"I wish I knew." The admission came easily. "I've spent the better part of a week trying to reconstruct what happened before I arrived, and the trail ends remarkably, [i]annoyingly[/i] cleanly. Your previous handler is dead. Officially, that's about all there is to it. Mrs. Everest deliberately destroyed his notes before I ever entered this office because she didn't want his assumptions becoming mine. Whether that was wisdom or frustration, I couldn't tell you."

Her eyes lingered on Rooster for another moment before continuing.

"I've also been given reason to believe the two of you worked together, at least to some extent. Lhotse's research division has spent years consuming an absurd amount of money pursuing projects that nobody outside a very small circle seems capable of explaining. They were taking direction from my predecessor, and Mrs. Everest was content to let them continue. That tells me there was a plan." She shrugged lightly. "Whether it was a good one is another matter."

Andrea paused, studying Rooster's expression rather than her posture. It was habit now. Every conversation had become an exercise in reading the person sitting opposite her, searching for the tiny reactions that revealed more than words ever would. It occurred to her a heartbeat later that Rooster's face might reveal things no human's ever could, or perhaps conceal them just as effectively as Orange's had.

"As for me? I'm not your queen." She smiled faintly at that. "My name is Andrea. I'm the new Chief of Operations. A position which I was given for one purpose, it seems." Andrea met Rooster's golden eyes. "To find the Hecatoncheires. So no, I'm not interested in you being scared, and I certainly don't expect obedience for its own sake. If anything, blind agreement worries me. I've spent too much of my career surrounded by people who told their superiors exactly what they thought they wanted to hear."

A corner of her mouth lifted.

"You've been awake for less than five minutes, you've ripped my desk out of the floor, and you've already called me the Queen of Capitalism." She gave a quiet, amused shake of her head. "I suspect we're well past pretending this is going to be a [i]conventional[/i] working relationship." She nodded towards the desk still balanced effortlessly above Rooster. "Now tell me something in return."

A flicker of curiosity crossed her face.

"When you asked about 'the last guy'... was that just the obvious question to ask?" She tilted her head slightly. "Or do you remember him?"