Week 82, Friday: A Tour

At around noon, a figure showed up out side of the impressive Oracle Compound. It was average height, in a dark red trench coat made of some shiny material--likely rain and snow resistant. It wore a hat, too, one built to keep the weather away from the eyes, hair, even part of the shoulders. Between the hat and the high brim of the jacket, there wasn't much of the face visible. Just a hint of blonde hair in there, maybe.

The figure paused at the open gate, and the walked inside, adjusting its cuffs and looking around, to see if anyone was waiting outside.

The brunette was lounging in her office, actually using it for the first time in ages, waiting for the new agent to turn up. The security feed showed her the concealed figure in the gateway, and Fenris kept an eye on it, watching to see what happened next.

Once the person who was probably Carmen made their way into the compound, Fenris headed out to meet them. Hoping that she would do a better job than Parvati and Ace's droid did.

After a while, the figure did indeed make its way inside, picking across the perfectly manicured lawns while looking around. Inside the building, the figure was visibly looking for a receptionist or someone, anyone.. How was this stranger to know where the elevator that took agents into the bowels of the earth was? Instead, it was all fine glass with a waiting room quality, with no visible cameras. Huh. Or turrets.

As Fenris waited for the elevator to reach the top of the shaft, she was trying to work out what she expected from Oracle's newest agent. They were writing in English, so there was a good chance they were either EI or Fed. Unless they were like Dani... Well, she didn't know anything then.

The doors opened, and Fenris strode out, looking for Carmen, at least there wouldn't be a repeat of her own introduction, though the other agent must be in a better condition than Fenris was back then. It wasn't hard to spot the figure from the security footage, and it was plain to see that they were a little lost. Fenris took a deep breath to calm herself a little, then headed in.

"Carmen? Hi! I'm Fenris. You find this place alright?" Carmen was approached by a tall agent heading towards her. She was dressed in her usual loose black clothing, but the most noticeable thing was her tattoo, a Nordic wolf rising up from her shoulder to devour her right eye. "So, what Corp did Oracle lure you away from?" While, her English was good, it was clear it wasn't her first language, she sounded like she was from Germany, definitely EI.

Carmen visibly tensed before relaxing as Fenris strode up to her--and yes, Carmen looked female, with pale skin and heavily made up blue eyes, a youthful face. There was a moment of appraisal as she looked Fenris over, before she flashed a smile that was visible over the edge of her jacket. She reached up to flip the collar down and tip her hat up, so Fenris could actually see her. Yes. Female, with lots of make up, with bleached, messy hair. "It would be hard to miss Oracle's headquarters." Her lips smiled a little, but there wasn't much mirth in Russian-accented words. "And the last place I worked was in Saint Petersburg Spire." That seemed to be her only answer. She gave a sharp look around she asked, "Where is everyone? And you are Fenris, right?"

Fenris smiled, "The tattoo doesn't give it away? It's supposed to." She gave the new agent an appraising glance of her own, but didn't manage to draw any conclusions. She turned back to the elevator, waving for Carmen to follow "Everyone's downstairs, that's where most of the facility is, for security, you know?"

Carmen's face went blank, and after a moment she twisted her wrist. A slim and high end phone popped into her hand, and she tapped a few keys with a very experienced hand. Her nails were painted black. "Nn, no. I do not speak German." She gave another glance to her phone. "But we can go downstairs." She gave a brief shake of her phone, and Fenris could see it was covered in a security film that hid the contents the screen from anyone who was not the user. She flicked her eyes back to the screen and tucked her phone back up into her sleeve. There was a pause, and only then she smiled, apologetically. She wasn't a very pretty girl, sort of average looking, with a roundish face, though her body looked slim. "English, Mandarin, and Russian only."

"Oh." Fenris sounded a little... Disappointed. She could have done with a bit of the familiar at the moment, and it wasn't like Oracle had an abundance of ex EI agents right now. "Sorry. I guess I just assumed that an Agent from Russia would be EI..." She stared down at her feet for an awkward moment. After a moment of hesitation, she continued, hoping that it would get better from here. "Yeah, as I said, everything is downstairs, I guess it's a bit more secure underground. It's just here." As she lead Carmen into the lift, a thought struck. "And by the way, you should probably grab an internal translator soon, we have people from all over in Oracle."

There was another flash of a smile, bright but not exactly joyful. "Heh. Well, if Oracle pays what it is rumored too, yes, I would happily get that." She took off her hat as they entered the elevator, revealing that her hair was indeed artificially blonde; the roots were a mousy sort of brown. Her eyes were large and wide-set. Yes. Not classically pretty, but with enough make-up, she could probably make someone think she was. "And my phone has a very good translation app, if you wish to speak German."

"No, it's fine. It seems a little rude when you don't have a proper translator installed." She didn't sound entirely convinced by what she was saying, but Fenris was trying to make a good impression. But then, as ever, she brightened up when talking about her vast wealth. "And yes Oracle does pay very well! I made about 15 million off two missions when I joined! You ever hear rumors about Tex being staged? Well, they payed a hell of a lot to keep that one quiet!"

It was then Fenris realized she was stood in an elevator with a woman she knew almost nothing about, and who didn't seem too keen to divulge any information. The Ex EI Agent could understand not wanting to talk about your past, she had more than her share of ghosts to haunt her, but it made her uneasy. Fenris resolved to let Carmen talk for now, to see if she would actually let something slip.

Carmen smiled at the mention of Tex, though by the narrowing of her eyes it was obvious that she might not believe the amount. "If it was true, they would give a LOT of money to keep it quiet. That would be... Mm." EI agent or not, she was delighted by the idea of money, that much was sure. She looked down at the hat, picking off small pieces of dust while she continued to talk. She sounded.. far away. "Fifteen million is a LOT of money. Why stay? Why not move to Varstaag?"

Fenris shrugged, "I might, but just not yet. I have too much to do on Earth." The hard edge to her voice showed that it was something very important, but it was soon gone. "Besides, if I was on Varstaag, how would I earn even more money?" The Infiltrator leaned back against the mirrored wall of the elevator. "Speaking of which, has anyone given you anything yet? Never mind, have this." In a matter of moments Fenris had given the russian woman 200,000 credits. "That should get you started."

Carmen looked at her credit chip's report on her phone. She blinked, nodded... And then began to fiddle with her phone, tapping and restarting her app. Then she checked it again, staring. She didn't move for a second, and then slowly nodded some more. "S..Some things are.. more important than money." Her voice was strangled a little; despite her attempt at a cool demeanor, she was obviously shaken by the amount of money she had just received. She took a step, and just sort of stumbled back into the wall of the lift, her fingers on her opposite hand clutching her hat desperately. "More.. important than.. a lot.. a real lot.. of money."

Fenris couldn't help but smile at Carmen's reaction. "Maybe so, but money sure helps, and you'll get a lot more with Oracle. If there's one thing this corp does right, it's make the EI look poor. Hell, I've been here 9 months and have over 22 million!" Fenris loved being rich, and it couldn't be more obvious. "But then you have to do stupid things to get the big money, like steal the blueprints for the Deathmatch Cyberlins!" She waited a moment to see if Carmen had recovered from getting her first taste of Oracle money before continuing. "So, what is it that you do on missions?"

Carmen wasn't really listening, still looking at her cell phone. After a delayed moment, she said, "Cyberlins.." And then finally looked at Fenris. There was something thankful or.. longing in their eyes, and for only the briefest of seconds, Carmen looked like she was going to kiss her senior agent. And then the look cleared, and she relaxed a little, grabbing the side of the lift for support. She smiled slightly abashedly, not quiet making eye contact. "I am a hacker. I haven't been on many.. missions as such. I can do most of it remotely.But when I do, I am.. okay at not being.. found."

Fenris really enjoyed being rich, and it was even better when someone was as overwhelmed by your wealth as this Russian girl seemed to be. But she was a bit perplexed as to why an Agent wouldn't go on missions, that was the whole point of them. And even stranger was why the CEO would hire such an Agent, surely they wouldn't be able to keep up? "So.. You use drones?" But then that just didn't seem reliable enough, if they were spotted then the mission was pretty much over. But at least here was someone else who actually knew about computers, it was just a pity that she had to be such a mystery.

As the doors of the elevator slid open Fenris decided that Carmen's conversation with Mieko might shed a bit of light on who exactly she was. She motioned for the other woman to follow, and lead the way.

Carmen gave a laugh that was only very slightly bitter, before saying, "No no, nothing like that. ..Oh, I could now.. but.. I mean if I need to go on site, I am okay at staying hidden. But mostly I just hack, or, nn, counter hack from home.. Or work, or whatever." She shrugged, still avoidant but every few seconds, she smiled faintly, still dazed. She was giving Fenris weird, soft looks. Nothing arouses like money, that was the EI way.

As Fenris lead to Meiko's door, Carmen continued her stunned expression, sometimes looking at her phone which she had not put away... In fact, her knuckles were white as she gripped it and walked into the ethicist's office.

Mieko's office door was not locked and slid open when the handle was turned. The ethicist was sat behind her desk inside and was looking down at a chess board in the middle of a game. Mieko did not look up to the people coming into her office, but she did greet them.

"Hello agent Fenris. And Hi Agent Carmen. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

She sat with her eyes locked on the chess board and her hands steepled in front of her face, clearly deep in thought.

Fenris was right behind Carmen as she entered the ethicists office, and she shot the Japanese woman an irritated look. "Well, it seems like you neglected to let Carmen in on what she was actually signing on for, what Oracle does now. I thought she deserved to know, seeing as how you let Hugo jump ship and all. She shouldn't go into this blindly." It was clear to everyone in the room that the German woman did not like Mieko. Rather than taking a seat, she stalked over and leaned against one of the walls, waiting to see what happened, whether Mieko would actually do the right thing.

Carmen looked between the German philanthropist and the.. what? Some sort of higher officer, or...? She shook her head, her bleached blonde hair bouncing as she took a seat. She gave Mieko a sort of knowing glance, though she seemed composed as she sat down. (Pass L&A by 8.) "Well, yes. I was given very little information, which you may know..?" There was a note of hope at the end of her voice, and she rested her hat over her lap, her hands on the brim.

Mieko did not appear to react at all to Fenris' accusation about Hugo, she just kept looking at the chessboard.

"Is there anything in particular that you wish to know, Agent Carmen? I am afraid that I myself do not know everything that is occuring within Oracle, or in the private lives of the many agents that work here."

The ethicist leant forwards and moved one of the plastic chess pieces in front of her.

For a moment, Carmen froze, but it was only for a brief second. (Pass L&A by 1.) She gave Fenris a glance, but it was so quick that the agent couldn't be sure that Carmen had actually seen her. She hesitated, and then continued in fast Russian, "I have only one question... ..How did they find me? How did they know?"

"How did Oracle find you?" Mieko asked the room in general. She put the piece that she had just moved back in its original location. "I am not a part of that side of the business. Perhaps you could ask CEO Lee for further information."

Mieko went back to examining the chess board.

Carmen's eyes were down inexorably to the chess board, and she couldn't help but stare, partially opened mouthed, at the pieces. (Pass int+A&C by 8.) After a second, she closed her mouth and looked back at the impassive face of the Oracle employee. Her voice was back to its slightly bitter tones. "Informative. What is the part of the business that you deal with?"

Fenris wasn't going say anything as the other two spoke, but she scoffed at the idea that Mieko didn't know what was going on. It was her that started the whole thing with the UIG, she had to know what Oracle was planning. And when it became clear that Mieko still wasn't going to come clean, she decided to break her silence. "Carmen, how do you feel about taking on the UIG? Cause that seems to be what we do now, and it's going to get people killed." She looked pointedly at the "ethics officer". "You should be prepared for that."