“Breathe, Sam.” The young woman leaned over the steel and porcelain sink in the executive level restroom and stared at her reflection in the rectangular mirror which hung just a above it. “You'll pull through this like always.” She sighed, dabbing a bit of clear liquid that welled up near both eyelids. “Not that you have a choice.”

Her emerald-colored pupils caught the overhead fluorescent light in such a manner that gave the impression of a faint green glow, which had more to do with the subtle power flux emanating from strategically placed neural implants. Of course those same implants, while in place to regulate fatigue levels caused by the implementation of her magic abilities, ironically caused her emotional and some physical pains right near the end of her menstrual cycle. Not exactly the best tradeoff,  but while many other procedures failed or her body simply rejected foreign components, the current implants were most stable and effective. Stomach cramps mixed with nausea, throw in a bit of vomiting and muscle aches, and you've got yourself a pretty nice time hanging out near the latrine with your head hovering over a toilet at least one day out of the month.

Absolutely charming.

After spending a few minutes spot treating various areas of makeup, tightening the bun of long dark hair behind her head, smoothing out wrinkles on her pinstriped suit jacket, and straightening the matching skirt, Sam stood in front of the adjacent wall mirror and was seemingly satisfied with the overall ensemble. Rarely was she ever happy with her appearance, for one being the amazon that she was at six-foot-one wasn't exactly normal for a woman, but she knew looking the part was at least half the battle right there, and she certainly had an air of confidence and power encircling her at that moment. And with a chin up, she left the restroom and made her way toward the elevator.

“Good morning Miss Helios” The elevator’s computer greeted her in its typical friendly mannerism as she stepped through the glass double doors.

“CorpSec Barracks” She said in a matter-of-fact tone, the computer acknowledging with a low chime followed by [i]“Descending to the Fifth Floor.”[/i]  While waiting for the minute or so of her travels, Sam searched again through the latest dossier on her holopad: [i]“Weiland Voss”[/i], an old career soldier who had been hired on for security detail as well as special operations. Like many instances regarding Lotus Corps day-to-day decision making on special projects and the like, Samantha Helios was granted the privilege to examine classified intel and provide feedback of her own, which would sometimes become the deciding factor. In this case, it had been a no-brainer, on top 9f the fact that Delta Corporation would have scooped him up had she not intervened. Lotus needed well-trained military men like Voss for certain assignments, and there was no way in hell Delta would be allowed to succeed in securing a contract with him.

She made sure of it. She made sure of a lot of things.

[i]“Fifth Floor, CorpSec Barracks”.[/i] The lift computer vocalized, as the double doors opened, and Sam stepped into the main corridor where most of the Corporate Security housing was located. Truthfully she hated being on the floor, because it seemed judgemental eyes were always watching her every move. A nonchalant gaze from a group of agents sitting at a table in the mess hall, or perhaps the random guard walking by as they prepared to start their shift, or better yet, the half-naked male strolling from the locker room to his quarters, shooting her a wink as though he had something to offer her besides respect. She hated the stares, all of them, and yet the partially hidden dragon tattoo that peeked out from behind the V-shaped opening of her jacket didn’t help in the slightest. She had heard enough of the comments and rumors, read enough of the mean-spirited and sexist emails, and experienced first hand how humanity could turn on their own for being even slightly different than they were. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Orcs and Elves ran amuck on the streets of just about every major city in what was left of the planet, but humans, those who survived and endured the longest above all other species were sometimes treated as second-class citizens by their own. Of course she wanted to be “normal”, whatever that was, and never asked for any type of supernatural powers, but she couldn’t change who she was unless she was dead, but that wasn’t happening today.

Sam stood in front of the door leading into where Weiland Voss was currently staying, and pressed the button which would create a synthesised “door bell” on the other side, indicating her presence. “He better be dressed...” She muttered to herself, waiting patiently for the asset to be escorted to her father, Victor Helios.