A/N: First time Archer and Malory Archer centred fic.

Excuse any/all spelling/grammar mistakes

Archer is hilarious but don't want to attempt writing humour...
Any/all feedback, etc is appreciated :D

Chapter One – Stalked Prey

"We have been foiled again, another failure! Well, not this time! I will not stand for it!"

"Shush! Have confidence, this time we shall be successful but for now...patience, my love."

Cyril cleared his throat as to announce his presence, after all it was Friday night and the office was all but deserted with the exception of himself and his boss, Malory Archer and although this had not been the first time that the dedicated duo had willingly sacrificed their own personal time and energy, largely necessary to review and complete the usual subpar work of their fellow colleagues who left the office regardless.

Cyril had been weary as to not inadvertently startle his superior who now rarely participated out in the field but he reckoned that her previous years of espionage and constant alert was still heavily engrained in her and Cyril had learnt that lesson the hard way.

"Ms Archer?" he announced, "Burning the candle at both ends, I see."

Malory grunted in response to Cyril's idiotic statement and continued her hurried scribbling on the notepad without pausing, "Your power of observation knows no bounds!"

Cyril held his hands up in a defensive gesture, "I was going to offer my assistance...after all it is Friday night but if that's your attitude then you can forget it..." his voice trailed off at the ending of the sentence

"What?" she demanded eventually looking up from her paperwork.

"What!" he answered too quickly

Malory threw down her pen which clattered against the computer in frustration and angrily snatched her glass then greedily gulped the remains of the whisky, the amber liquid burned as it travelled down her throat while her fingers tightened around the crystal glass.

"If you must know...not that it is any of your business, someone...meaning me, as usual has to keep this place afloat, somehow..." Malory sighed and placed the glass down onto the desk with slightly more force than was required and glared at Cyril from over the rim of her reading glasses.

"I'd have assumed that you would've delegated that menial task to one of your lackeys?"

Malory pinched the bridge of her nose and slowly exhaled, "Unfortunately, it is above all your pay grades and requires competency or we'll all be out of a job!"

Cyril glanced down awkwardly at his shoes, "Oh!" he uttered

"For goodness sake, don't take it personally...it's just been a very long and stressful week for me besides the cherry on top of my day...Ron is out of town for god knows how long, this bloody headache of mine which won't ease and my last appointment hasn't even bothered to show up nor the common courtesy to at least phone to apologies or reschedule...that ass!"

Cyril frowned and check his watch again, "An appointment, at this hour?"

"Yes, Big Ben...I'm well aware of the time but it was the only available time that either of us could schedule at such short notice but it's not as though I've wasted a perfectly good Friday night..."

Cyril sighed, not sure why he felt pity for his boss, "Well, here's a suggestion...since I'm just one of the lackeys...why don't you go home and leave me to close up shop?"

Malory raised an eyebrow at Cyril but the intensity of her headache increased and therefore won, she decided that whatever mischief he was planning then she would just plead the fifth and hope it would not be left to her to deal with, "Really Cyril?"

"Yes, I wouldn't have offered in the first place...I'm pretty confident that I can handle locking up shop, I won't even disturb...this," he referred to the 'organised chaos' of various documents which buried the surface of the mahogany desk, "I'll just leave it and lock the door."

Malory smiled faintly which was probably alcohol influenced by the copious amounts of whisky that she had allowed herself to drink throughout the hectic day, "Thank you, Cyril. I appreciate it."

"See you Monday."

The journey home from the office was uneventful as the driver navigated throughout the city on route to her penthouse apartment that was located on the Upper West Side however the brief commute ended when Malory was abruptly jarred by the driver as she had succumbed to the warmth of the car heater and the hypnotic passing of the streetlights.

Reluctantly, she allowed the driver to help her from the car but pushed out of his arms, partially embarrassed and barely muttered a few words of acknowledgement. Her hand clutched her head, as the pain of her headache had not lessened and she staggered towards the front of the building.

Malory Archer arrived into her apartment, slumped against the locked door and pinched the bridge of her nose. She closed her eyes while resisting the urge to rush towards the bathroom as the wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm her however she remained focused on controlling her breathing until the nausea settled.

After a few long moments, the sensation disappeared although the headache remained persistent but not for long! She threw her Chanel jacket and briefcase onto a chair and entered the kitchen, towards the medicine drawer.

She smiled, "Ah ha! Headache-be-gone!" she muttered to herself and popped out two painkillers from the foil wrapper onto the marble counter along with two sleeping tablets

Malory swallowed the tablets with a medicinal and typical 'Archer' measure of single malt whisky from the crystal decanter, personally the whisky was far better and slightly more expensive compared to the whisky that was typically stored in her office and very often shared with her son.

The apartment was eerily silent, a saddened reminder that Malory was complete alone and she gulped down her drink only to pour yet another glass then busied herself by adjusting various collected ornaments and pulled closed the curtains, she hummed a random tune which helped to keep her mind otherwise occupied rather than to dwell on the bitter-sweet thought that even thought she was married, she was currently alone in her apartment.

Malory toyed with her mobile phone in one hand and the glass of whisky in another while contemplating sending a text message or phoning her husband although if he were to respond, she did not know what she would actually say to him, to confess that deep how, somewhere, a part of her secretly missed him?

Suddenly, her knees weakened which caused her to gasp and sink onto a nearby chair, her legs felt weak like that of a newborn lamb unsteady on its legs for the first time. Malory glanced at the time and tried to remember when she last eat a meal that could possibly explain the strange sensation but her mind felt foggy and another sensation of nausea briefly caused her stomach to somersault but not enough for her to waste the remainder of her drink.

Malory relaxed against the chair reluctantly surrendering to the needs of her body to rest although the only obvious explanation for the sudden nausea and drowsiness was due to her hectic work schedule and the excessive amount of hours she had spent in the office.

Slowly, she allowed her eyes to rest, just for a brief moment...

Malory blinked opened her eyes and groaned as she rolled over onto her side, her hand reached out to the empty side of the bed where Ron normally slept. She felt hung-over which triggered another wave of nausea and dizziness which forced her to remain perfect motionless. Malory observed her darkened surroundings and frown with confusion as she vaguely remembered dozing on the chair by the bay window, in the living room but had no recollection of entering or lying on top of the queen sized bed.

She regained her equilibrium and composure, pushed herself up from the bed, she froze, on instant alert. A husky voice sounded from beyond the closed bedroom door, immediately her previous training as a spy caused her to lunge towards the bedside cabinet and grabbed her faithful .forty-four magnum revolver and took aim towards the door.

Once again, her apartment remained eerily silent however Malory remained posed with her gun aimed at the door and waited for any sound or movement. She swallowed and glanced nervously around her darkened bedroom and edged towards the cordless phone on top of the bedside table, Malory fumbled for the phone and pressed a button which was the speed-dial for her son, Sterling.

She prayed that her son would, in fact home and not screening his calls in an attempt to avoid her or worse, fall victim to his ongoing voicemail jokes. Malory listened for a few moments then attempted speed-dial her husband, Ron but discovered no tone to indicate that the phone was even working and threw the uncooperative handset onto the bed.

She clutched her gun tighter and focused on keeping her trembling hands steady to control her aim.

The bedroom door opened painfully slow and silent, the bright light from the hall-way momentarily dazzled Malory which caused her to squint towards a darkly dressed figure who stood on the threshold of the bedroom.

"Get the hell out of my apartment or swear to god, I'll kill you where you stand!" ordered Malory, maintaining confidence in her voice

A second darkly dressed figure appeared; both mysterious figures remained unfazed by her threat of injury or death and in a bold move, crept into her bedroom and edged closer towards her.

Her aim darted between the two intruders and slowly she backed away from them in order to maintain a safe distance, "Are you both deaf? I'll shoot you...both! I'm giving you the opportunity to seriously rethink your decision!"

The two intruders paused and looked towards each other, as if communicating through a form of telepathy and then turned their attention back towards Malory.

Her finger trembled on the trigger, she pointed towards the closest figure and squeezed the trigger but her faithful gun simply clicked as if empty. Her eyes widened and Malory pulled the trigger again and her heart sank like a brick when the gun clicked again.

The two intruders advanced towards her.