The ride back to the site was entirely uneventful, the automation beside Cassandra doig nothing but making offhand comments in the street. The woman might have paid attention to such things at any other point in time, but the events from before were still on her mind. The things that had happened, the aftermath of it all… there was much to be worried about.
The damages done to the construct were inevitable. The woman knew that. At some point, Jules would have become damaged, would have received a punch that even the most powerful technology couldn't truly get through unscathed. Only, she had been of the expectation that such a thing wouldn't happen for a long time. She had hoped it wouldn't happen for a long time.
But her wishes were not aligned with reality, and it had happened whether or not she truly wanted it. Things had messed up, their plans hadn't come to fruition, and a criminal had gotten the upper hand on a supposed surprise attack. Not that it had actually been a surprise, the criminal somehow knowing they were there without ever showing signs of it. Since there weren't any cameras that would have been able to capture them, the woman had to think that it would have been some form of internal technology, nothing on the man’s clothing hinting at extra gear.
How would they bypass that gear? How would they get through the defences, if they ever met the thief again? Cassandra didn't doubt that it could happen again. It wasn't a matter of if or how but when. At some point, they would reemerge from the shadows again, and the two needed to have tactics against it.
What had caused either of the two to lose the upper hand? With Jules, it would have been the strength difference. The entity known for its strength in close-range, its utter ability to crush anything with but a touch, had had its ability turned on itself. The automation hadn't been able to hold a dime against the man, the stomach crushing having occurred without the slightest resistance. And, it had happened fast enough for neither of the two to be able to react in time. Jules hadn't even been able to prepare an elbow in the face for the thief before it had been immobilised too greatly from the internal damages. And while the construct might have been able to technically attack after the fact, the chances at furthering the wounds already received at that point had been too great.
It all started out when the construct got close. The one thing that the automation was normally using as its tactic needed to change, the act of being distanced turning into a straight priority. Strengthened wins were out of the realm of possibilities, and the lack of surprise would remove the chance of cracking the thief's neck. Perhaps a kick from behind if the chance and need to present itself, but even that was a long shot. The thief would have been able to catch it in a normal situation, after all.
Ranged weapons would need to be relied on instead. Something physically most likely. Tranquillizers and anything like it would be deemed largely ineffective. Strength-users had a natural constitution as well, making it hard for nearly anything to impact them physically. That had been seen with Jared many times before. Only… it would be on a much larger scale this time around, the police officer having nothing on what could be seen from the thief.
Revolvers had been chosen for use before, with their large calibre and power likely able to cause damage akin to rubber bullets. If such a tactic wouldn't work, higher calibres would be chosen, to the point of using remote snipers. A long-distance shot from a more powerful weapon would cause instant death but would prove effective no matter what. The man wasn't nearly powerful enough to withstand anything that was that big. Cassandra knew that from the fact that the thief hadn't just taken the revolver’s shots without question. At that higher level, even a direct shot to the eye wouldn't have done more than creating an effect akin to a stray hair.
Moving onto the ranged combat methods, however, there very clearly were still some errors with how such a combat form would work. Cassandra herself had chosen such a method of war before the two officers had engaged the target, yet she had still been bested within mere seconds of the altercation starting out. Why was that so? Well, it hadn't been due to the man closing in. The thief hasn't even tried, be that due to a lesser speed or a larger object being in the way. The woman just knew that she had thought herself in an area of personal relative safety. Cassandra had been sure that she wouldn't have been able to be hit without first seeing it coming.
And, she clearly hadn't been wrong about that, the woman able to get through the fight without the slightest cut on her skin. The biggest injury had been her ears and even that had been due to her own weapon shooting in an enclosed space. Because that was what she had been inside of most of the time. Without taking a step closer to her, the thief had thrown what was the size of a small pellet against her, no larger than a piece of broken asphalt or a small rubber ball.
It was barely able to be seen in her vision at the speed it had been thrown, and that was even with enhanced eyes. Estimates on its speed closed in at close to eighty kilometres per hour, much faster than she could run at a seconds notice. But… if any of them was to avoid the danger that came with that small pellet, they needed to do just that.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
If the pellet came within one meter or less of their bodies, it would activate and create a barrier of pure force around them. While the composition was unknown, Cassandra was more than sure that it wouldn't be possible to get through with anything they had on them. And that's where it would wrong them. Even if the time that it held itself up was relatively short, being mere minutes, it would still allow the thief to escape without a trace. That was a loss no matter what.
They needed to be able to avoid it. With how it was nearly impossible to damage, outright destroying the pellets was out of the question. Since it was likely proximity triggered, that meant they had to stay out of their range when thrown at the officers. Which followed with them needing to either move themselves or move the pellets away before they got too close.
Personal movement at the required speeds would be nearly impossible at medium range, the pellet able to close in the distance from fifty meters in a matter of seconds. Jules might have been able to do it if already in a small jog, but Cassandra would break her leg-tendons before she would ever be able to accelerate at such a level.
That left making the pellets move. They had to be shoved away from their bodies without getting any chance at getting close. Neither of the two entities could be close, meaning that a third party needed to do it for them. A piece of technology that was able to push away a small piece of material with high precision.
Cassandra couldn't help but think of a leaf blower, the wind likely able to push the pellet a meter or two to the side with enough power. But… would she be able to activate it in time? Or would it need to be strapped to a sensor of sorts?
Looking through the available gear in the station, the idea of air pushing it out of the way was quickly replaced with water instead. It would allow for both more precision and allow for her to actually have it within the next few years. While stations close to the city had something akin to wearable gear that could make bursts of air, they were too far away to be transported within a reasonable timeframe.
But it was possible with what they had in the station, and Cassandra wouldn't forgo the chance. If they could stay out of close range and simultaneously be able to avoid the pellets thrown at them, they had a real chance at capturing the thief without too many deadly dangers. Sure, there was a chance of the man still not having shown them all there was to see, but that didn't mean they wouldn't come prepared for the next altercation.
Though… there was also a chance of the man trying to close in the distance. While Cassandra was relatively sure of being able to dodge if given warning, the automation beside her might not have been as quick on the uptake. While it could in theory run faster than her, it needed more time to accelerate. Cassandra would always win out in a ten-meter race but anything above that would likewise be her defeat no matter what. While that small burst of time where she was superior normally meant nothing, the woman feared that the damages to the construct’s body might have worsened the gap considerably. The thief would likely be able to catch up to it if given the need, and then it would just become another round of crushed organs and near-death experiences.
Then again, there was a chance that the damages wouldn't actually matter at all. There were problems with the upper body wouldn't be able to keep up withholding a lot of pure weight, but how much would that impact speed? Cassandra would need to ask to be sure.
"Look at that one!" Jules exclaimed, likely having found another fat person to point at. Cassandra had tuned out the construct’s words a while ago, none of it seeming that important to mental learning. "He might just crush a bicycle if he tried to sit on it. Or his fold would make him envelop the thing in itself."
Not feeling like the words were good enough in quality to even be commented on, the woman went straight into the questions lined up. Cassandra only hoped it would get the hint.
"Are there any considerable changes to how fast you are now?" Cassandra questioned the construct, ready to note down anything said. "With your damages, I mean."
"That’s a very weird question to ask out of nowhere," Jules commented right back, the automation slowing down a small bit so it could look over at her. Though, that description normally meant it looked confused, angry, or in some other state of negativity, such an adjective wouldn't have matched with the mild curiosity seen on the automation at that moment. "Why do you want to know?"
"I need it for a report about possible tactics to capture the thief we previously met," Cassandra started with a professional tone. It sounded a lot better than her planning how to make sure Jules didn't get hurt by a long stretch, though that might have been how the construct received the words nonetheless. The dumb smile on its face spoke volumes not wanting to be seen at any point. "I normally don’t repeat myself but I think I need to ask this again. Has there been any noticeable changes to your speed after you received extreme damage to your abdomen?"
"Well, if it's like that I suppose I could run a check on the systems. Might take a second or two," Jules said, the thing’s eyes briefly flashing a brighter colour than normal before returning to normal. Cassandra was mildly surprised by the event, not truly expecting such a change. Not that she hated it, however, the colouring briefly seen almost being preferable. "There aren’t any actual errors coming from a full search, though you might be worried about my speed if we ever need to sprint upstairs. My left leg is apparently not able to reach as high up as my right leg. Nothing that will hamper running on plain ground or anything, but lounges on the ground more than forty-five degrees won't be pretty for anybody close to me."
The woman noted it down with a flourish, not sure whether or not the information would matter. Such uneven ground would require them to fight in the wilderness, and even that was on the rarer parts of the places. Most of the area around the city was even enough to not make it important. It would require more than ten minutes in a car before they would reach a place possible to have such steep hills.
"Any other parts of the body that have a lesser flexibility?" Cassandra questioned, wondering if the ability to draw a weapon from the back would be hampered. "Perhaps in the arms?"
"Nothing that I could see. But, at that level, it would require a hardware error, which would definitely have been noticed while I was driving this thing. We would’ve speeded right into a pole by now if that was the case."
The smile on the automation’s face during that briefing was not appreciated.