Though most of the sprawling Cycnus Corporation headquarters lay dark, the glass windows of the president's office, perched high atop the compound's central skyscraper, glowed brightly.

Inside, the room was a mosaic of opulence and stifling decorum. The guests, wrapped in shimmering folds of silk and satin, ghosted across the room, mildly greeting one another, and conversing lightly about this and that before exchanging an equally bland farewell, and trading off for the next partner. Silent waiters slipped deftly in and out of the little groups of partygoers, carrying trays of fine wine and delicate champagne.

Despite the success of the evening's soiree, however Doctor Fabian Gray couldn't help but feel restless, possibly even worried, about one of his guests in particular.

Not that he had much to worry about, really. Here, in his innermost sanctum, surrounded by the security of the gala's stiff formality, there was not much the woman could do to him without attracting unwanted attention. Still, the urge to keep an eye on this particular guest was never far from his mind.

So when he finally spotted a blaze of orangey silk from the terrace outside, he found himself both relieved and amused at his own relief. It wasn't like him, after all, to get this worked up about… well, anything really.

Politely disentangling himself from his current knot of guests, he made his way across to the doors, pausing with his hand on the knob to study her carefully. She appeared to be alone, leaning slightly over the balcony's edge as if intently studying the buildings of the industrial complex below. A light silk handbag, roughly the same color as the dress, dangled loosely from her shoulder.

Easing the door open and leaning against the frame, he carefully straightened his lapels and put on a charming smile before finally speaking up.

"Ah, I thought I saw someone out here."

Startled, the woman pulled away from the rail, glancing wildly about for the source of the voice. When her eyes fell on Gray, she let out a breathless little laugh, smiling sheepishly.

"Yes. I just needed to get away for a minute."

She busied herself smoothing an imaginary wrinkle out of the long skirt of her dress, stammering out an explanation and keeping her eyes on her feet.

"I-I don't do well with crowds, you see."

He nodded understandingly, glancing briefly over his shoulder at the people milling about in the room beyond.

"It can get a bit stifling, I agree. Especially when one does not know those in their company."

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he seemed to wince, sighing and giving her an apologetic smile as he shook his head ruefully.

"Please pardon that rude insinuation, madam, but… I don't believe we've been introduced."

Unfazed by the breech of etiquette, she shook her head, perhaps a bit too vigorously. A strand of dark hair worked its way free of its elaborate coil to fall loosely beside her face.

"Oh! No, I don't suppose we have. I'm here with Colin."

Gray laughed heartily, gently closing the door and striding across to join her at the fence.

"So you're the woman of mystery, eh? He's been talking almost nonstop about you for about two weeks, now, but we were beginning to doubt that you actually existed. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Miss…"

"Johnson."

Seemingly amused by the answer, he leaned casually on the railing, giving her an appraising look.

"Johnson, hmm? Well, then, are you enjoying yourself, Miss Johnson?"

Tucking the errant strand of hair behind her ear and looking away, she nodded timidly.

"Yes. I always thought this place looked big from the outside, but now that I'm standing here looking at it all from above…"

She turned to give him a nervous little half-smile, fiddling anxiously with the clasp of her handbag.

"I must say, I'm a little bit intimidated."

Returning the smile, he turned to survey the darkened complex below.

"Yes, my seat of power. It is a facility of quite considerable size, I will admit," he answered quietly, keeping his gaze on the buildings below, "although not quite as big as your Enrichment Center, now, is it?"

The woman's shoulders stiffened, and she took a half-step back, turning away from the railing, and giving him a bewildered look.

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't think I understand what you're-"

Turning to face her again, Gray glared darkly, all pretense of genteel conversation put aside for the moment.

"Oh, please. Don't treat me like I'm some kind of fool. I read the incident reports, and your personnel files as well, Miss 'Redacted.' And even if I hadn't, your poor choice of alias would have given you away."

Casually retrieving a gilded pocket watch from somewhere inside his coat and checking it briefly, he continued, as if making an idle observation about the weather, or the price of stocks.

"I must admit, though, that I was quite surprised to see you, when you walked through my door this evening. I thought I'd finally washed my hands of you after that incident on the bridge."

Chell returned the glare, dropping her timorous act and drawing herself up to her full height.

"If you've really read my personnel file, Doctor Gray, then you'll know how stubborn I am. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to get rid of me."

Gray's eyes narrowed.

"Quite obviously. I'll have to look into it, I suppose."

Ignoring the threat, she reached again for the clasp of her handbag, fiddling with it as she spoke.

"You know, I was actually hoping to run into you alone at some point. You and I have some business to attend to."

He shrugged, turning his back to the railing and draping his elbows languidly over it.

"There's no need to rush things, my dear. We can talk about this little fiasco later, if that would be more convenient."

Her answer was to withdraw a small pistol from the bag, and pull back the hammer with a menacing click, pointing it directly at a spot somewhere between Gray's eyes.

The latter merely raised his eyebrows, seemingly more surprised than frightened.

"To business, then. May I ask what you are doing here?"

Chell kept her face and voice carefully expressionless.

"You know damn well what I'm doing here."

"Of course. You've come for my new toy. Quite a fixation you have with it."

Despite a valiant effort on her part, her tight control slipped, and she lifted her lips into an angry snarl.

"She is not a toy. And she doesn't belong to you."

He waved a hand dismissively.

"A technicality. You have come here to steal something that I spent a great deal of time and effort to acquire, at great cost to both the company and myself. Which does not, in fact, belong to you, either. Indeed, quite the opposite."

Tightening her grip on the gun, she glowered fiercely down the barrel.

"A technicality, Doctor. Now, are we going to talk businesses anytime soon? Or do I have to demonstrate just how serious I am about this?"

With a huff that was almost a laugh, Gray nodded.

"Very well. Just satisfy my curiosity first, if you will. Why are you doing this? Why risk life and limb, again and again, for this machine, when it has done nothing but harm you? A machine for which you should, by all means, harbor a great deal of resentment? It's not logical."

For the first time since they'd begun their exchange, she gave him a real smile; crooked and lopsided, but genuine.

"There's your problem, Doctor. You're thinking with the wrong organ. I'm not doing this for any logical reason. Hell, I'm still not even really sure why I'm doing it, myself. It just… it feels right to me. Besides, I don't… well, I mean, we're… she's…"

Shaking her head, she gave up, letting the sentence trail off and pushing her weapon forward.

"You know what? Forget it. It's complicated. The answer you'll understand is that I owe her a debt. And I intend to pay that debt tonight. Now. Where is she?"

Gray huffed again. Something that was almost akin to respect flickered briefly through his eyes.

"Stubborn indeed."

For a moment, he fell silent, glancing briefly out over the railing again before turning back to her with a sly grin, adjusting his right sleeve and cufflink unconcernedly.

"Well, I'll tell you what. I'm in a good mood tonight. So, let's play a little game, Miss Redacted. If you win, you buy yourself a day's travel time before I report you to the authorities. If I win, then… well, let's just say that you may find yourself in a… grave… situation."

Her smile hardened back into an icy glare, and she regarded him with cold suspicion.

"I'm listening."

His grin widened, and he swept an arm out over the railing for emphasis as he spoke.

"Your machine is being kept somewhere inside this complex. I'll not say where. But I will give you a ten minute head start, if you agree not to disrupt this suite."

When she gave him a skeptical look, he shrugged, giving her a smile somewhere between smirk and sneer.

"Wouldn't want to frighten my guests, now, would we?"

She considered this briefly before finally nodding curtly, keeping the pistol trained on her adversary.

"One additional condition."

"And that is?"

"Colin won't suffer as a result of my actions."

For a moment, Gray simply stared, one eyebrow raised as if anticipating some sort of joke to follow the request. When none came, he shook his head, turning his face aside and chuckling quietly.

"Ahhh, and here I thought you were just using him to get close to me."

Stifling one last chuckle, he turned back to her, eyes glinting.

"But you needn't worry. He will not be harmed. Colin is still too useful to dispose of quite yet."

He held out a hand.

"So, do we have a deal?"

For a moment, she said nothing, simply glaring down the end of the gun at the proffered hand. Finally, she stepped lightly out of her shoes, nudging them gently aside with her foot. Laying the weapon down in front of her, she took a step back, then another. Then abruptly, she turned, vanishing around the corner. The slap of her bare feet on the concrete of the balcony faded slowly, until it was cut off completely by the slam of the heavy door of the stairwell.

Gray waited a moment longer before stepping forward and scooping up the pistol, examining it briefly before crossing to the railing again. Absently turning the gun over and over in his hands, he surveyed the silent compound below one last time before laying the weapon down and turning to rejoin his guests.

"Very well then, Miss Redacted. May the best man win."

Howdy thar! You'll notice that I left a lot unsaid, here. That is precisely because I want you to speculate on what has happened up to this point. What do you think happened on the bridge? What words was she looking for when she was trying to explain things to Gray? How did this whole mess start, in the first place? I have my ideas, but as of now, there is no real right answer. I'd love to hear what you come up with :D