Cassandra never did get her hair to fit the mood. It sat straighter than ever before, causing much satisfaction to rise from within. This similarly made it very hard to keep up an apologetic mask instead of the more than mild frustration at things not panning out her way. But, she nonetheless held it up fine. She had trained for a moment like this many times before, after all.

There was not a chance that Cassandra would have ever let herself falter at a time like this when stress was beginning to hit an all-time high. If she just failed when reaching points like these, she would have done just that many times already. Yet she hadn't. Because she believed in herself, in her work, and in the control that she had over the situation. While there might have been inconsistencies with what she believed the world to be, most of it was accurate enough for her. She could stand without flaw.

Did help that Jules was standing right beside her, as they waited for the other two to return to the station. They were taking longer than what had been promised, but Cassandra had no real care about that. She had only feared the automation to have started taking the extra time as an excuse to do something extra annoying.

Yet… nothing of the sort had happened. The construct stood as still as a statue, to a point where even the fake breathing had stopped. Its eyes were closed, stopping Cassandra from seeing the lifeless eyes, yet she did not doubt that they were there. Why exactly wasn't the thing moving around? Had something gone wrong?

Not wanting to leave her position, even the glance to the side being too much for her currently, the woman delved into the digital side of things. Like many times before, she looked through the shared live data being sent to the station's database. Everything was on that thing, from all employees' current location to what some of them were currently seeing. It was limited to those who had augmentations in the sensory parts of the body, leaving Jared out of being spied on with that, but it wasn't really like that was ever used for such purposes, regulations heavily limiting what it could be used for.

However, there are no such rules for automations, the constructs not being seen as beings. They were but a construct, made to work the best they could. And that was seen heavily in the data being sent into the database. There was nothing hidden in it, after all.

Every input, every thought, ever reasoning behind every action could be found in that database. Yes, it was hard to follow through, and would likely take literal decades for Cassandra to understand, but Jules’ entire being could be found on that database, including what was going on in its mind currently.

And while she might not have been able to understand it all, she could still take a glance at some of the more obvious stuff, which included what the automation was currently searching for. For, as it had been proven time and time again, the search history proved to be man’s ultimate weakness.

The contents certainly caused some amount of eye-brows rising up. Cassandra didn't know exactly what she had been expecting, but it certainly wouldn't have been… this.

How to best please your boss, Being the greatest worker, and the science behind superiority were just some of the searches made at the last minute. It was something to behold, to say the least, and the woman was not entirely sure what to make of it. Was this a good sign?

It was some sort of sign. Cassandra refused to look at it as anything other than that. A casual glance at the last ten minutes of the automation’s search history proved that much was in the same fashion. Honestly, the searching of the topic had begun when they were still in the vehicle. Just what was this supposed to produce?

‘Why the sudden interest in my mind?’ Jules sent over the private channel, causing a slight intake of breath from the woman. She… had not expected anything to be sent to her directly, too focused on the digging. How improper of her. Cassandra could hardly accept that face, knowing fully that, should the two others have driven into the parking lot, she would have barely noticed.

How far along were those two anyhow? Already on the database, she searched up their current location. From the speed, it would take a few more minutes before they arrived. More than enough time to talk.

‘Your exterior lacked its usual movement. Had to make sure there were no aftereffects from the partial take-over,’ Cassandra sent, lying without the slightest flinch. Another bonus that came from practising.

‘The others aren't here yet, so I didn't really see a reason to waste computing power on that. Needed to be best prepared for the adventure ahead, as you might have realised,’ Jules answered back, wording it weirdly. Calling it an ‘adventure’ might have been done with a positive outlook and all, but Cassandra really couldn't see it as anything close to that.

‘Then you just might be wasting much power already,’ Cassandra sent, seeing a slight problem with the construct’s technique.

‘How so?’ Jules queried.

‘You’re using the global network to find resources instead of the local ones we already have downloaded,’ Cassandra answered. This should have been a pretty basic idea to follow. But, there were perhaps some different ideas on just what was basic.

‘I already have all that stuff and I can safely say that it’s the most useless shit I have ever gotten through. The internet has the only truth that anybody will ever use,’ the automation sent back, clearly not needing to have sworn but doing it nonetheless. If it was using its facial expression, the woman did not doubt that it would have smirked.

‘Are you hinting at the fact that you find state resources inferior to the public products?’

‘I am not hinting at it. I am clearly stating that they are extremely terrible. They have no examples to follow!’

Cassandra couldn't get herself to feel bad for the automation. The construct was acting like a small child, extremely annoying and deserving of a slap from improper usage of resources. But for the third time in that very same day, she would not act upon her desires of violence, even if the pros were beginning to grow exponentially.

‘What are you even going to use it for?’ Cassandra asked, shifting the topic to the side. There was nothing good that could have come from furthering the other path. ‘From earlier experiences, would it not be best to keep quiet and allow me to do the talking?’

It most definitely would, and Cassandra would not be too bothered by just ordering the construct to be silent if all else failed. Yes, it could technically just disobey her, but it seemed to actually be semi-compliant as of late. That would be used if necessary.

‘Preparing for the worst here. Knowing just how smart those two are, I would not doubt that they inquired a few things from me. On that topic, would you mind if I intentionally tripped one of them? It would be an act of self-defence, of course,’ Jules asked, seeming much more normal now.

‘I would indeed be bothered by such an action, but we both know I wouldn't be able to stop you,’ Cassandra answered. Taking a glance at the map once again, the other officers were getting closer by the second. ‘Switch on facial expressions again. They are coming into view within a minute.’

Glancing to the side, Cassandra saw the automation obeying her request. With a small jolt, the automation seemingly woke up. After a small glance in every possible direction, the construct moved back into a relaxed position.

It remained there as a familiar vehicle came into view down the street. With the help of enhanced vision, Cassandra had no hard time looking through the front window of the car. Unsurprisingly, she only saw her two coworkers inside, with no hint of any automations.

For whatever reason, it had been decided democratically that the mission was too dire for the use of the constructs. Grunwald had initially been hesitant about the idea, but Jared had somehow convinced the man that it was a good idea, leaving Cassandra to have been the only one against it. How dreadfully fun that had been. It had taken quite a lot of bargaining to be allowed the use of Jules in her operations.

The vehicle drove into the lot swiftly, parking right beside where Cassandra stood. Here it went. The woman took in a breath, preparing herself for what was to come. There was a chance they would react negatively, but it would all be right in the end. She would succeed, no matter how much the situation had been messed up.

As they took the first step out of the car, the woman opened her mouth to talk.

“I need to start with an-” Cass started, but was stopped near-instantly.

“Formalities can be saved for later, Cass,” Jared said, walking past her without the slightest acknowledgement. There weren't even any hateful looks towards Jules this time around. Just… what?

The man just walked into the station without another word, leaving the others outside. Not that Cassandra initially remembered that Grunwald was there, the old man’s sigh being the only thing making her notice his presence.

“Don't mind him. He just got some information he didn't want to be told,” Grunwald stated, looking much kinder than Jared. Cass was about to restart her apology, but the man seemingly saw it coming. “But, he was right. We have next to no time to talk now, it seems. The higher-ranking people have called in about the looter we caught a few days ago.”

Ah. Him. Cassandra had nearly forgotten about him. After putting him in an artificial coma for containment purposes, there had been next to nothing don't about the criminal. With the time since then… Cassandra was beginning to see the problem.

“We’re getting close to the limit.” They were only allowed to hold him under for so long. With it being so long ago, it would become a hard offence to continue the treatment for even an hour or two more. It would be quite the scandal, actually. No wonder the higher-ups were requesting for it to be forwarded up to a higher priority.

Grunwald smiled at her.

“Nice to see somebody who can remember the protocols. Now, come on. I need witnesses for this to be done by the book.”

Giving a glance towards Jules, the automation understood perfectly. It took the keys from the officer and began to move the vehicle to its proper station. Meanwhile, the two humans went through the front entrance and into the station.

They had a job to do, after all.