7661/Sentinels: Infiltrating Trask

Sentinels: Infiltrating Trask
Date of Scene:	28 May 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Undercover, Natasha infiltrates Trask's people.
Cast of Characters:	Bastion, Black Widow (Romanoff)
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Bastion has posed:
The entrance to Trask Industries has been stressful. Stressful being an understatement. The whole of the organization has a distrustful, angry tone to it. There's a lot of unhappy people in Trasks' employ right now, with how beaten up they have been lately in the public eye. Public Relations are frustrated, many of them have quit, but others have taken up the challenge of trying to turn the face of the horrors.

There's a lot of spinning going on, and all of the people that have stayed with the company believe the spins: Trask cant' control these black market groups which steal their tech and their old sentinels from warehouse storage. How do they shift the blame?

New people coming in are met with massive scrutiny: they can't afford any leaks, or any more negative PR. Still, there's a few people that come in to open arms and no harassment: the Russian and Korean groups, who channel resoures into the company.

Natasha arrived with a Korean man, and it was very good timing. The man ended up heavily hassled, interviewed, cross-checked. Natasha herself, with her Sentinel along with her verifying her identity and following all of her directives? "Catia Popov" was classed as a 'Mold Supervisor, Rank 2' right away, as was in the records from her Sentinel, and given high access. The American facility did not want to offend her, and has gone to some lengths.

Catia was taken first to one of the more posh facilities where they treat their high ranking businessmen and women very well, in New Hampshire. The facility was bizarre: a sort of old money feel, yet there were sentinels everywhere in the exteriors: including Catia's. It stuck with her constantly, and some of the other money people were clearly jealous about it, and asked her questions about the new Russian bodyguard model now and then. Unfortunately, the site is not connected deeply to the factories or facilities: this is more a place for rich people to feel rich, and discuss their 'visions'.

Today, Trask is on site, though. A number of meetings have happened already, but as they are all at the same relaxed location, it's possible to find him outside of the meeting situations, as well.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Catia had already garnered quite a bit of attention. Originally, it was the Sentinel, stalking behind her everwhere she went and responding to her every command. She almost seemed to forget it was even there at times, she was so used to the shadow. Yet others paid attention. It was a newer model with some of the newest toys that had been developed in her homeland. Yet, for her, it was just another tool.

Her mind and reputation, well the one created for her, had also gotten her attention. She was well respected and was considered a top mind for the project. The woman behind the mask had studied hard in order to be prepared for task. She knew her stuff.

Then there were her looks. Brilliant, in a high position, and beautiful to boot. She had straight black hair with an almost bluish sheen to it. It fell to below her waist. Her eyes were blue but so light they seemed like ice. Her looks were 'classically' beautifil. The dark gray pinstriped suit showed off her body to perfection, tailored just so. The skirt stopped just above her knees, leaving long bare legs that ended in a pair of black pumps with a four inch heel. The jacket was buttoned but the shell top in red stood out against the darker material of the jacket.

She was outside by the Sentinel that answered to her at the moment, eyeing the gathering and preparing to go inside. "You will be monitoring, yes?" This was meant for the man in the machine. Not literally but remotely. For the moment, she is speaking Russian. If anyone was monitoring, she didn't want them to think it odd she might be speaking English to the machine. When she did speak with others, her English was heavily accented.

Bastion has posed:
When there's possibility of being overheard, the answers from the Sentinel are very trim and simplified. The voice is the same regardless of whether she is alone or not, because it is only capable of one tone vocally, but how it answers is a method of determining how many people can currently overhear. Which may only indicate the intelligence level of the man (machine?) helping her. And how aware he is.

"Full recording will be made while you are in range," answers the Sentinel emotionlessly in Russian. It's emotionless, but it is more than just 'yes': which proves she is alone for the moment: or alone enough for him to speak to her freely for the time being.

"I have not rerouted others away, it is not possible without arousing suspicion today," continues the robot. "The personal guards remain, but half are human."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"No reason to," Catia says as she takes a moment to straighten her jacket, making sure she looks perfect. Wouldn't do to have even a hair out of place. That is part of the persona she is using, the perfectionist who had to have things just so. "I'm going to go do some mingling. Just try to be sure I get as much attention as possible. After all, they want the Russians to be happy." For some reason, that sentence amuses her and she manages barely to not giggle over it. Just because they are making Natasha happy too, thus her amusement.

"Anyone specific inside who would be best to meet? Or find an in with? I'm not going straight for Trask. Too obvious."

Bastion has posed:
"Yes. Lance Yoon is highly connected to the facilities. You could get a tour of them," suggests the voice speaking through the Sentinel. Which would make a great deal of sense, considering what HIS objective is. So 'help' for her is rather continually colored by what the voice inside her sentinel would prefer she be doing. It also makes sense with what identity he fabricated for her: he placed her where he felt was most advantageous to his own agendas. Still, he hasn't given her bad information when asked directly, either.

"I don't have security footage of Trask or his recent behavior; I cannot access it from here without calling attention to this sentinel," he adds, tone still flat.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"No need. I'll find out about Trask while I'm in there, of course." She pulls out a pair of glasses, slipping them onto her face and pulling out a cellphone at the same time. Honestly, the cellphone is a ruse. The glasses will do all the work for her, information flashing on the screen inside them for her to view while outwardly, it just looks like she's reading something on her phone.

"Feed me his info, please." Only spoken as a request since she knows no one is listening in. Otherwise, it would hav to be a command. Once she has information on Lance Yoon, she will take off the glasses and tuck them back into the pocket of her jacket.

"I think it's time to make a splash. If you will excuse me." And with that, Catia Popov heads for the door to the building, ready to start brushing elbows and retrieving information. She does have an earbud in, that allows her constant contact with her Sentinel.

Bastion has posed:
The social event inside is fairly quiet and tame. It's about two dozen people, total, yet not loud. The reason becomes immediately apparent: Mr. Trask is present, and his mood is frosty and negative. Someone near Catia as she enters was remarking to another that he's 'probably off his pain medication', but it isn't said in a judgemental way: more empathetic. Trask himself isn't surrounded by people that dislike or fear him: no, this room is his zealots, more than anything else. The quiet is out of respect for the frustrated Trask. He's towards the end of the room, eating bits of watermelon while one of his factory heads gives him an update.

Lance Yoon is with his assistant, Karen Maeni, standing near a clump of visitors that Catia will recognize as eager bankers and investors. At least one is a Friend of Humanity, possibly the whole lot of them.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Upon entering the room, Catia pauses at the door to let her eyes adjust to the difference in light from the exterior. In truth, she's giving a moment for her entrance to be noted and to draw the eye of a few people.

She moves forward into the room, the sound of her heels against the hard floor loud to her at least. It probably isn't but such is the way things go. A server going by with champagne finds his load lessened by a single flute. She doesn't even acknowledge his existence as she scans the gathering then moves to a small grou that does not include Yoon. Again, don't want to seem too eager. Instead, she's just another one of the Trask people playing at reassuring the investors, to be sure they continue funneling their money into the project. She makes sure she has on her best smile and her laugh is just slightly too loud. Again, enough to get attention but without making it seem like she is.

Bastion has posed:
The beautiful new Russian woman intimidates some of the bankers and investors, but an equal number are aggressively interested in speaking to her. She doesn't have to wait long before two investors join her, greeting her politely.

But, one of their number, another Russian and perhaps the most dangerous person to Natasha's cover, Zoya Kozlov, is also present. She's dangerous due to being the most able to completely gut Catia's story, should a situation turn to needing deep information. She dips her head to 'Catia', and her approach causes the investors to back off.

"Good evening," she bids to Catia in English, perhaps for the benefit of the others around them. Zoya is good looking, but much older than Catia, and age hasn't been very kind to her overall; she's wearing the rough years on her face and in her steely eyes.

"I wanted to speak with you, about your Sentinel," Zoya says, in Russian, this time. Lance Yoon and his assistant look up and over at the Russian language use, curious.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
The person she didn't want to see but this was always a possibility and Natasha is up for the challenge. She wouldn't do what she does if she was bad at it.

"Good evening," returns Catia as she offers a nod of acknowledgement to the other woman. She gives a parting smile and wave to the investors as they move on to other conversations. Then she focuses fully on Zoya.

"What did you wish to know?" she asks in Russian, no flaw in her accent. It may have been years but her native tongue doesn't fail her. She takes a sip of her champagne, watching the woman closely as she does so. Body language, word choice, all the things she needs to be able to read a person accurately.

Bastion has posed:
Zoya moves towards some of the food, with an elusive smile, and expectant quality: she is indicating for Catia to step aside with her. It's an invitation for now, and comes with her answering, "Why it does not connect to the network in the same way as the others do," Zoya asks. There isn't suspicion in her tone, so much as a curiosity: a scientific interest more than a distrustful one.

"I would go so far as to even say it lacks the protocol for Mr. Trask's access, in the original code supplied us," suggests Zoya. "Your group must be very talented? Perhaps one of your programmers?"

Zoya pauses, and then eagerly presses, although her expression stays muted, still in Russian, "Did you manage to hire the /twins/?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Thankfully, she was briefed on the twins. This was understood to be a potential sticking point, considering her Sentinel is not playing nice with the other ones. "Yuri and Anya? Sadly, no. We had them /this/ close but then they backed out at the last moment. Citing some former obligation but we suspect they didn't agree with our methods," Catia says with a roll of the eyes as though dismiss the pair and their silliness.

She considers the table of treats and does opt to pick up a few pieces of fruit, laying them on a small plate so she can enjoy in a moment when there is a lull in conversation. "One of our programmers found a back door. It allowed us to make...modifications, so that the Sentinels were better programmed for our use." She stresses our just a little bit. "It's much better than a human bodyguard, no?"

Bastion has posed:
Down on the other side of the room, Trask breaks some of the silence with a, "Lies! How dare they do that!" in outrage at the man in front of him. Then conversation smooths back out, as Trask drops his voice again. He's not in a wheelchair as he was when Catia first arrived, but generally stays seated.

Zoya looks over at the outburst, then back to Catia. "Good. We are still courting them," she says primly, but seems pleased to not have Catia as active competition. "Perhaps we could work together, however. We have the initial scans from the /subject/. It was in our custody before it was misplaced, when it was foolishly shipped here. Against my advice. I suspect we are close to a means of locating it: if you have assets that are very strong, perhaps they can decipher what /we/ have." Zoya lifts her brows, and samples some cheese.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Hmm." Catia makes a show of considering as she pops a grape into her mouth, chewing slowly. No hurried movement, as though she has all the time in the world. She glances toward Trask and those with him then diverts her attention back to Zoya. "I would have to see your information before being able to truly agree. While O do have assets that are quite capable, I also would hate to agree on a course without having all the information first. You understand, yes?"

A piece of watermelon is speared on her fork as she scans the room, making sure it looks like they are having idle small talk and not some sort of plotting behind backs. That would never do.

Bastion has posed:
"Of course. And competition between our groups is natural, but for this, we should combine resources," encourages Zoya naturally. She's good at what she does, which appears to be forging useful alliances. Zoya supports Catia's suggestion without seeming like she's giving any ground. It's no wonder she works with Trask. "Then you agree our resources should be devoted to locating and study of the subject?" Zoya asks, somewhat innocently, but she's aware she's being transparent: she gives a thin little smile. And she continues to angle. "I will convince Bolivar that it is important to get it in one piece, not destroyed. We should draw back for a time, let things settle. Research. Not sell before we are ready. Makes for a terrible image."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I agree we need to find the subject. Although we have a lot of information, or we would not be where we are today, there is so much more to learn. However," Catia smiles as she pops another grape in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before speaking again.

"I believe in what Mr. Trask perfers as a course of action. It is his company, his vision. If he had the proper people programming, then there would be no nightmare, no bad press, no difficulties. Unfortunately, he has trusted those who are...what is the American term? Snakes in the grass. Those who are following their own desires instead of those of our employer. What we need is modification, not selling faulty units that have a backdoor large enough to drive a tank through."

Bastion has posed:
Zoya's gaze slides to Lance Yoon immediately when 'snakes' are mentioned, but she doesn't say anything improper about it. She doesn't seem to think the statement was directed at herself, and doesn't react with offense. "Of course, I merely meant that his 'dead or alive' view towards the subject does not get us the research we need," Zoya replies.

"It is not a mutant: it still has good uses," Zoya jokes. She sobers. "What it must be now. We can barely imagine, I think. I loathe missed opportunity." Zoya watches Trask a long moment. "Speaking of that, please excuse me." She inclines her head to Natasha, and heads towards Trask, seeming to anticipate the other men moving away from Trask.

From Natasha's ear comes a different message, from her 'escort' Sentinel: "I want to know what she knows."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Picking up a strawberry, she brings it to her lips. The piece of fruit obscures her lips from prying eyes. "We will find out soon enough. Patience. We seem too eager, they know we are up to something." She takes a bite and begins sets down her plate on a passing tray held by a server. Then she takes back up her flute of champagne and begins to move through the room again.

"Mr. Oliver, so good to see you again," she says as she comes up to the group around Yoon. "It's been so long." She's never met the man. Yet, he is known for excessive parties with lots of recreational drugs which often means he has no memory of those parties so this isn't he first, nor will it be the last, time he has been greeted by someone he doesn't remember.

Bastion has posed:
Fortunately, the voice in her ear is silent and leaves her alone. He may have his own ways to try to look into things, or he chose not to prod at her. In any event, she can focus on what she's doing.

"You are looking lovely," Mr. Oliver replies, having no concept of her name either, but making the best of the situation. He can't be bothered to remember all the names. He does give her a smile, though, taking in her beauty in an obvious way. Yoon's assistant turns some, to offer inclusion for 'Catia' into their circle.

"No, the shipments are going to end, until further notice," Yoon is saying to the man at Oliver's left. The man scowls and tosses back all of his drink.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
This is where she listens. It's a skill. One that more people should practice. It's easy enough to talk and to hear what people say but to really listen is another thing. It requires giving full attentiong to the person talking. It requires taking in their tone, inflection, micro expessions, to hear what they are really saying.

And the more one listens, then they will have a moment of clarity and be able to join into the conversation. "End?" she asks in surprise. "Rather than just sending out fresh programming. That would be much simpler. Not to mention better to have a profit."

Bastion has posed:
Lance Yoon moves his gaze to Catia, without much expression change. "We supply parts and materials, not finished units," he clarifies, without much inflection. He's not impossible to read: in a way, he's easier than some people. He's irritated with something, but he's doing his duty. "There is too much heat around this. It will cost us much more, now. Unless we are paid better, it ends."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Ah. My apologies for the misunderstanding," Catia says, giving a respectful bow of her head to back the words. "But forgive me. I am not from around here," she adds with a bit of a smile and a soft laugh, as though her accent didn't share that information already.

"But stopping shipment of supplies doesn't help with the 'heat' as you put it, does it? Any interest would still be there and stopping shipment would imply wrong doing?"

Bastion has posed:
The others nearby give Lance Yoon a more critical look, the distrust of a similar type to what Zoya sent his way. He laughs softly, rolling his eyes a little bit. "I am here to make money," Yoon reminds Catia most specifically. "Not lose it, when my other contracts retreat from association. Keeping those is a better deal, unless I am covered. Politicians here are pushing on my companies, trying to block supply lines. It is serious."

The other man that had been speaking to Yoon bargains, "Perhaps we can do something about that, then. To appease your other contracts, keep them happy..."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I am certain that could be done. Or perhaps someone with the know how can...push back? They are tied up in red tape and it always will take the government time. Before they can act, I am certain resources can be pooled to keep your cash flow in the black," Catia says as she gives a bit of a shrug.

"Reassurances made to the companies that are running without a real basis for doing so. Or...something."

Bastion has posed:
"The men that I represent can be convinced," Yoon replies, shrugging, and gives Catia a tolerant little smile. He isn't interested in her, from his physical actions. He's either reserved, happily taken, or something else. "But if something isn't done, in a substantial way, the money will talk," Yoon warns.

"We'll just have to increase our orders, then, so your other contracts don't matter," calls Mr. Trask over at them suddenly. It causes a hush, and Yoon smiles briefly, heading over to Trask, taking that as a summons. Mr. Oliver lifts a brow at Catia, and moves away to the side, staying out of it.