Systems were great. Systems helped make everything understandable to the individual. Troy used systems constantly, just to make sure that he knew what he was doing. He had pre-planned reactions to specific things, having trained that reaction to happen over time. What would happen if he heard a shout? He would run without trying to figure out who shouted. If somebody fired off a weapon? He would run without trying to figure out who shot it. Running was a general strategy of his.

There were systems in other ways, of course. At his bedside, he always made sure to put his clothes in a neat little pattern. It helped his body make the necessary movements without him ever having to think too much about it. Also helped make it all a little easier on him.

Charlie and Dr Hale would probably never guess that this system existed, and that was perfectly fine, really. There was no real expectation for that to be so. This was for Troy. He had made it so that it would be easy for him specifically to understand. Who else would need to know what angle he liked his socks to be sitting at? It was thirty-eight and a half, but nobody ever bothered to remember it when told.

But… stores had it differently. They had items, services, and everything in between those two things that they needed to sell. And to make sense of it all, there needed to be a system that held it all together. A system that would allow it all to be readable to everybody. Not just the person making it. No, it took more than that. Every person walking in needed to be able to understand where everything was supposed to be located. This meant that specific genres of items were held in clusters, with nice, bright indicators showing off where they were. It made sense. That was how everybody did it.

Well, everybody but those who decided on vomiting their entrails onto the floor design of the store that Troy was stood in. Who had decided that all of everything needed to be spread out everywhere? Maybe there was some viable marketing tactic about blending it all together to make the customers look around more, but at this point, it was just more infuriating than anything else. How long had Troy now spent looking for one single item? Two whole minutes! It was an empty store, nobody in it but him. He should have been able to get it within mere seconds, yet the place was just so full of itself that it needed to make him take laps around the place.

Maybe it would have been easier to find if Charlie had been a bit more specific about what it looked like. That would have helped a little, perhaps. ‘Looks like a cylinder but is closer to a square.’ How is that possible? It inst, and Troy was expected to find exactly that.

“Seen anything like it?” Troy asked, more than a little stressed about the time being taken. Adam must have been too, seeing as the storage unit was increasing its temperature. It was still on the ordinary levels of heat, but soon it would have to rise a little higher.

The little guy was the real backbone of the mission. In and out, with next to no real description of the target. If he had gone alone, there would have been no real chance of him getting in. Yet, with the help of a certain somebody, they had been able to enter without making a sound. Not that it would help for long, seeing as somebody had to notice the quiet, yet it should have been more than enough of a delay for them to get the needed item.

‘I am still looking. Would it be possible for you to- Nevermind. The location has been reached,’ Adam sent back to the man, cutting himself in his original message. That was a slight issue with an enhanced sense of time. One could draw a whole other conclusion while the first one hardly had begun to leave one’s lips. Troy wished he had that problem.

And as a few more seconds passed, he wished that it was the only one he had. After a few head-turns, Troy located just what had made the AI pause, as if the target had been found. It turned out to be a poster for the item, which had a nice, little finger pointing down to its location, hidden behind one of the item shelves. No issue for him, though, as he was just able to walk to the side and see the rewards for his scavenging.

… The reward of the day was a disappointment. And a bit of anger, perhaps, as that empty space was seen. Just below where he had been able to see, the poster had a sticker on it that notified any customers nearby that the product had temporarily sold out. Sold. Out. That implied that somebody had bought up the entire store supply of a product that the average person wouldn't have any idea what to do with, much less ever have the chance of using. In his many years of life, Troy had only met a handful of people who would ever be able to make use of a device used for improvised, internal, mechanical repair, and one of those people had tried to kill not that long ago. Just how screwed up was the city, if there were so many whoever thought they would need such a thing?

“Well, we are most definitely fucked now,” Troy said, the anger of disappointment already beginning to leave him. He understood there was nothing to do about it, no matter how much he wished to change the result. “Did Charlie mention anywhere else in this city it might be? Cause I think we’ve hit most of them by now.”

‘There is no reason to be influenced emotionally right now. Take a deep breath so that we can move effectively,’ Adam said calmly as if Troy had not already been in the mindset of doing just that. Sometimes, the guy could hit emotions right where they needed to be punctured. Other times… he was blinder than a drunk monkey wielding a rusty knife. Not the greatest tool in the shed, so to say.

Nevertheless, Troy did as asked of him, filling his lungs with the sweet, sweet mixture of the atmosphere. Even if the inside of the store was a bit on the stale side, he could enjoy it with no complaints attached. Just the faint fragrance of the grass outside was more than enough to make up for it. One would have thought that spending so many weeks outside with it would have made him adjusted to the smell, yet it was more his stay at the facility which had caused him to adore it so much.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Do you think there might be some of them in the storage?” Troy asked out loud, as he looked towards the door to the back. He had noted that the sticker had been a tad on the old side. Enough time should have passed for the business to have received a new shipment of wares. And the lack of people would explain why there weren't anybody bringing it out…

‘I see no reason not to check. But please do hurry,’ Adam answered, hurrying them along just as he always did. It was understandable, honestly. Who wanted to stay in the city for more than they had to? It would take one second where the jammer would be paused before the whole militia would be going after them. Their only advantage was that they lacked their coordinates. That could be lost the moment Troy messed up.

Adhering to the AI’s advice, Troy moved in a small jog through the store, making sure his footfalls were quiet all the while. The door to storage had a pin-code attached to the handle, but Adam was able to make quick work of it. Once again could Troy appreciate the world of cables and shoddy security procedures? What would he ever do without them?

The inside of the back storage was… close to disappointing. There wasn't any evidence of the needed items being there, but likewise, there wasn't evidence that they weren't. Everything was in large, grey boxes, easily transportable in containers. Nobody had done anything about getting anything out of its outer layers. Nobody had been here, so that might have been why. Troy only understood that he was getting more screwed by the second he wasted staring.

Getting close to one of the boxes, one miracle came by. There were lists! Each box had a small piece of paper attached at the top, neatly noting down what items were in what. A good fifty different things sat in each, but Troy luckily didn't need to look through the names each time. He had Adam for such things.

And… he just went to it, looking at each box separately. The AI never sent a message out or anything. Troy wouldn't need it anyway. He understood that he would be told if the little guy needed more time to read or if he had found what they were looking for. Only… it was a tad slow. It might only have taken a second to look at one box’s contents, but that mattered little when there were hundreds of the bastards. It was clear that the store-front was only for the more inexpensive items. The real products were hidden in boxes, any thief being unsuccessful purely due to the hardships in finding the right boxes.

It was okay, though. As long as they were quick, it would work out. Troy just needed to-

‘We have been spotted. Prepare to flee,’ Adam sent.

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“What? Already? How?” Could be heard coming in from the store. Cassandra had just stepped inside, surveying the area for possible locations where one could hide. It was harder to find places one couldn't, really. The entire place was much like a maze, one person never able to see more than five per cent of the total area. It was perhaps effective for some business, but it was the most annoying function that Cassandra could have ever had the misfortune of meeting.

Where had the voice come from? The walls were not absorbing the sound, making it echo from everywhere at once. Cassandra ignored most of it, making her inner system do the dirtiest part of the work. Where was it strongest… there. From the floor-plans supplied, the voice needed to have come from the side. A place where the store did not reach.

But the building was still a part of the location, making it out of bounds where people usually were when shopping in the store. Whoever had walked inside before her had gone out where the items were stored. A smart choice for anybody wanting to rob the place, though also peculiar. Was there something specific they looked for?

Also… those questions. The voice was young, male, early twenties at the oldest. No real accent either. It was somebody who had lived in the country for a while, at a minimum. Though, it wasn't that local. There was still a tone not heard normally. And then, for the final question, who was the young man talking to? Had she overlooked a blur before?

“Rush or hide? Of course, I can do both! We have this stuff for a reason, you know,” the young voice continued. There was an argument going on. Cassandra was not yet sure what it was about. She had a vague premonition, however, that she would have to use some force within the next few minutes.

From what recordings she could gather of the inside, she knew there weren't many entrances to the back-side, and those that were there weren't that far apart. They could all be seen at the same time, in fact, and Cassandra understood she would face somebody on the other side of one of the doors.

Didn't take a genius to figure out which they had gone through either. The door used had been left open, still swaying slightly from an imbalance. Though… was the person still in there? It had been half a minute since the original exclamation, yet nothing more had been sent out afterwards. Had a detector been set up at the entrance? Cassandra hadn't been able to detect anything, yet that could have been explained away as similar cloaking as before.

Welp, there was only one real way to find out. Bringing out her favourite cylinder, she moved inside the storage space. There was no shout to show off where she was. She didn't really think she needed to do anything like that to be noticed.

The boxes had been touched, yet none had been opened up. How peculiar. Looking around, Cassandra could see one of the labes one of them still not having found its balance point. It had been touched within the last minute. Just where-

From the side of the store entrance, a figure ran through. Cassandra only had time to swirl around, barely catching a look at their soles before they disappeared into the store. Yet, she knew where they were and that was the most important fact of all.

With her weapon in hand, she sprinted out of the storage space, following right after one of the thieves. A message was sent to the automation, ordering it to enter the building and search for the latter. Cassandra would take care of this one herself.

Feet pounded against the floor. The tight corners made it hard to get anything but a glance at the thieves' back. But she was gaining on him! Each turn let her get one step closer, one better look at the person she was chasing.

Damn, they were fast. With enough corners, they began reaching the outside, the entrance that the shoppers would normally use. But! There was a catch here. A detail that Cassandra used for herself. The final stretch was without cover.

Sacrificing the long-term for the short-term, a jump was used to close in on the distance temporarily. It was enough to get her over to the final corner. From there, she took aim, letting her fingers be guided by the brain implant, and shot at the thief who thought he could get away.

It hit him in the upper thigh. He got three more steps before the leg became jerky, stopping him from running anymore. Having been moving at full tilt, it made him fall face flat on the road. Cassandra inwardly winced at that, knowing she would have to take some of the blame for that.

Nevermind that. She had caught one. Though, he was being feisty, crawling towards the grass, and not paying attention to the fact that one of his legs did not work. Would she have to shoot again?