got all I needed!"

'To make you sorry you ever brought me here,' she added mentally.

"Good, good!" Lee commented, "Dinner at six. Oh, and you can leave the credit card to yourself for a while..."

Lee left, and Sophie headed to her room.

'Yeah, don't worry, it'll be safe with me,' Sophie smirked inwardly, 'But it may cause YOU a few... Inconveniences.'

Entering her room, Sophie dropped the bags near her bead and looked at her watch.

'5:25. Well, I have just enough time,' Sophie headed for the bathroom.

She took a shower, checked her hair and picked one of her 'new' outfits: semi-transparent black silk stalkings, black jeans mini-skirt and a red short-sleeved t-shirt, which exposed her chest and shoulders pretty much. This was all accompanied by black high-heel pumps, a belt and a few jeweleries she had primary: bracelets, rings, watches, and a heart-shaped pendent.

Her hair was fixed in a pony tail high above her neck, and her make matched the outfit perfectly: black eyeliner and mascara and some lip gloss.

'5:55.'

Sophie was standing in front of a large mirror looking over herself.

'Perfect.'

She then made a deep breath to calm her nerves and headed for the door.

'This is SO better work,' she thought as the iron door slid closed behind her.

Marching towards the dinner room, Sophie felt her heart pounding in her ears. She thought she would die from being so nervous.

‘Ok, calm yourself down, girl; there’s no going back now,’ she thought as she reached the door of the ‘dining room’. The door slid open. To Sophie’s utter relief, only the Mu-Team was present. Sophie breathed out inwardly, and forced herself to smirk a little as she entered…

The looks on the Mu-Team members’ faces were priceless. At that moment, Sophie regretted not having a camera somewhere nearby. As she walked further into the room, she noticed Tilian stood there with a dumbfounded expression on his face too, although Sophie was pretty much sure nothing in the world could surprise him. The girl’s smirk grew wider, as she came up to him, almost face to face.

“Tilian, pick your jaw off the floor, and stop. Drooling,” Sophie said in a quiet voice, carefully making pauses and still smirking. Without waiting for Tilian’s reaction, she turned around and headed towards the table.

“Hey, nice new outfit,” Firekat was the first to get her speech back in control.

“Yeah, you look hot, girl,” Stingfly said.

Although Sophie nearly shuddered at that comment, she still managed to answer a “Thank you”.

After a minute pause, the door slid open.

“Stingfly, did you…” Lee was definitely mad, but he stopped mid-sentence, as Sophie turned around, a full smile now gracing her lips, her arms crossed on her chest, just below her breasts (which she really didn’t have to be ashamed of, by the way).

Janus Lee, the ingenious scientist, a successful business man with a whole city of lonely women dreaming to become his Chosen one’s, the most dangerous man in this city right now… Froze. He froze. He was just standing there staring at Sophie, as a pregnant pause hang in the air.

‘That’s the way to go!’ Sophie’s inner guts were flipping with joy at her captor’s reaction. The girl cleared her throat delicately.

“You wanted to tell something to Stingfly, Mr.Lee?” she asked, still smiling.

Lee shifted his eyes to meet hers, and simply stared at her again, as if processing what he had just been told. Sophie laughed a little, casting her gaze down, and then looking back up at Mr.Lee.

“Stingfly, Mr.Lee,” she said, gesturing towards Stingfly with her head, “You wanted to tell him something, I believe.”

Lee slowly looked away from Sophie to Stingfly.

“Oh, uhm… N-never mind…” he cleared his throat and, trying his best to keep himself from staring at Sophie, proceeded towards the table. Everyone followed.

Sophie, in the meantime, was doing her best not to burst out laughing. She glanced at Tilian, who had never ever seen his precious boss like that before, and saw that he too was having a hard time trying not to laugh his guts out.

Everyone sat down, with Sophie on Lee’s left, and Tilian on his right.

The dinner went on without much talking as usual, except for a few questions the Mu-Team asked Sophie about herself and her life. She answered gladly, and joked on some occasions.

‘Ok, this is boring,’ Sophie thought, glancing at Lee sideways. Then she noticed his napkin about to fall from the table, and an idea came to her.

She carefully moved her elbow, as if unintentionally. The napkin fell.

‘Bingo!’

Sophie bent down to pick up it up, as Lee did exactly the same thing. At one moment their hands touched. Lee looked up at Sophie, who looked up at him and only smiled. He stared at her for a moment, their hands still touching and her deeply necked shirt exposing… well… everything Sophie had originally wanted to expose.

A few moments passed, and Sophie straightened back up holding the napkin.

“Here,” she handed the napkin over to Mr.Lee, still smiling, and returned to her glass of wine. Lee was still sitting as if thunderstruck.

Unlike the rest of the Mu-Team, who had no idea that there was something going on, Tilian watched the whole scene carefully.

‘And she is good,’ he thought with a smirk.

The rest of the evening was nothing special as well, except for Lee failing in his efforts not to look at Sophie. Which, of course, Sophie was pretty much aware of.

‘Good,’ she thought with an inward smile of contentment, ‘Very, very good.’

Soon, the Mu-Team left one by one, with Tilian being the last, leaving Sophie and Lee alone.

After a few minutes, Sophie gracefully rose from her seat, her waist on one level with Lee’s face. Lee felt his throat go dry.

“Well… I’d better go too, I think I’m a little tired after today’s trip to the city,” Sophie turned around, completely ignoring how Lee was now devouring her with his eyes, his mind a little hazed after a glass of wine he had drunk over the dinner. Sophie headed for the door and went out of the room.

“Goodnight, Mr.Lee,” she turned around to wave at him, as she was standing in the doorway.

“G-… Goodnight, Sophie,” he barely managed to get out of himself, watching her slim hips swaying as she walked away, and the door slid closed.

After a few moments of complete silence, Lee finally broke from his trance. With a loud groan, he buried his face in his hands.

‘What was I thinking?!’ the rational part of him yelled.

'But she’s so s...' the other part started.

'NO!' his mind yelled again. 'Don't even think about it!'

'Yes, but...'

'You are not SUPPOSED to be thinking like that! You don't have time for this!'

'...'

Unable to argue with himself anymore, Lee rose up and marched away to his room, hoping that sleep would finally bring some clarity to his troubled mind.

Sophie meanwhile managed to get to her room without yelling and jumping around with joy. As soon as the door slid closed behind her...

"YES!!!"

Sophie threw herself on her bed, almost laughing.

'It worked! I did it! He's SO in for me!' Sophie buried her head in the pillow, giggling.

'The look he had when he saw me and when I was leaving... And at the table, when his napkin "accidentally" fell down, and I picked it up...' Sophie had another "giggle attack" as she recalled that evening's events.

Once she finally calmed down, Sophie got up, took a shower, changed and made her bed.

'Ok,' she thought, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, 'Stage one is complete. He started falling for me, and he's having quite a troublesome night tonight. Now I'll have to think over my next move.'

Sophie had no idea what a chance fate would very soon present her...

Another few days passed without anything notable happening... Well, except for the slight tension between Sophie and Lee, since Sophie continued putting on the 'items from her new wardrobe'.

Now, Sophie was lying on her bed once again, an open book she had just been reading lying beside her. The girl closed her eyes and recalled the events of the past few days: Lee had brought a boy to the base, his name was... Duke? Yes, Duke Kingston. As Sophie had learned from Tilian, the boy was the younger brother of one of the Alpha Teens Lee wanted to use to 'help' him fix the hardlight vehicle. Later that day, Lee had come back relatively pleased: the plan had worked, he now had a hardlight vehicle.

Today Lee sent his Mu-Team to Landmark again, but Sophie had no idea what for. Not that she really cared.

The girl looked at her bedside clock.

"11p.m."

She sighed.

'I'd better go check on Mr.Lee and others.'

With that decided, Sophie headed to Lee's lab.

Just as she was walking along the last corridor towards the lab, the door slid open and the Mu-Team left the lab.

'Why do they look like they've just eaten a truck of lemons?' Sophie thought.

"Hey, guys! How did the mission go? Is everyth...," but Sophie never finished the sentence, as the Mu-Team marched past her, as if she wasn't even there, which got Sophie.

"Hey! What's the big idea?! In case, you haven't noticed, I'm talking to you!" she yelled at them, her fists balled. No one was ignoring HER, especially not after she had tried so hard to be noticed by people.

"The mission was a failure," was all Tilian said, without even looking at the girl.

"Huh?.."

But the Mu-Team were already gone.

Sophie stood there for some time, processing what had just happened.

'"The mission was a failure"... Uh-oh, this is bad,' Sophie thought, glancing at the door to the lab.

She carefully walked to it and, taking a deep breath, entered.

...The lab was empty.

'What the...?' Sophie looked around again, making sure she didn't miss anything, 'Has he already left to his room? No, I doubt it.'

Sophie headed towards the common rest room. Just as she expected, she found Lee sitting on a sofa, his face buried in his hands. Although Sophie couldn't see his face, she was pretty much sure he was exhausted, angry, disappointed and annoyed.

'Perfect,' she smirked to herself, 'Just what I need. Well, let stage two begin.'

And fixing her short, black turtle-neck dress with a wide belt, she stepped into the room.

Life is just another game... Let's play.

Hostage.
Chapter Seven.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Lee pried his head away from his hands and prepared to snap something at the unlucky Mu-Team member who had just entered. To his surprise, however, he saw Sophie. In a black mini dress fitting her figure, black silk stalkings and black high-heels, her slim legs perfectly exposed. Lee gulped subconciously.

"What are you doing here?" he inquired sharply, sharper than he had wanted it to sound. Sophie, however, did not react. Instead, she glanced at him and headed towards the mini-bar.

Sophie took out the bottle of whisky and a glass. Pouring double portion into the glass and not adding any ice, she headed towards the circular sofa Lee was sitting on. Sophie put the glass on the table in front of the blonde man and sat down opposite him.

"Here," she said gesturing towards the glass, "You look like you had a bad day."

At first, Lee was taken aback. Then he lazily leaned forwards and took the glass in his hands. He looked at the dark liquid skeptically for a few moments. Then he emptied the glass in one gulp, shutting his eyes tightly and sitting as if frozen on one spot for a few seconds, as the firy liquid sipped down his throat, warming him up a bit.

With a sigh Sophie stood up, took the empty glass and headed towards the mini-bar again.

'Just wonderful!' she thought happily, 'If he got dizzy after just one glass of wine... Let's see what THIS does to him!'

Sophie came back to the table with a refilled glass and gave it to Lee.

"Am I correct to assume that they failed?" Sophie asked, sitting now almost next to Lee.

At that comment, Lee dried the glass again.

He had never been the one to drink. In fact, he had always been a very cautious man when it came down to alcohol. But right now, he felt that every drop of it released him from the depression he had slowly been sinking in.

Sophie sighed again, as Lee meaninglessly looked at the empty glass in his hands.

"They failed," he stated in a dead voice, "Again."

There was a pause, which Sophie did not dare interrupt: she knew he hadn't finished yet.

"...Why?" Lee spoke again, still watching the glass in his hand, "Why do they keep failing every time?!"

His voice was now louder and filled with rage and despair, his grip tightened around the glass, threatening to squash it.

Sophie was slightly taken aback by that sudden little outburst. But then again, she had seen this coming, hadn't she?

Sophie carefully laid one of her hands above Lee's, and with the other she pried his grip open and placed the glass on the table for safety measures. Her other hand, however, stayed in Lee's. She felt him tighten the squeeze around it, and looked at him.

He was looking back at her, his mind now completely under the influence of the alcohol, his face expressionless, but his eyes dimmed with desire. Lee looked at her for several moments, and then slowly started closing in the gap between them.

'Here goes nothing,' Sophie thought, her mind crystal clear, pulling towards him as well.

...Their lips met...

At first the kiss was soft and tender, full of uncertainty. But then it became passionate and full of desire and need, especially on Lee's account.

Sophie felt Lee's hands sneak to her neck, then they traveled to her shoulders, arms and sides.

...How they got to his room, she did not remember. Neither could she clearly remember what happened afterwards. Only emotions and feelings, pain turning into pleasure, were carved in her memory now.

Did she plan it to got this far? No, not really. But, on the other hand, what else did she expect to happen eventually?

In either case, it didn't matter now, she thought, falling asleep in the arms of the man who had become her whole world in just a matter of weeks. After all, it had all started just as a game. But now it was so much more.

"I love you, Janus," Sophie whispered falling asleep, calling the man, in whose arms she lay and whose waist she tightly embraced, by his name for the first time.

She knew he hadn't heard her, as he had probably drifted off to sleep a long time ago, and yet she said those words, because at that very moment nothing was as vivid in her mind and sole as what she felt for the man beside her.

The following morning, however, brought a lot of confusion.

The first thing Lee knew as he began to resurface from his deep slumber, was that he was warm and very comfortable, although he had no idea of how he ended up like that. He slowly started trying to recall the events of the previous day.

He clearly remembered sending the Mu-Team on a mission to Landmark City, the mission they had failed disastrously. He had yelled at them of course, they apologized, he dismissed them and then... Then what?.. Oh, right, he went to the sitting room, terribly tired and frustrated at another defeat. And then Sophie came in and made him a drink, they talked and ...

And then there was nothing. He could NOT remember what happened after. There was a gap in his memory between the moment Sophie had come in and he had fallen asleep. He didn't even know if he was in his room right now, or if he had fallen asleep on that couch in the sitting room.

As hard as he tried, Lee could not fill in the gap. He had had a drink and felt better somehow... Then something happened... Yes, something important did happen, but what was it? There were only words he had heard before falling asleep:

"I love you, Janus..."

Lee's eyes flew open. The first thing he saw was the bright yellowishly green ceiling of the room he was in. He lay still in one spot trying to figure out where that recollection had come from. Then he blinked several times and shut his eyes tightly closed again.

He suddenly began to realize a few things about his current position. First, he was in a warm bed with silk sheets all around. Second, he was naked. (Ok, THAT was confusing!) And third, he could feel the touch of a smooth, yet alien skin against his own.

Lee opened his eyes again and looked to his left. He WAS in his bed, alright. But there, beside him, lay Sophie, embracing his waist, her head on his shoulder, and his own arm protectively wrapped around her.

Lee stared at the girl in his arms for a few moments. She was so beautiful, young and innocent... Her hair, her face, her skin, her body...

And then memories hit Janus Lee like a wall of bricks. Memories of the previous night.

He had drunk, a lot too much in fact, and the alcohol weakened his self control. He had been infatuated with Sophie before, but being a rational man he had always been, he managed to persuade himself that there could never have been anything between them. Under the influence of the alcohol, however, all his rationality had disappeared in a thin air. He gave in to his deepest desires, and now he would have to deal with consequences.

Lee let out a deep groan, closing his eyes again.

'What've I done?..'

To make things worse, he suddenly remembered tears escape Sophie's eyes at one point: he had been her first.

At that moment he felt the girl in his arms stir.

As sleep had finally let go of her, Sophie inhaled the pleasant smell, HIS smell. She smiled contentedly, snuggling closer to him. A few moments later, she felt someone rubbing her shoulder slightly, a sign that he had woken up as well. Grudgingly, Sophie opened her eyes and looked up at the face of her lover. He was staring back at her, or rather in thin air.

It took Lee several moments to realize that Sophie was awake and looking at him. His eyes focused on her. She smiled.

"Good morning."

That was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Lee looked at her with his mismatched eyes, studying her careless and happy face.

'How's that even possible?..'

He continued to look at her. She was so gorgeous, and he had corrupted that beauty, unlawfully stole her innocence...

Sophie watched Lee's face. He hadn't said a word so far, and there was some kind of an inner battle going on inside of him, she could tell from the expression on his face. He closed his eyes, and then suddenly sat up, burying his face in his hands. His head was pounding from yesterday's drinks, but that was the least of his worries right now.

Sophie looked at him, worried. She too sat up, holding the silk sheets to her chest with her right hand and placing her left one on Lee's shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked softly.

Lee sat with his face in his hands for a few more minutes.

"I... I'm so sorry... Sophie... We, I... I shouldn't have... I'm sorry..." he couldn't even look in her face, the shame of the night's dirty deed was strangling him.

"I'm not," Sophie suddenly interrupted him. At this point Lee was so surprised, that he turned to her sharply with a look of utter shock written all over his face.

He was somehow expecting to see pain, offence and hate on her face, but not the kindness and happiness it was shining with now.

"I love you, Janus," she repeated the words from the night before. And as if to prove it, she leaned forwards and kissed him.

Lee did not expect any of this, to say the least. His eyes widened a fraction, as he felt Sophie's lips on his own. He did not respond at first, but as the kiss deepened, he gave in to the incredible feeling of flight.

As they parted, Sophie looked at Lee again. She could still see doubt and something close to fear in his eyes, but she knew she had won this one. She smiled and playfully pulled her captor back down.

OK, THIS is my most favorite part!)))) I had SO much fun writing it!

Life is just another game... Let's play.

Hostage.
Chapter Eight.

The following few days were like a fairy tale for Sophie. And for Lee. Of course, he was afraid at first, he tried to convince Sophie that this was all wrong, that he was almost twice her age, ('Good thing he still doesn't know I'm seventeen,' Sophie thought at one point.) and that SHE had a life to live, while he had lived the most part of his.

"Maybe you should've thought of this before you took me with you on that helicopter," Sophie smiled crossing her arms.

"But I..." Lee stopped mid-sentence. He had nothing to retort to that.

Sophie smiled in triumph. The man was sometimes so unlucky when arguing with her. And that's why an idea came to her mind.

"Take me to town today," she said suddenly.

"What?! No, I can't and..." Lee was taken aback by Sophie's sudden request, but never got the chance to finish the sentence, as Sophie had already snaked her arms around his neck and silenced him with a kiss.

"And why not?" she asked smirking as they parted. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He had learned by now that he could not refuse her.

Sophie giggled at Lee's defeated look.

"Well then, see you in the hall!" Sophie left for her room to get ready for the trip, leaving Lee to himself.

As the girl entered her room, she headed for her wardobe to pick out an appropriate outfit. It was close to the end of August, but the weather was still as good.

Suddenly Sophie's thoughts became very gloomy, her hands falling to her sides. The closer to September, the closer to her birthday and the beginning of the term.

'I will have to talk with Janus or come up with a way to hide the truth about myself,' Sophie thought. She somehow didn't feel safe to tell Janus of her age yet.

"Besides age is always something a girl keeps a secret," Sophie thought out loud.

'Yeah, but usually it's when they look or WANT to look younger than they are, not the other way around,' her mind retorted.

Sophie frowned at the idea.

"If the guy is cute and you like him, get him. Even if you have to tell him that you are from the North Pole and work in a 'Protect Penguins' organization."

Sophie burst out laughing at the memory of her friend, Krista. She cheered up a bit, and started changing.

In a white dress with brown, green and red flowers on every inch of it, light makeup and her hair loose, Sophie entered the hall fifteen minutes later. While she was walking, an idea suddenly stroke her: there WAS a reason why Lee couldn't go to town with her! How could she be so stupid for Heaven's sake!

Sophie quickly hurried to the hall. She knew Lee was already there.

"Listen, Janus, I'm so sorry, I was really stupid when I suggested this, I completely frogot that..." Sophie stopped mid-sentence and froze, as the man in the hall turned around to look at her.

It WAS Janus Lee, alright, Sophie could recognize him. But it was as if she was looking at his younger brother or something. He was like a younger version of himself, his hair shorter and less messy, the ever-present glasses gone, as well as a few wrinkles. He was not wearing his usual jump suit, but a sand-coloured costume and a black shirt.

Recovering from the shock, Sophie smiled brightly.

"Well, seems like you've taken care of the problem!"

Lee himself was once again taken aback by Sophie's appearance, her beauty. He stood frozen too, until the girl came up to him and took his hand in hers.

"Well, let's go!" she said brightly, and he complied.

"You look beautiful," he said.

"Thank you!" Sophie smiled again. "You look great too! To tell you the truth I had completely forgotten that the whole of Landmark City is after you when I asked you to go to the town with me. I'm sorry. And by the way, how did you take care of that problem so fast? Hardlight?"

Lee chuckled and nodded.

Soon the two were in town centre.

"So, where did you plan to go?" Lee asked.

"Uhm... How about the park?" Sophie suggested.

"Alright, then the park it is," Lee agreed, and the couple headed for the park.

As it was Tuesday, Landmark City central park wasn't too crowded. Janus and Sophie walked around, talked, joked and laughed. Sophie was glad to see Lee actually happy and having fun. And she felt quite proud of it: after all, it was her who made him smile for real at last.

A few hours and two portions of ice-cream later, Janus Lee was doing something he thought he'd never do in his whole life: he was lying on the lawn nearby the park lake, gazing at the sky, with Sophie lying next to him, her head rested on his shoulder, their hands interwined. Both were silent, as both felt no need for words. Somewhere close by, a gang of teenagers was having a picknic. They had a radio with them with random songs playing all the time. One saong, however, was one of Sophie's favorites.

"You took my hand
You showed me how
You promised me you'd be around
Uh huh
That's right
I took your words
And I believed
In everything
You said to me
Yeah huh
That's right

Is someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them up
Cause they're all wrong
I know better
Cause you said forever
And ever
Who knew...'

Sophie didn't know why but the song somehow fitted the mood. And the girl had a strange feeling that the man beside her was now listening as well.

'...I wish I could remember
But I keep
Your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling
Who knew
My darling
My darling
Who knew
My darling
I miss you
My darling
Who knew
Who knew'

The song ended and another one started shortly afterwards. But Sophie was still under the impression of the song. She had listened to it a million times before, but somehow hearing it now made her feel different about it. Indeed, who knew she would ever meet her 'idol' again? And who knew she would end up as his lover after being taken hostage by him?

Lee was thinking exactly the same thing. Who knew that a simple girl he had taken hostage would change his life so much? Who knew he would end up in love with her?

...

Wait, what was that again?

Lee's eyes widened a fraction as he realized what he had just thought. He WAS in love with her. And he didn't see that one coming.

'Or maybe I did?..'

A few hours later Lee and Sophie were walking along the central Landmark City shopping gallery.

"Hey, look!" Sophie headed for the jewel shop stand. What she noticed was a pendent on a chain, made as a crystal-shaped emerald in a white-gold frame.

Lee looked at the skillfully made piece of jewel, then at Sophie, then back at the jewel.

"Hmm..."

Lee entered the shop. Surprised, Sophie followed.

"We would like to try on that emerald pendent," Lee told the shop assistant, who immediately dispatched the said item.

"Here," she said, politely smiling and helping Sophie fix the pendent.

It looked gorgeous. Sophie simply couldn't tear her eyes away from the jewel.

"Perfect," Lee said, also charmed by the way the pendent fitted Sophie, "We'll take it."

As the lady smiled and went away to get the receipt, Sophie wheeled around and stared at Lee.

"What?! But, Janus, I..."

"It's perfect on you," Lee interrupted. Sophie fell silent and just smiled, happiness shining on her face.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I will always keep it as a memory of you."

The rest of the day also went great. Lee took Sophie for dinner to one of the best restaurants in the city. After that they had another walk, and then headed back to the lab.

"Thank you for everything, Janus," Sophie said happily, as they were walking towards his room.

"What for?" Lee played a game of innocence. He knew Sophie would get annoyed. And he was right.

"You KNOW what I'm talking about, so quit it, will you?" Sophie growled. Lee laughed again.

"Alright, alright," he rose his hands in mock defeat.

Sophie knew that Lee was trying to tease her. She smirked inwardly.

'My turn!'

"But, anyway, I think I know a way to thank you, after all," Sophie smiled cunningly, and before Lee could react, she was already kissing him, one hand blindly finding the button to open the door to his room.

Well, here's another one!!! All for my most devoted reader, JollyInlove!!! Enjoy!

Life is just another game... Let's play.