[A Sentinel Situation] – Shadows and Sentinels – A Mutually Destructive Alliance

In an undisclosed location,

A small man wearing a fancy suit and carrying a suitcase was walking through a warehouse with four tall, strong bodyguards behind him.

Two men dressed like HYDRA soldiers guided the small man and his four bodyguards through the warehouse.

The HYDRA soldiers stopped in front of a door and knocked on it with a pattern. A few seconds later, the door opened, and the HYDRA soldiers took them into the room.

The small man looked around as he entered the room and thought it looked like a police questioning room.

There was only one light bulb hanging above a table and two chairs, and the rest of the room was dark. Nothing else was in the room.

The small man told his bodyguards to stay back, and he walked confidently towards the chair.

As he got closer, he noticed there were four soldiers hidden in the dark surrounding him, and a person he couldn't see sitting in the chair across from him.

He looked at the chair and saw it was too high for him to easily sit in. So, he turned to the hidden person and boldly asked, "What? Are you treating me differently because I'm short?"

The person sitting across from him laughed, and the man realized it was a woman. The woman leaned forward into the light, showing her face to the man, and said, "Your height may be small, Trask. But your mind…that is truly big."

The woman snapped her fingers and quickly two HYDRA soldiers brought a smaller chair for Trask to sit on.

Trask sat comfortably in the chair and placed the suitcase on the table.

The woman looked at the suitcase and asked, "What's inside, Trask?"

Trask gently touched the suitcase and said, "This suitcase has the key to destroy the enemy we both want to defeat, Madame Hydra."

Madame Hydra raised her eyebrows at Trask and asked, "Common enemy? We have one? Can you tell me who that is, Trask?"

Trask didn't pay attention to Madame Hydra's antics and calmly said, "Mutants."

Madame Hydra smiled at him and waved her finger, saying, "No. See, this is where our ideas differ. Mutants aren't our shared enemy. You want to kill mutants, while we want to make them our tools, our weapons. But, the one thing we have in common is that neither of us see mutants as equals. To us, they're just tools to help us take over the world faster. Plus, we both know that mutants can be powerful weapons."

Trask nodded and said, "That's true. They can be made into great weapons, but what if they don't cooperate? We need a backup plan for that situation."

Madame Hydra asked, "Backup plan? We have plenty of those."

Trask waved his finger at her and said, "No. I'm not talking about average shock collars. Those can be used to control weaker mutants, but…" He took out a few pictures and slid them towards her, asking, "what about these?"

Madame Hydra looked at the photos, which showed Val, Erik, Charles, and Shaw.

As she looked at the photos, Trask said, "These aren't just weak mutants that can be controlled by simple shock collars or whatever else you use. They are monsters. Real monsters. These monsters have the power to easily destroy entire cities. And we have just one way – one weapon – to defeat these monsters."

Madame Hydra looked up from the photos and asked, "Really? What is this weapon?"

Trask grinned and said, "That weapon is called Sentinel."

Madame Hydra became curious and asked, "A Sentinel? What's that?"

Trask confidently smiled and said, "Sentinel is…" He opened the suitcase, took out a file, and slid it over to her, continuing, "this."

Madame Hydra stopped the file with her finger, opened it, and the first thing she noticed was the title – The Perfect Mutant Exterminator.

Madame Hydra glanced at Trask and said, "Perfect? Aren't you being too confident?"

Trask replied with certainty, "I know exactly what my creations can do. I never overestimate them. So, if I say it's perfect, that means it really is perfect."

Madame Hydra was impressed by Trask's confidence and said, "If you say so. I'm very interested in this Sentinel then."

She opened the file and looked at the photos, which showed the Sentinels during the testing phase. The photos depicted various stages of testing at Trask Industries.

She nodded, looking at the pictures, and said, "I'm truly impressed by what I see, but the designs are very similar to our exoskeleton suits."

She turned to Trask and asked, "What makes them so perfect then?"

Trask explained, "The Sentinel Mark 1 is made of an incredibly strong material that I won't reveal. This material provides enhanced strength, speed, durability, and so on. They can easily take down a few low-level mutants with just one hit. We've already tested their power against some mutants…"

Madame Hydra listened to Trask's description of the Sentinels and said, "I'm truly impressed. But…" She closed the file and asked, "Let's suppose you successfully create hundreds or thousands of these. How would you get the public to not be afraid of them? How would you make them accept the Sentinels?"

Trask smirked and answered, "Manipulating the public is as easy as lighting a candle. All I need to do is exaggerate a few incidents, and then we'll have people demanding Sentinels to protect their families against mutants."

Madame Hydra nodded and asked, "But what about the government? How would you make them accept it?"

Trask waved his hand dismissively and said, "That will be easy."

Madame Hydra smiled and said, "A bit overconfident, aren't you?"

Trask responded, "You see overconfidence, I see confidence."

Madame Hydra scoffed and said, "Then explain to me how you'd do it."

Trask smirked evilly and said, "It's simple, assassinate the President and blame it on the mutants."

Madame Hydra narrowed her eyes and asked, "Are you joking?"

Trask responded seriously, "Do I look like I'm joking to you?"

Madame Hydra stared at Trask silently for a few seconds and then burst into laughter, "HaHaHaHa!"

She snapped her fingers, and two HYDRA soldiers carrying two suitcases approached Trask, placed the suitcases on the ground, and walked away.

Trask's bodyguards went to the suitcases, quickly checked the contents, closed them, and nodded at Trask.

Trask smiled when he saw his bodyguards nod. He looked at Madame Hydra, extended his hand, and said, "It's a pleasure working with you, Madame Hydra."

Madame Hydra shook his hand and said, "Likewise, Trask."