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Curses were all that raced through Samantha's mind for a moment. Her mind refused to cooperate with her wishes to come up with a useful plan or bluff, so instead, she forced it. Sneering back at the pair of guards, she fell back on the old standard. When in doubt, turn the tables and bluff like hell.

"Of course I work here, you idiots! Would I have security clearance if I didn't?" She snarled, waving the card in their faces for only a second. Long enough for them to see it was legit...not long enough for them to notice that the name on the card couldn't possibly belong to a female. Thank heavens that the cards were only for electronic use and didn't have photo IDs.

"I work directly with Dr. Hakan. I assume that you two can't say the same?" She raised an eyebrow, arms crossed defiantly over her chest as she prayed that his name carried as much weight around here as she guessed. "I have no need to share the details of my business with you guards, but if you insist, then I suppose that you won't mind paying the price with Dr. Hakan when I'm late."

Samantha gave the man a half-smile, only partially guessing what was going on in his head, and secretly quite relieved herself. "Not a problem. I haven't lost that much time. In fact, if you can tell me if you know of any shortcuts from here to the lab that will save me some time, I can promise this exchange will stay between the three of us. I need to talk to Dr. Hakan as soon as possible."

Practically holding her breath in suspense, she waited to see if her ruse would work. If so, she'd not only escape this little incident unscathed, but she'd be back on track! Perfect!

"Wonderful. You two keep up the good work then." Samantha gave the pair a smile and a playful wink as she slipped past them and into the hallway beyond, quickly leaving the shaking guards behind with her brisk, confident step. As soon as she took the turn the second guard had indicated, she made it about ten steps before making sure the coast was clear and nearly collapsing against the wall. Bracing herself with one hand, she took a moment to try and calm her racing heart as she pondered what she'd just learned. Apparently, her uncle carried more weight around here than even she'd suspected! Well, his name did at least...and some measure of fear. She'd seen it quite clearly in the guards' eyes as soon as her uncle's name had left her lips, enclosed in a threat. What was her uncle really doing here? He was up to something and Samantha was determined to find out what. Normally, she wouldn't have cared one way or the other, but in this case, she could be involved personally. There was no way she could overlook what he might be doing here. Not now that she was involved.

New determination and purpose in her step, she set out again for the lab.

"Damn straight we have a problem!" shouted a familiar female voice. Samantha sneered and shook off the restraining hand of a guard on her arm. Her eyes seemed to radiate threats of death and/or mangling if he so much as touched her again and apparently the guard was smart enough to understand. He continued to keep a watchful eye on her instead, though he kept his distance. Something about this one unnerved him. She was definitely related to the doc...

"Dear uncle! We need to have a little family, heart-to-heart chat!" Samantha called through the door in a sing-song manner, her voice sickeningly sweet and yet failing to cover the venom beneath. "RIGHT NOW!" Her abrupt change in tone was punctuated by a loud bang as her fist connected with the door. Even the guard jumped.

She grinned victoriously as the door clicked and inched open.

Samantha smirked at the retreating staff as well, finding her own satisfaction in their mad scramble. She'd done it! She wasn't entirely sure how, but she'd done it! Victory!

Striding confidently into her uncle's office, she closed the door loudly behind herself and pulled the remaining chair out before sinking into it and leaning forward. There would be no pleasantries and nonsense here today. She was here to talk business.

"Oh yes, everything I need," Samantha replied with a smile that quickly shifted into a smirk. "Except one thing. A ticket home. Think you can arrange that one, Unc? Doesn't seem like anyone else is willing to."

Without giving him a chance to answer, she waved her hand and launched into her next grievance. "Before you start making my travel reservations though, we need to talk about something else no one seems willing to discuss." Her eyes were narrow and set with determination when she turned back to her relative. "My surgery. No one will give me any details. You can't claim patient-physician confidentiality either when it's the patient asking, so don't even think about giving me that crap. I've heard enough of it. I want to know exactly what you did to me. Now."

Her voice was quiet now, but with just enough emotional instability behind it to give it some waiver. She was struggling to keep herself calm as she waited in suspense for her uncle's answer. Weeks of waiting, wondering, and fretting...and it all came down to his answer now.

Carl Hakan may have been the outcast of the family, but his niece knew him well enough to know when he was lying through his teeth. His supposed pity and concern was worth as much to Samantha as a pair of boxing gloves to an Espeon. She wasn't stupid by any means and refused to even pretend to be fooled by this act.

Then...he dropped the bomb.

"W-what...? What are you saying?!?" Her heart both stopped and plummeted to her feet at his admission. 'Not...human? Then, what...no...it couldn't be...could it? It's not scientifically possible!' She violently jerked her hands away from his reach, clutching the arms of the chair tightly enough to whiten her knuckles. If her heart had stopped before, now it had revived itself and was pounding at twice the normal speed. She could feel her pulse pumping through her veins, chest tightening with barely-contained panic. It was too much to consider...he was lying...he had to be...there was no way...even he couldn't have...

She shook her head, clutching it tightly with both hands. "Carl..." Her voice was soft and slowly she raised her eyes to stare deeply into his. "This is some sort of joke, right? All just a big joke and the punchline is coming soon. Tell me you're not serious..."

Withdrawn into already-uncontrollable disbelief and shock, she only stared at this man who was supposed to be her blood relation. What did blood really mean anyway? She was really starting to question that...

"Uncle Carl..." she whispered, sounding more like a frightened little girl than a supposably-intimidating young woman. "Please...tell me. What did you do to me?"

Samantha was...well, she was far beyond shock at this point. She'd convinced herself that her uncle was going to laugh in a moment and tell her that the whole thing had been a big joke. That never happened. She knew now that it never would. She could hear it in his voice. For once, he was telling her the truth. Sinking weakly into her chair, she stared off into space as she weakly replied, "Don't call me, 'Sam'..." It didn't carry nearly the weight or sharpness that she wished it did.

In fact, she only shivered at his signs of 'affection.' It may have looked like affection to anyone else watching from afar, but Samantha knew better than to believe that lie. It was merely one of many. A lie and a ruse; put on display for other people to witness. In reality, it was cold, calculated...wrong. Normally...she'd have probably hit him for pulling something like that.

She couldn't even find the energy to resist as the three guards took her by the arms and hauled her bodily from the chair. Her eyes stared blankly, her form limp as if in defeat. There was no trace of the usual fiery spark in her eyes right now. Where it had gone was anyone's guess. They began hauling her towards the door and settled for half-dragging her if she didn't pick up her feet. She didn't bother to glance back at her uncle as they 'escorted' her out of the office and presumably back to her room. His words still hung in her mind...

...organ transplant...

...not exactly human...

...major breakthrough for medical research...

All well and good...but where did she fit in the overall equation? She was still too off-balance from this unexpected turn of events to even remember half of the questions she should have asked. She'd come up with plenty more in the next few days...questions that she could never hope to answer herself, or even hope to have them answered directly.

So many things to think about and process...

For now, she couldn't even consider the possibility of coping with this new discovery.

Not just yet.