Blonde hair, a large build, and a voice that wasn't young by any means. Cassandra couldn't say she would have found a better match, the others obviously around being more of a… thing department. Walking stick-figures, clearly enjoying the higher metabolisms given by the intake of certain consumables that weren't recommended by any doctor worth their money.

The courtyard had a good bit of it hidden in a darker shadow, the higher walls proving themselves worthwhile in this aspect. All the younger people were of course out in the sun, likely blinded slightly by the rays falling down on them. Even worse was the lack of care for their skin or health, some not even able to be wearing a jacket. Fashion was truly the real killer in the future of man.

"I cannot state how much you actually need to visit, though," the blond man continued, rising from the sofa just enough for his curls to move around his shoulders. That also gave Cassandra a real impression of just how long the man’s hair was. It wasn't unkempt by any standards, but there truly wasn't any real chance that it could have been perfectly cleaned at that length. It was filthy and the woman was not happy being within twenty feet of it. "With the windows broken, you might even be able to go in and grab yourself something nice. I hear a few of the shops were of the more expensive variety."

"None of us are dumb enough to think that would actually work," said a girl who had previously tried to do something like that. Cassandra would have loved to shout that fact into the air at that moment but decided that surprising the people by getting close would be preferable. She needed to be sure that the capture would work. "We know there are cops there already."

"Oh, yeah, the cops," the blonde said, moving around on that sofa evermore. Cassandra wasn't able to truly get a look at the man, being behind him. A clear shot at the face was needed before he would have any chance of identification. "Those people aren't something you should fear. With how few of them are around, it's not like they could do anything meaningful."

‘Am I allowed to hit him in the head?’ Jules sent through the police channel, clearly having heard the same as her. Narrowing her eyes lightly, Cassandra thought long and hard about the moral implications of giving the green to such an operation.

‘If you can make it look like an accident to him, I believe you are in full capacity to him as much as you want. Maybe even lose power in your legs and sit on his pelvis,’ Cassandra sent back, already enjoying the mental picture of putting a bastard in the hospital for several weeks or months. And with how many of the people here had insurance, there was a chance it would even financially ruin him. Truly a worthwhile payment for being a right bastard to those who were only doing their best with what they had.

"They still have power over us. I can assure you of that," the girl from before said, others close to her giggling a bit. A sharp tilt of her head to look around made that stop very quickly. Perhaps there was some kind of power balance in the courtyard? An interesting line of questions for when the officer would interview them. "Even if you think it’s fine to underestimate them, there is no chance of us getting close to the shops before we all get caught."

Oh, they were more than just right about that. Cassandra might not have been able to catch them by herself, but Jules and the other automations were more than capable of sprinting through a street in the span of ten seconds. There was no way they would even set a foot in a shop before their back was strained from being down on the ground and handcuffed. In fact, the woman might just have-

"I think I see an opportunity here," the golden-haired man said. Sitting forward, elbows on the knees, and a head tilted to the side just a small bit. "If, say, you were able to reach the shops and get out again without being caught, would you take the opportunity?"

Cassandra had been getting closer to being within arms reach of the man but settled right back into the darkness when those began to be spoken. Jules did the same, knowing exactly what the woman was thinking. Who needed to bring people in for interrogation when they very clearly wanted to spill all their secrets into the air.

"... Talk. Now," the girl said, going into a similar position as the man. There was clearly some general interests, the people around the courtyard taking more than just side-glances at the situation. A few were even getting a few steps closer, just to make sure every word was heard.

"I see that you are a bit pushy here, but I won’t blame you for it. This is something you won't regret hearing," the man said, making a weird motion with his hands. It wasn't seen due to Cassandra being behind the shoulder, but it certainly made the girl scowl at the older man. "I am a man of many talents. One of those talents might just be that I know some things that nobody else does. For example, I would be able to tell you, at this very moment, when the entire police force will be so distracted that you and everybody else will be able to loot the street of broken glass for as many goodies as you wanted."

Silence reigned through the courtyard, only wide eyes being shared between some of those watching the show. Cassandra even met the eyes of Jules, both beginning to realize that things were more serious than anticipated. Something was afoot and that was becoming more and more clear as time passed. Sending a message over to her boss, she requested him to watch the footage of the previous five seconds.

The answer came within a second, ordering her to detain the man no matter what it took. The message was clear and without any small-talk. Cassandra would do her best to fulfil it to the dot.

"How do you this? Who is telling what will happen?" the girl asked. From the first moment that she began to talk, Cassandra was already able to tell how futile the question was. No true manipulator would reveal their sources so quickly. Unless, of course, it proved useful to them.

"How do you know I am not the one ordering it to happen at my own chosen time?" the man with blonde hair questioned. The tense silence was held up for a minute before the man laughed himself silly, clearly thinking his words to be the true gold of comedy. "Sorry, I couldn't contain myself. It was just so...peculiar that you would ever think my associates would ever accept me telling you what was happening. I am afraid you will only have to trust me on this topic."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Associates… likely the thieves. Or maybe the man was a part of the group itself instead of an outsider. No matter what, it was very likely that he knew more than the police had gathered over the last days. And Cassandra was going to do her best to make sure that information was within her grasp before the news reporters had a chance of getting close.

"Why would you tell us about this? You have nothing to gain from us scouring the shops. If you supposedly know exactly when it will happen, wouldn't it make sense for you to do the looting by yourself?"

"If we were working with your logic, then it would indeed be weird for me to do this. But… I have thought about this more than you might realise. I know that I know nothing… about a few things. Namely the contents of the more hidden places inside the store."

There it was! Cassandra could feel it on the top of her tongue. It would be coming sooner rather than later, and she would hear it all. She even sent a message to the automation next to her to make sure it was recording everything. They needed to make sure that everything was logged properly because it would all be used in what would likely be an extremely large court case. And her name would be on the recording, all the praise of the capture going to her. And maybe her boss if she couldn't figure out a way to cut him out of the picture. And… maybe she would allow Jules to have a spot, though.

"What hidden contents are you talking about?" the girl asked. She was asking a lot of questions, but there was no reason to be annoyed about it. The answers were worth more to Cassandra than the young woman would ever realise.

"Mainly the physical cash, a few codes to a large number of different crypto wallets, and then a few of the more precious items not commonly sold," the man said, shrugging a small bit. "There is one more object that truly means a lot to me, but I think it would be more obvious when it is seen. Anyway, none of you will even get a chance of the true values hidden inside those stores if you don't accept my terms. While you might be able to stake out the place the next week to make sure you get to witness that window of opportunity, I have several codes to every shop's hidden containers. The items on display might make you millionaires, but I want to give you access to the items worth billions."

Money, goods worth millions, and items not commonly sold. The man was apparently willing to give it all away, willing to share it with a bunch of people that had nothing better to do than hide in a hole so they could smoke freely. Just what was the other side of the stick.

"What do you want out of this? You’ve been keeping that part silent with all these apparent gifts. You know the codes to a few boxes, you know how to open them, but the only thing you don't know is what is inside a few of them. Is that all you want? To know what we will take if given the chance?"

"Of course not. I might seem like the most courteous person in the world, but that doesnt stop the good old hand of greed from striking down," the man insisted. "For the price of telling you the codes and the time, I expect you to gather a larger force of willing people, search through a few boxes, take what you want, and… take one item for me personally. You might not find it at first, but it will be there. The only price for my information is that you get me this item."

…

Silence pervaded the courtyard yet again. The people were looking ready to shout into the air, but they all were still silent, looking towards the young girl. The idea of her being the leader was cemented from that.

"What stops us from getting the information and codes and then just… keeping all the loot for ourselves?"

"Well, I am a master of information. An example of this information would be the names and addresses of the family members of everybody here. I could list a few if you so desired."

Silence yet again, this one more intense than anything before. Cassandra was starting to think the time to strike was upon them.

‘Get ready. We will strike when I count from three.’ Jules nodded at her, getting ready to lunge at the man. Already, the two knew who would do what, the automation focusing on restraining the man while Cassandra would have the task of general crowd control.

‘Three.’

"Then I think I wouldn't mind accepting this deal," the leader of the small group said. "Do you want to shake on it like old people or is my word enough?"

‘Two.’

"I would have been the first choice in any other situation if I'm being perfectly honest," the man said. "But it seems that we have company that is just ready to strangle me down."

‘One.’

Cassandra struck first, sending a powerful light into the middle of the courtyard. Even the sun shining down from above couldn't match the intensity of light, and the sound that came with it disoriented anybody who even dared to be close.

Not the blond-haired man, however. Just before the explosion of loudness and sight, the man rose from the sofa, a click in the back creating the first drum of an extreme altercation. Cassandra wasn't sure if it was activation of sorts, only knowing the sight seen after it.

Jules lounged at the man. The effect expected was a man on the ground, ready to have his face pummeled into a peach. Yet that wasn't the case, the automation grabbed and likewise thrown away like a bag of rice. There was seemingly no effort in it.

An augmentation user. One with more powerful enhancements than Cassandra had faced in a long time. Might even have been more advanced than Jared.

And the face. Somehow it hadn't been seen from behind, or maybe it hadn't been activated at that point, but the blurring of it all was in effect. Cassandra couldn't see any meaningful detail on the man’s face, it was all seemingly thrown out of proportion digitally. This wasn't good.

Jules was back up within the second, sprinting towards the man. There was clearly some intimidation in the action yet the planning was just as apparent. At the last second, the automation dived, going for the legs instead. A smart move, clearly hoping to win with weight alone. The thief was only a human, in the end.

Not that it worked, the weight never having a chance of being used. Down on the ground as well, superior strength proofed a greater force than enhance protection. Cassandra barely had time to process the man getting his arms around the automations waist before the man entered a large amount of force on it. The loud crunch was not appreciated, with warning signals appearing in Cassandra’s vision instantly. Jules was out for the count, somehow still alive.

A finishing blow was never given, the man raising himself back up to face Cassandra for round two. Cassandra, not wanting to be close-range, instantly decided on the lethal force being needed. Bringing out one of her hidden revolvers, she spent a second getting the aim right.

That second wasted was more than enough time for the man to react, throwing… something at her. She didn't know what it was, the force and small size making it impossible to know the shape before it reached her main body. And when it hit… the woman wasn't sure what happened.

Everything in a radius of about more than two meters became fuzzy to look at, the whole world getting a layer of cloudy glass on it. The woman thought herself dosed with something fast-acting but quickly realised the layer of cloud had been put hard in the world. Even where she fell backwards in confusion, the layer remained constant. When she pressed it against it, resistance met her fingers. Putting her entire weight behind it did nothing. Using her revolver only gave her a headache from the sound. It was a wall, a shield, encircling her without any way out.

‘Jules, give me an update,’ Cassandra sent out. But… nothing came from it, the message coming back with an error. Cassandra’s implant couldn't connect to anything. She was well and truly isolated from the outside.