She had no idea how long she sat in that chair, arms bound behind her cramping the muscle in her shoulders painfully. What felt like hours could have only been minutes, exasperated by the intense anxiety that tightened in her belly. By the time the door across from her opened, she felt like she’d been staring at the one dot in the middle of the table for days. The sound had startled her, teeth bared in a snarl as she looked across at a well-dressed individual.

Whatever gender they were couldn’t be discerned easily, hidden behind a suit that could easily confuse them as a male. Their hair, however, had even Zerori cautious about their species – shining bright red in the white of the room almost ephemerally. In their hands, a detail Zerori couldn’t miss, was a metal case. Moving, they closed the distance between the door and the chair in the otherwise silent room like a ghost; she couldn’t hear their footsteps or even feel their presence.

The sound of their voice was just as jarring, echoing breathlessly like they weren’t really there. They spoke as if they were both just chatting at lunch, “Are you impressed? It’s a special coating we lined the walls with Tatchyium – helps to keep most individuals grounded-”

“Why am I here?” Zerori interrupted, annoyed by the effect of their voice and dribble that came out. She wanted answers and wanted them the second she was sat in her chair. Was he going to kill her? Eliminate the competition so he could keep his treasure hidden?

They paused, whatever emotion they were feeling not easily discernible, before they smiled. “I’ll get to that. Firstly, you must be quite disoriented, correct? That is a side-effect of this wonderful coat along the walls. It has such wondrous uses; very multi-faceted, this enamel. It has been said that not even ever-elusive magic can penetrate it’s surface.”

Zerori growled low in her throat. So that’s what they began with; keeping her in her place by shoving their ability to control her demon side effortlessly. “That’s nice. You want an award for that?” She snidely remarked.

“Oh, we have many. Quite the facility, this place is. How long have you been here? Three days?” They questioned, ignoring her remark with all the grace of a gymnast.

“…” Zerori said nothing, willing to push for a more useful response.

“It’s not a problem if you refuse to speak from here on; in fact, it might benefit you to listen completely and not speak at all.”

Oh, they were good. The back of her tongue itched to move, the vow of silence now a bad aftertaste. When her patience ran out, she spoke, “You don’t actually have any power over me… you understand that, right?”

“On the contrary…” They mused softly, the smile twitching upwards on one side. Just as quickly as it came, the smirk was gone and back in place was the smile. “Let’s get right down to it, shall we? I don’t like to repeat myself so I recommend you listen very carefully – as I think we can both come out on top in this.”

Zerori narrowed her eyes, skeptical, “I’m listening.”

“You want what I have and I want what you can provide. A truce, so to speak. You provide for us resources from the uh… Incorporated, and in turn we give you some nice gemstones to put on your wall.” While it certainly sounded like a deal, almost infanatizingly so, Zerori was at least intrigued.

“What kind of resources?”

“Anything we ask for. Weapons. Transportation, raw materials,” He laughed, adding next, “-backstage passes to concerts. Whatever the.. Business needs.” Well, that covered a wide fucking variety. Still, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. The question begged to be asked, however:

“And if I don’t think the deal is worth it? What’s to stop me from just taking them, huh?” She cheekily responded, enjoying the barely half-second break of character on the human’s face. He covered it quickly, however, and steepled his fingers.

“You’re welcome to try.”

Now Zerori had a choice. She could easily break these cuffs, no matter what they were made of. Destroy this room, kill every guard this guy had to throw at her and make it out of here with some change in her pocket. But the dragon balls were here, she could feel it. If she wanted any hope in finding them… she had to take some chances. “Alright. And uh… what’s your name again?”

Malik laughed, a tittering, strange soft sound before he turned the case around began to unlock it. “We’re going to get along just fine, Miss Zerori. Malik. Now, without too much preamble – I do believe you were looking for something that belonged to us here.” With a click, the case was opened and then turned around for Zerori to peer at. The color of the orb she saw was unmistakable. In it were stars that looked exactly like the other orbs she had found. She looked up at Malik.

“-And all you need are resources in exchange for this?”

“That’s right.”

"... I think it's a good idea that you take these cuffs off me, Malik."