Surprisingly enough, Cassandra’s boss was not there to meet her at the door. That was strange in itself. While protocols always had the potentials to be bent around, there was never a point where they could be broken entirely. Moving a captive from a vehicle over to a cell was something that required two officers to handle, excluding any automations, making the ordeal very strange.

Though, that confusing event did become a tad stranger, when Jared of all people stepped out into the parking space. Jared, the man who looked ready to keel over mere hours ago. Or… was eight hours defined as a short while? Depended on the person perhaps. And, while the man himself did look a tad more refreshed than the last time Cassandra had had her eyes on him, there was still much rest that was needed. At least the jittering had stopped.

Jared eyes Jules, as they step out of the car. The man had been grumpy from the start, yet seeing the automation turned down the scale by one more level. Cassandra could hardly guess why. That man really did need to partake in some online acting classes. Even without prior engagement, his opinions were too easy to sense.

“Are you sure it's smart letting the thing drive?” Jared questioned, as Cassandra came up to him. Jules had gone back around to grab the still unconscious man out of the back. Yet, that had not put near enough distance between them to stop that comment from flying over. The automation gave the man a small glance, before continuing with its task. Even it could sense the lack of pressure that was needed to get the topic out of hand. Smart. “Are you sure that it's safe?”

“They have been programmed for all policy-oriented tasks. And, talking from practical experience, they are much better at driving than us, albeit a bit reckless,” Cassandra said, deciding to go the way of third-party sourcing. It would not be treason to quote the higher-ranked leaders. Jared at least seemed to think so, giving a small grunt in response. Looking back over at the bucket of scrap, the woman begins to notice a lacking… finesse when handling the older criminal. Namely, the automation bumped the man's head on the side of the car when taking him out of it. No good explanation for the courts, when it came to that one. “But, there might be a lack of subtlety in some cases. Which might include the one we are currently witnessing. Would you be so kind to-”

Jared hardly needed to be asked, before he was moving faster. That was one thing the man could do well. If asked, he would do it, no matter what was requested of him. Cassandra had thought about the potential of using it for her own gain, yet had still not found a good way to utilize it.

Yet, if there was anything about it that she needed to factor in, then it would be that strength of his. Just like the automation, Jared had no trouble carrying the older man. If there was no mind about making sure that no damages occurred, Cassandra did not doubt that he could carry him with one hand.

That was the effects of focused enhancements. A few years back, there was an actual choice about what each officer wanted to focus on, be that speed, strength, or some other physical ability. Since Jared was more than a few years older than her, he had been one of the many able to say yes to the strength-based enhancement. She just had the overall enhancement.

She was fast, strong, and more durable than the average person, yes, but Jared was stronger than her triple-fold. Cassandra might have been able to outrun him, but there was no chance that she would be able to beat him using her body. But, well, there was a reason that officers had projectile weapons. No need to punch hard, when a bullet could do the same job much more effectively.

Jules did not look too happy when the old man was taken from her grasps. However, no words were sent out when Jared took him. Only a mildly annoyed expression, which was only seen by Cassandra. She wondered if it was done for her sake, or if the machine had finally figured the need for annoyances was too great to ignore. It was probably the first.

With a glance, Cassandra set the automation to packing up any special gear they had brought with them. The woman would have helped, but Jared had already started to bring in the old man. As per protocols, there had to be two officers present, and there was no chance she could reject those rules.

They spent the walk down to the cells in relative silence. Truthfully, Cassandra had half-forgotten the way herself. The only real-time she had taken the walk there was during her first day on the job, being shown around by Jared. It wasn't like she needed to know where it was when it was never being used. But… that might change.

“I suppose this will be the first of many looters,” Cass said, striking up a conversation with the man. The conversation always did make Jared perk up a little. And, with that piss-poor attitude being shown off, there was no chance he would be a joy to listen to if allowed to continue his emotional state. Better to blow it off quickly, than let oneself hear him speak with no end in sight.

“It does seem to be that way,” Jared said, not looking over at her while he talked. They had reached the first security door to get over to the cells. It took a whole three seconds of analysing them before the chunk of metal decided to open up. Cassandra found the waiting annoying, yet knew she could do nothing about it. “With how much activity has been happening around us, I suppose we are just late catching up. For whatever reason, they have been avoiding this beautiful town of ours. I wonder why.”

Might have been due to the city's serious problem of poor people, multiple slums, substandard living, and a generally bad population of people. That was Cassandra’s idea at least. Not that she was going to say that to the city-lover of all people, even if she felt a strong desire to do just that.

“Chance?” Cass suggested. “I guess we are the lucky bunch.”

The row of cells was a sight to see. Long ago had the iron bars been removed, replaced with gear that could stop anybody from even trying to escape. Glass capable of withstanding bombs stood instead of any metals, stopping anything from being hidden while it was at it. Privacy was, of course, not allowed for criminals. Cassandra could remember a time where they had tried to enforce that. She could also remember the number of escapes that happened after. Constant oversight was surprisingly effective at stopping any foul play, as luck would have it.

“Maybe an earlier strike would have allowed us to get some reinforcements,” Jared mumbled. Though, there was no doubt he meant for her to hear it. She could already feel it in the air, as they continued walking down the row. They were going over to the more extreme holding cells. “Instead… instead we have to deal with those bloody imitations.”

Yup. It was going to be like that. Cassandra did her best to sound just as happy about being there as she had been a few seconds earlier. There was always something great about hearing some very political rants. Some edge to it that made her skin crawl. In disgust. It made her skin crawl in disgust. Because it was disgusting.

“I remember everybody working together so cleanly. Everybody loved their job, everybody was nice, nothing went wrong,” Jared began. The one beside him just thought about how rose-coloured those contacts might have been. Could he even see what was behind him? “Then those pieces of absolute… I don't get how you can stand to sit beside them. Takes too much just to go on patrols with them, and now we have to listen to them talk as if they're human. That's just wrong.”

It wasn't too surprising to hear words like those. Most of those who had stayed in their positions had similar ideas. Cassandra refused to quit because she wanted to climb the latter, but few of her fellow officers had similar ideas. Jared felt betrayed, that he had been replaced with a subpar imitation of him. The ones above both of them might have felt something similar, but Cassandra guessed that the boss was just too old to move away from his position. Almost everybody that was left on the force was just too stubborn to retire.

“Jules did save me not that many hours ago,” Cassandra said, stating it as more than a fact than anything. “I can't say that I find too many things wrong with them when they are perfectly able to save me from harm.”

“They might be able to do some basic things,” Jared conceded, not looking like he was close to backing down entirely. Entering the final cell, Jared sat down with the older man. They strapped him up in restraining gear that would stop any fancy manoeuvres while putting a few more bands on the man. Any attempts to remove them would activate a non-lethal dose of sedatives, knocking anybody close out instantly. It could, of course, also be activated remotely. “But… they will never live up to what their predecessors did. They will never achieve the same as us. I don't trust them.”

And that lack of trust would make him fall. At some point, that lack of a partner would make him fail. Cassandra could see it, even if that man would deny the slightest possibility. But, what could she do?

“Where’s the boss, actually? I have to let him know Jules still have the keys,” Cassandra said, remembering that somebody was supposed to be out on the road already.

“He doesn't need to appear now. I'm taking his shift today, no matter how much I detest it. But, more important tasks are first on the priority list, so us peons must do what we do best!” Jared informed her with a smile. The man’s emotional state seemed to have gotten better after that rant. Maybe that would spare Jules from whatever shit the man was going to spout at the machine.

… She should have taken the keys.