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"I'll be back later to escort you back t--"

"Oh shut up and move it," the young woman sneered, roughly shoving the guard aside so she could enter the yard. "Not in the mood, so shoo and I'll deal with you later." Samantha aimed a dismissive hand gesture at the guard over her shoulder, who merely rolled his eyes and retreated back into the building. He could deal with her snarkiness...as long as that's all there was.

Obviously, Samantha wasn't in the best mood right now. She reached up, pulling the bucket hat low over her eyes, then adjusted the wrap-around headphones on her ears. A cord lead to a small MP3 player on her waist that had been a "gift" from the labs. Probably a bribe to keep her from maiming any more guards, but she didn't really care. She'd keep it and the music, and do what she wanted. She wasn't about to be bought out now...it was far too late for that.

Readjusting the gloves over her hands, she took a cautionary glance around the yard. Didn't seem to be anyone else out here today with her...other than the guards, of course. No other 'guests' of the labs. Fine with her...she got the feeling that her quarry wouldn't approach if anyone else was around. The CRONUS staff was hard enough to elude. However, he'd shown up once before...and Samantha got the feeling that he wasn't ever too far...

She had no idea why she even thought he might be around now...but something told her that there was at least a chance. And she wanted answers. Whoever this guy was, he knew more than he was telling her, as he obviously enjoyed taunting her with that fact. He'd acted as if she couldn't handle the information; as if she wasn't ready for it. Well, considering recent developments, perhaps that would change.

And if not, then she'd just have to try and convince him to share anyway.

She headed straight for the secluded section of the yard surrounded by trees where she'd conversed with the stranger before. The ground was mottled with sections of shade and light. After a moment, she took care to settle down in patch of sunlight, allowing herself a smile. The warmth felt nice and she was sure she could use the vitamin-D after all the time indoors.

"'Shuffle' works for me," she muttered, fiddling awkwardly with the MP3 player for a bit. Claws made things difficult...at least without more practice.

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps just that odd tendency that electronics on shuffle have for picking songs that are ironically appropriate for certain situations...

Likely the latter.

Whatever it was, Samantha smirked slightly to herself at the song before joining in. Her tone was clear and while her voice was more melodious than the original version, the same feelings of anger and frustration remained beneath the words.




((Lyrics from "Runaway" by Linkin Park))

Samantha trailed off at the sound of the other voice, not bothering to finish the rest of the song. The lyrics were making her uneasy on some level anyway. She reached up, carefully removing the headphones with some difficulty in the attempt to keep the top of her ears covered by the hat, and dropped them to hang around her neck.

Honestly, she shouldn't even have heard the voice. However, she'd had the volume on the player turned down as low as it could go while still playing. It still seemed loud. Even now, she could hear the music drifting out of the earpieces and reached down to shut it off.

"Perhaps," she answered without raising her voice, a trace of a smirk on her face. "However, it's not exactly that type of song. I wasn't aiming for 'pretty', dontcha' know."

As she leaned back, hands behind her in the grass, she frowned to herself. That...was an odd choice of words. Especially with the care she'd been taking recently in disguising her changed appearance...why 'smell different' and not 'look different?'

Of course, her subconscious already had its own theories forming...

"Really?" she finally responded, face still low beneath the edge of the hat. "Well, in preparation for any cheesy lines, no, it's not a new perfume, I don't really wear the stuff, and no, you can't buy me any." She smirked, if only slightly. "But, since I have a feeling that's not what you meant anyway, I'll be direct. What DID you mean by that just now?"

Again with the strange remarks...

"No worries, I haven't dropped my workout routine. Just had to move things inside for a while. Certain...'developments'...seemed to prompt that. Not to mention the increased security." She smirked again, a touch of mischief in the look this time. "'S funny. You'd think they thought I was dangerous or something. Wonder what gave them that idea?" She allowed herself a grin, but the passing thought through her mind of Dameon and what she'd done to him actually made her chuckle. One less sleazeball able to reproduce was fine with her. Not that she knew anything about what had happened after she left him in the deserted office room.

She let the lecherous comment pass without comment, as she'd heard enough of that sort of thing last time. Not in the mood. However, what followed was much more important. "Some are holding up better than others," she muttered darkly. "At least, of the few I've spoken to so far." She dropped her head, staring at her lap as she started slowly peeling the gloves off her hands, exposing the sharp claws within.

"Personally, my intended target is a bit more specific, though I again can't speak for all the others." Her voice had taken on a darker tone, almost a growl beneath the words, as she stared down at her clawed hands. "However, I have a good question for you out there. Since you seem to know so much."

She reached up, flipping off the hat to expose her pointed ears and aiming a fangy grin at the fence. She knew better than to try to pinpoint his position, so she didn't bother. She was still keeping her senses alert though, in case he gave any clue of where he was.

"If they're so worried about upsetting us and us tearing into anything...then why give us the perfect tools to do so?"

Samantha was quiet. It took a bit of effort to squash the initial reaction of outrage and fury...though somehow, on some level, she knew she'd figured most of this out already on her own. That helped keep her temper in check. It was validation that what she'd already theorized was right on track.

It didn't exactly make her happy to be right.

Sighing softly, she leaned back against a tree trunk, arm resting on one knee. "Yeah, I'm not blind. I can practically see the itchy trigger fingers poised on those automatic weapons they're always toting around here." She stared at one of her hands as if it was suddenly fascinating beyond belief.

She was quiet for a while longer, letting the wheels turn upstairs.

Finally, she spoke again, quietly and with less emotion in her voice. "You'd think with all the doctors and so-called experts around here, someone would have had a psychology class or two." She smiled without amusement. "They might be angry, frustrated men...but they're still the ones in charge. Do they really think they can compete with angry, frustrated, and frightened captives? If panic sets in...well, fear and panic are powerful factors. You can't prepare and predict elements of chaos, afterall."

"If they went to all that work to create us...to...alter us like this, be a hell of a waste of time to just destroy us all, don't you think? Of course, if given no other option, maybe that'll be a better choice for us in the long run..."

She was muttering to herself, but figured he'd hear her anyway. Always seemed to, which was why she never bothered raising her voice to be heard.

Inside, she was fuming. Frustration never sat well with Samantha, but everywhere she turned, she hit a brick wall!

"Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway? What can you possibly know about us in here when you're sitting out there, free as a Pidgey?" She wasn't raising her voice, even now as furious as she was. She was in no more mood to deal with the guards right now than with this obnoxious voice. However, she let the fury and venom creep in beneath her words.

"You're telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing...what we ALL should and shouldn't be doing...as if I have some power to control that! And yet, you say they're controlling us...ready to act if we try to fight back. So instead, we should behave, milling about like tame little Miltanks, waiting for slaughter, should our good captors deem it?"

Nearly snarling, she whirled and sent all of her fury into a single punch, barely reacting when her fist impacted with the tree trunk. She was silent, except for a few deep breaths, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so. How do we know that this wasn't done to us because we let it happen? Because we didn't fight back? Maybe its too late for us, but at least now we might have the tools to have a chance at it."

She fell silent again, her mind racing in circles while she absentmindedly rubbed her knuckles. "For all I know, that could have been the whole point of this conversation so far. You claim to know so much about us in here... Maybe you're trying to manipulate me. Make me mad enough to start planning something. I'm not stupid enough to go charging headfirst into some suicidal mission without a plan, but I am vengeful enough to take steps towards a greater goal."

Calming, if only slightly, as the fury still bubbled deep inside, Samantha turned to lean back against the poor tree she'd assaulted only minutes ago. "Don't get me wrong," she continued, softer, but with a determined edge. "I'm no toy; no plaything for anyone to do with what they will. I won't be driven into doing anything I don't want to do. But, I'm not planning on sitting back and passively letting this scum do whatever they want to me, or anyone else."

Not to mention, I have a personal score to settle one day. Just a bit of...family business.

I'm starting to wonder...

Samantha managed to reign in her temper this time, if barely. However, she did feel fit to respond. "So, I have a tendency to be a little dramatic sometimes...doesn't mean I stole it. Maybe I could write for movies some day if I ever get out of here. Doesn't look like I'll be getting much screen-time by the look of things," she quipped lightly with a bitter smirk.

"By the way, while we're being honest?" She smiled to herself, shooting a general glance towards the forest beyond the fence. "You're an obnoxious, irritating git."

Still smiling sweetly, sure he could see her from wherever the hell he was, she relaxed against the tree to think. It was a few moments before she spoke again. "Any fits I might have had passed with the first revelation of what they did to me. Long before any of this showed up," she commented, eying her claws. "After that, oddly, this didn't strike me as much of a surprise. Only when I found out I wasn't the only one it was happening to. That shocked me. I figured I'd be the only one after..."

She trailed off, stopping before thoughts of that revelation or 'the beast' sent her into another bad mood. She needed to stay calm and on-track. She'd waited so long for answers and this might be her only chance at them for a while.

"Anyway," she changed the subject quickly, "That's no news to me. I've had my share and more of sleazebags in here already." She sighed tiredly, rolling her eyes. "I'd rather not have anything more to do with them, but I get the feeling that's not really an option, is it? Too many of them anyway...might as well get some use out of them...somehow." She paused, frowning and not liking her current line of thought. "Everything we get in here is provided by CRONUS. Not a whole lot to offer. And don't say the obvious, 'cause I'm afraid that's a no. I can direct you to a guy that tried that already. He won't again."

"By the way, I wasn't starting anything. He started it. I just finished it," she added with a chuckle.

Rubbing her knuckles again, she was relieved to note that while they were probably going to bruise from her little stunt, nothing seemed to be broken. That would have been just what she needed.

"Honestly," she mused aloud, still staring at her hand, "I don't know how much of me is still human. Story for another time, as I'm sure you don't have the time for it now. But, as far as I can tell, I'm still thinking like a human, so I guess that's what counts, right?" She was stretching, but she needed to think that. As long as she was still herself on the inside, it didn't matter what they did to her on the outside. Shawn was right. She wouldn't let them win.

She latched onto something else said. "Tougher and faster, eh?" She frowned. Granted, she'd noticed a few things...but it hadn't been anything drastic enough to be sure. She could have just imagined it. "I wondered," she murmured before raising her voice again. "Hey...I thought I had it figured out, at least...until the others changed too." She looked up from staring at the ground. "What exactly did they do to us?"

Just when Samantha thought this guy would never get serious...he did. And it sent chills down her spine.

She figured that this was supposed to be one of those times when it felt like the whole world crumbles around you...like everything has changed and will never be the same again...like you have nothing left.

It wasn't.

At least, sadly, she didn't feel that way at all. On some level...she'd already known. She just had confirmation now. Well, as much confirmation as a mysterious voice can provide. That part about things going horribly wrong made her more than a bit uneasy, however.

"So that's why...no medication...after the organ transplant..." She frowned, hugging her knees close and resting her chin on them. Of course not. Why would her body reject the organs...if it thought they belonged there? Did that make her...half Pokemon already? If not, it sounded like she was well on her way there by this point.

Again, she eyed the claws while muttering. "I knew this wasn't over yet. I don't know how, I just...knew." Sighing, she shook her head a bit, raising and not exactly smiling...but the weight pressing on her chest seemed to lighten just a bit at the commentary on her run-in with the deviant guard. She wouldn't ask how he knew about that; she knew he wouldn't answer. Still, it was something that wasn't completely depressing.

"Huh? I'm not sure I underst--OW!" Her hand shot up to her stinging ear, noting not for the first time how sensitive those were now, and reaching for the offending object with her free hand. Growling, she wound back, prepared to fling it back without even an idea of where to aim. "The hell was that about? Who's being childish now, hu--" She paused, fingertips running over the unnatural grooves carved in the piece of bark, then lowering her arm to look at it curiously. Were those...letters?

'Spaghetti'

...what the hell? Seriously. "Oh thanks, that's helpful," she muttered, dripping sarcasm. Aiming a glare out at the forest, she shot back, "You know, I'm not taking orders for dinner. This look like a diner to you?"

Still rubbing her stinging ear, she wished she could have been paying more attention to where that throw had come from. And that she had a rock to throw back.

Figures, he's probably going to be all cryptic about this too. Can't figure out why this would have been a random action...unless he's just nuts. Which is always a possibility. Then again, I could be nuts too. I am sitting here talking to myself in my head...

Smirking slightly and shaking her head, Samantha glanced up again while shoving the piece of bark into her pocket. "Yep...definitely irritating," she muttered.

"Guess I can't ask exactly how far this is going to go, can I?" She frowned, forcing herself to stop staring at her hands. "Suppose I could consider it some sort of morbid surprise to look forward to on boring days in my cell. You know...uh... Hey, you got a name? Or at least something I can call you? I get it if you don't wanna' give me your name, but 'Mr. Mysterious-Yet-Obnoxious-Voice-From-The-Forest-Beyond-The-Fence' is getting a little long." She smirked slightly, fiddling with her MP3 player for a moment while she talked.

If the guards were still paying any attention to her, they might wonder why she'd stopped singing for so long, so, might as well distract them with another brief song. Something...fitting for the moment, at least for her. She didn't bother putting the headphones back on. She just turned the music up a bit, able to hear it just fine while keeping her ears uncovered to pay attention to her surroundings.




((Lyrics from "Falling" by Staind))

He hadn't seen much, but what he did see was fairly interesting. The good niece was sitting there... talking to herself? Maybe she'd cracked after all.
But no. This one was in control, canny. Whatever she was doing, she was doing for a reason. He didn't say a word, he didn't make a sound. This was getting interesting.

He moved behind the singing girl quietly, listening to the lyrics, amused. He did so much love to rile up these poor souls.

"You sure 'wanna' lot there, lass." He chuckled, when he was practically right behind her- but still out of arm's or leg's reach. "Tell me, have you finally lost it? Imaginary friends? Or are you rehearsing for some play the patients here have decided to put together for the staff?" He put on an expression of delight. "I would dearly like to see it."