“Yes, gossip will always be a constant in this line of work, Mister Voss.” She nodded, acknowledging the man’s comment regarding chatter amongst CorpSec. “If I allowed every alleged comment and rumor that wasn’t considered ‘flattering’ to unhinge me, then I’m certainly in the wrong place.” Sam cracked a half-smile, mainly out of courtesy for the new team member, her eyes unwittingly sizing up the shorter of the two, not that stature was really any measure of a man in her eyes. 

Weiland seemed a lot more mild-mannered than she assumed someone with such a vast military background would be, but perhaps it was age that set him apart from many of the younger upstarts who had come through Lotus over the many years. Several were eager to perform their job, proving themselves in any way they could, and ultimately being sloppy enough to either become severed by the company, or killed through reckless behaviour. Either way, Sam had a good feeling about this one, and hoped he wouldn’t disappoint. 

“This way, Mister Voss.” The tall, professionally dressed woman turned to walk down the hall once again, heading toward the lift that would take them to her father, Victor Helios. As much as she enjoyed working for Lotus, the one aspect of her career was downplaying the fact that she was daughter to an Executive Chairman, even though anyone with half a brain would already know this based on a relatively uncommon surname. But still, it was the difference between keeping humble versus boasting. Truth be told, she would rather allow the accolades to fall on her father’s shoulders at the end of the day.

As the trio headed to the twenty-first floor, Sam stood and stared out through the glass wall of the elevator, which looked over a great deal of the cityscape below. Days were usually so beautiful when things were clear, but today brought a dark overcast which had been looming for almost the entire week. She loved the rain, as there was always something therapeutic about watching and hearing the patter of water droplets as they hit window. It was also a reminder of her mother in many ways, who had been spending the last several years within the psychiatric hospital across town. The woman missed her every day, and the one fear was that her mother’s condition would become worse before it became better, and she would ultimate die in that cold hospital. Samantha didn’t want to forget her mother’s memories, and yet each day that passed, she felt a little bit of her essence leaving her as the brutality of the real world permeated around her.
Snapping herself out of the brief reverie, Sam turned her attention to Weiland and Victor, and noticed that the elevator was slowing to their targeted floor.