Edith, as many can probably tell, was not meant to be a mercenary, nor did she ever consider the idea of being one in the first place. Unfortunately, she was caught in a whirlwind rivalry between two companies; Equinox Industries, and Mann Co.

Beginning as a nobody, she worked as a secretary in one of the tinier divisions of Equinox's offices, all the way in her hometown. Edith had no goals, no real talents that she knew of, all she wanted was to get by.

However, when she found interest in the budding technology that had begin to work its way into the era, far earlier than it ought to have considering the massive leaps and bounds Black Mesa, Equinox, Aperture, and most importantly Mann Co, she discovered her passion, which happened to be the experimental algorithm that her division had become a part of producing.

Just being a secretary, though, her coworkers began to complain to the higher-ups of the company that she was sticking her nose too much into things she had no right to be a part of, not to mention beginning to do some work on the algorithm herself in her free time, beginning to learn the basics and practically stealing time from the others by doing their jobs for them. Enough complaints were filed to get the attention of the company head- who for simplicity's sake we'll just call "M."

Instead of sending a guard to take out the source of the complaints as he normally planned, M's curiosity had been piqued by the nature of their grievances considering their offices were practically invisible in comparison to the larger company. So, he decided to pay a visit.

Imagine her surprise when the next day, a man in a bright pink suit surrounded by bodyguards- the kind in black tuxedos and sunglasses-, showed up to their nowhere office in a nowhere county.

But when she's approached and the guards are waved off, he's surprisingly soft and nice towards her. A bright smile, inviting language, his palms were big enough to wrap around hers twice over but they were warm, and overall his demeanor was so friendly it was impossible not to feel nice around him.

He offers her a promotion.

That is, upon seeing what she's managed to do.

She's given the opportunity of a lifetime- skipping the in-between and hopping directly into a top position in the New Mexico main building as direct supervision and head of the information and security division, basically putting her in charge of that algorithm completely.

And, as scared as she is, she sees that opportunity and seizes it.

And so, she packs her bags and moves to an old apartment in New Mexico, despite the rest of her days being spent at an expensive, high class building that's widely known to be one of the best in it's area, not to mention tallest.

She loved her new job. Really, she did. Her coworkers were actually surprisingly kind towards her; she had been promoted to what was essentially the second in command, not to mention her new control over the exact project she loved. It was a dream come true, and the server system she created became a practical money machine.

But as time passed, it became clearer and clearer, until she couldn't ignore it anymore, that M had plans for her that didn't pertain to her job.

When it came to its peak, she escaped his office with her life, and never looked back.

Or, well, she did look back, but only once. Because she knew her work would never be something she wanted in his hands. Not anymore.

So, the first day she saw red, rage, she set off a string of code that overloaded the systems late at night, frying them all to a crisp, then fleeing back to her home, knowing M would never let her have a chance at living a normal life again.

Equinox is in contact with just about everyone, her life was practically in shambles. So when she was approached by a mysterious woman in purple, she took the job without a second thought. She fled the public eye, leaving the media waiting like ravenous wolves with open jaws at what looked to be a sensational story, only to be left with M's scathing words and lies, which they gratefully accepted.

She escaped it all.

Unfortunately for the Strategist, all things come at a price.