The interview was still in the background of Cassandra’s mind. The thing had passed the five-minute mark already, the reporters continuing to have more and more questions for Grunwald. How long was that supposed to be? Weren't such interviews normally a minute or two?
"I don’t understand modern media," Cassandra muttered as she pulled onto the side of the road, about fifty meters away from the store that Grunwald had sent her the coordinates of. Not like she truly needed to know exactly which one he was talking about, the lights inside having been turned on. With the omnipresent darkness filling the city, the shop was a shining beacon for everybody to see. Amateurs through and through. The woman could already guess it wouldn't be the thieves she had looked for.
"That’s not exactly a good thing to confess to," Jules said, the automations head popping forward at her words. "What if the media heard what you had to say about them? The flame-war would be ceaseless for at least ten seconds."
Ten whole seconds… Cassandra wasn't sure if that was meant to be impressive or anything. And it wasn't like she truly cared about it, her mind wandering away from the intricacies of modern communication and over to her actual job.
Having the task of actually driving, the woman hadn't been able to get a good look at the cameras outside the store. There obviously wasn't much to see at the current moment, the woman able to see as much from her own eyes alone, but the footage from the past showed a much more interesting tale.
"Balaclavas," Cassandra muttered while sending the footage over to Jules. The people robbing the place were actually wearing hoodies. "Somebody has been watching too many movies."
As if people actually used those anymore. Armoured helmets, able to take a bullet or two, were much more popular for would-be criminals. Easy to get, easy to hide among the masses, and it wasn't like they left much up for identification. Balaclavas? They allowed for a view of the teeth and eyes, making it possible to identify them with but a glance. But, it wasn't like those idiots would know, basing their scheme off cheaply made movies from decades ago.
"I think we know where some of the younger generations went, at least," Jules said, sending back a highlight reel of the footage. With it, the automation included a head-count of five people, possible heights, possible gender, muscle-strength based on movement, and how much of a threat each person was. Cassandra could have done all that herself, but… she didn't bother. When a machine was able to do it all for her, why toil her mind with such things? "Might not be the smartest but it’ll still be hard to catch them all if they scatter."
"They can’t scatter when still inside the store," Cassandra replied, checking through the store’s systems. The teens had somehow deactivated the alarm, a great feat in itself, but had seemingly forgotten to check out for any secondary systems. While it might not have made a sound, the police had certainly been alarmed. "Main doors are locked and secured. First, the back entrance is open. Second back-entrance… is not functioning and won't be a problem for us."
How the woman praised faulty check-ups. The owners had decided to simply seal up one of the fire-exits instead of paying for restoration. It was perhaps a danger to any of the workers in case of an emergency, but at least they wouldn't have to pay the fifty dollar inspection fee.
"There’s a ladder to the roof," Jules pointed out, circling a spot on the map that Cassandra had shared between them. "They could escape from that if they needed to."
"We are talking about kids here. They might be idiots but that won't make them jump a story down to escape from the police," Cassandra said with a shake of her head. The previous experiences with the thieves had certainly twisted their view of what a criminal was. "They might try it but there’s no way they’ll do it."
"Right you are, I suppose," Jules amended after likely looking through a few thousand previous occasions with other kids that age. "Do we have actual identifications or are we saving that for later?"
"You know as much as me that we can’t get a clear shot at the face out of this angle," Cassandra replied. "We’ll have to wait for face-to-face shots before we can say anything about their actual identities. But if they escape, we’ll just follow them on the cameras until they take the thing off."
A strategy for later. Identify the faces and use their names when talking to them. That always worked on the younger ones. The older people already knew that the police could identify them, so they were never too surprised when Cassandra said it.
"That leads into actual strategy," Jules said, leading the woman to the actual mindset for the occasion.
Direct run inside? Few hiding spots, none that the woman wouldn't find, and it would be too hard to escape if they ran. Their footsteps would be too loud on the flooring. With only one viable exit, it would be smartest to station Jules on it. The automation wouldn't be able to use full strength inside the shop, so it wasn't like the injuries would be a valid excuse for making it sit outside, but there was something fundamentally wrong about making the construct do it alone. It was like sending a cripple out to be a war hero. It had been done before, and none of the times had it been done well. Cassandra could only mentally cringe at the thought.
"I will enter, use non-lethal weaponry on the kids. When I have captured all, you will assist me in binding them and carry them over to the car. After that, we’ll put them in cells until their parents can get them," Cassandra summarised, not even needing to give the idea of only one entering. That had been on the table since the start.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Fair enough," Jules said. "Let’s go then. I’ll be just behind."
‘And we’ll switch to the police channel,’ the automation added as they stepped out of the car. It was weird hearing the thing inside her head, Cassandra having grown a bit used to the verbal talking. It wasn't that annoying to have, the woman having been accustomed to that method of communication. It was just like reliving an older experience.
The woman shook those thoughts out of her head within the first minute out of the car, the two officers moving silently towards the back of the shop. The lights were more subdued from there, the flashlights not reaching through the doors so easily. And, oh yeah, they were using flashlights. The one tool that was extremely hard to find in the modern-day since close to nobody used them. They were used by those who liked to travel in the forest, yes, but even those were tourist-level prices. How rich were those kids?
Cassandra looked back at the automation. Jules had stopped following her the minute they came close to the entrance, instead of moving over to the wall so it was instantly obvious it was there. The woman had nothing against it, moving inside by herself.
Her first step inside showed the storage rooms, filled to the brim with boxes of all sizes. Some were gathered in lumps, while others had been stacked in a hill-like fashion. Not the most professional, showing off just how hands-on the owners of the store might have been. Though… no matter how much hands-on they might have been, the woman really did doubt that the owners had torn open some of the boxes themselves. Neither did Cassandra believe that the wrapping from a candy bar had been there previously.
A scuttle further in the store brought the woman back in focus. The flashlights were more obvious now that she was inside, the source alerting the woman on exactly where the people were at. Cassandra couldn't see the practicality of those flashy things, her enhanced eyes allowing her to see very easily in the darkness. The only thing the lights did was to annoy her.
"Where are they?" came as a shoot further in. Likely the storefront, the kids not thinking that the boxes in the storage room had the same exact things. Or maybe they didn't know what to look for in all the boxes. Cassandra did not know and neither did she care that much. Bringing forth her tranquiliser, she ventured further inside.
The space inside the shopping area was very open, allowing for a wide view of the store from nearly every angle. It certainly allowed those at the desk to do so, which was exactly where Cassandra came in from. The woman knew that doing such had been slightly foolish, as there were many angles to watch for, but she was aware that the teens likely couldn't see any other places than where they were shining their lights.
Those lights were mostly focused around a few shelves to Cassandra’s left. Not close enough that she was in danger of being spotted randomly but similarly too far away to reasonably shoot all… four teenagers.
Wait, four teenagers? That wasn't right. There were supposed to be five. Looking behind her, there was no surprise teen with a shovel, however. One… one was missing, likely somewhere in the shop that had not been seen. Cassandra needed to be wary of them.
But, first, she needed to get through the ones in sight. With their heads turned away, Cassandra couldn't identify them. However, the body type was enough to spot them as one guy and two girls, the shoulders speaking more than anything else. Cassandra adjusted her doses accordingly.
"You said they would be here, John!" one of the girls screeched. John? Truly a robber's name.
"I said they would be close to here. I haven't been here for years!" the one boy shouted back. Or, Cassandra supposed they were closer to the low twenties or high teens if anything. Age by voice was heard around that period, even the auto-detection having trouble. Though, the name-drop did help sweep down the number of candidates.
Cassandra crept closer, counting her steps. With her feet slow and steady, it took less than a few seconds for her to get within ten meters. The store's small size truly did them greatly in this aspect, Cassandra able to get within a reasonable distance for her first shot.
"Then you should have- John!" One of the girls, ready to shout, suddenly turned around to see the larger guy fall to the ground, a surprised expression on his face. Cassandra supposed nobody could have guessed their legs would suddenly give out on them. Having hit the lower spine, nothing had stopped her from making the man incapable of stopping. She had even upped the dosage enough to make him lose most motor functions in the fingers, the flashlight in his hands falling onto the floor near-instantly. "What’s wrong?"
Nothing was wrong except for Cassandra taking a second to readjust. Instead of shooting the shouting girl, the woman took the chance to hit the one beside her, that one stiff in the muscles and without any movement. A perfect target, likely too tense to even realise they were being stung with a small needle filled with something to make them fall.
Not that the girl fell too hard, the knees stopping before anything else. And the shoulder took most of the force away anyway. The only thing the girl needed to fear was a small bit of whiplash on one of her sides. Though… the screaming girl would perhaps have needed to get her vocal cords checked out after the time in a cell, those high notes being like a rusty nail on aboard. Not something that Cassandra enjoyed, shooting the arm instead of the legs to make her shut up quicker. While the girl might have been able to take a step forward because of it, it helped make her quiet.
An easy operation, Cassandra barely needing to do anything. Standing up from her crouched position, the woman popped her back with a satisfying crunch. She needed to stretch out when she got back to-
Something akin to a baseball bat hit her in the back of the head, making the woman crumple to the ground in an instant. While her lungs might have been hit, a loud gasp was all she could do in that second. Just where had that fifth bastard come from.
‘Your vitals took a hit. Need any help?’ Jules sent in the same instant, likely having been monitoring her the whole time.
‘No need,’ the woman replied, playing dead to great effect. Even her breathing was subdued. ‘I am playing this perfectly.’
Cassandra had been right in her guess of the weapon, feeling the hardtop poking her back hard. She made neither a sound and nor did she react in any real way. She was the perfect unconscious detective. The woman had actually taken a class on it a few years back.
The bat was let off the moment that the dumb teen thought her truly asleep, focusing on the fallen teenagers. The guy that had been shot previously was clearly still conscious at some level, flapping about without really being able to do anything. Those lack of motor functions were no joke. If he continued with it, Cassandra was afraid he would shit himself. That would certainly make the trip make to the station uncomfortable.
"John. John, get up. I need you to carry Jess. I can’t carry all of you," the other teen was saying. He was shaking the other guy, but that was having close to no effect other than the supposed John making groaning noises.
The officer took that as her cue to rise from the dead, getting up from the floor with a heavy sigh. With her enhanced sight, she was able to see the teen flinch at the sound she made. They were clearly not on her level with dark vision, likely only able to see her silhouette. Cassandra, in sharp contrast, was able to see just about everything.
"That was not nice of you, Jason," Cassandra slowly uttered, putting extra pressure on the teen's name. He flinched at that, making the woman happy about the successful identification. The system had not been too certain about the accuracy, and it would have been rather embarrassing to fail at intimidation at that step.
The little teen tried to run. Cassandra let him, knowing that Jules would get the bastard the moment he got outside the door. Though, the woman did also give the construct a heads-up, not wanting to spend the night tracking down the kid.
"Now…" Cassandra said, readying her arms. "Which one of you wants a window seat?"