Troy dug the back of his feet into the glass shards. It would have hurt immensely, if not for the shoes holding the sharpness off. But the man did not care too much about that, the action itself being enough to settle some of the emotion in him. It was all just… a lot. The glass, the light, the darkness outside, and the fact that they had almost been captured the very same day was all too much for him.

Had he become numb as of late? Troy supposed he had. When was the last time he had broken down? Had he even cried? That was a change. He had changed. Where was all that anger and frustration? Troy was just… accepting of it all. The man understood that he was supposed to be… feeling something at the empty sight. Yet he had trouble with that simple, human function.

Was he just tired? Maybe that was it. Everybody was so bloody tired, not able to comprehend the fact that they needed to function, lest the whole system would fall. If every tired person took a day to rest, there would be nothing they could return to, the world already having grown used to constant maintenance. The slightest distraction would end all the work, and it would all be their fault. And his fault. Maybe that was what kept him going nowadays, the fear of being blamed for his failures.

“What do we do now?” Troy asked, looking at the empty space in front of them. They should have guessed it would be like that, devoid of the one thing they actually needed. The other place had been emptied out. Why had there been any expectation of this place being any different?

‘First, we get out of here. You should focus on that first. The climb down may take longer than the climb up,’ Adam sent soothingly. Or… it wasn't really meant as soothing. It was soothing for Troy, though, that lack of emotion showing off a more nihilistic view of it all. Helped him detach slightly.

And the AI was indeed right. Troy was over the average in climbing count, and he knew just how hard it was to get down again. Usually, the action would just entail jumping from the top and letting the attached rope slowly drag one down to the safe ground. But… There wasn't a rope for him nowadays. If the young man jumped, the only result would be him having a quick death and letting others have a tragic story to tell. Wouldn't even be a good story either.

Moving through the glass shards once again, Troy had to focus on getting his footing right. While the shards had sharp edges to them, they were still originally part of a pane. On the right sides, they were quite frictionless, making it possible to easily fall. Troy, being a reasonable human being, saw the benefits of remaining upright.

Up the stairs, though a few aisles, and the man was once again outside, standing on the window’s ledge. There was more room, now that the pane had been destroyed. It made the ground a bit more uneven, but it was still firm enough footing that Troy felt close to no fear. The man didn't really fear the heights anymore, honestly.

He had. Before, that is. Back at the facility, Troy had feared to look down too much on the stairs. Now… that might have been an exaggeration, but it was still true at some level. The man had not been able to withstand standing where a window was supposed to be, at the very least. He would have shaken himself so hard that he would have fallen off, those legs of his unable to carry his quivering mess. Now? Now he just stared blankly downwards, putting his head a bit more forward to see which holds would work best when going down.

The initial start down was hard, as Troy was forced to grab the ledge he had stood on. There had been an attempt to brush most of the shards away with his shoes, but the smaller ones were still there when his palms rested on it.

But it went up from there, at the very least. Or… did it go down? Troy was physically going down, at least, but the speed and finesse at which he was doing it were going up. Tricky wording, if he had ever seen it before. But, no reason to care about that, lest the man’s focus wither more than it already had.

Taking a glance down, Troy only saw the glittering of lights looking up at him. The glass shards had reached most of the street. There was perhaps not many of the shards, but they were scattered enough that they seemed to be counted in the millions. It almost made him pause, if not for his hands having a hard time keeping their grip.

The handholds weren't meant to be handholds, after all, and the young man already had it hard with them. His fingers were not used to longer climbs, and his legs… had been failing for quite a while now.

But… the man wasn't somebody who fell. It took will, it took the pain, and his lip got a small cut from being bit into, but Troy did successfully reach the ground without any larger accidents. Sure, there was no small amount of fatigue to process, but it was all without any broken bones or twisted ankles. A victory, in the eyes of a broken man.

“Are we going back now, then? Don't think I can handle another shop today,” Troy said, feeling deflated by the slightest bit. Through the time spent going down the wall, a realization had begun to emerge from the man. “Really isn't a point to it anyway.”

They had failed. They had truly and utterly failed in their task. The police knew what they were after, and they had emptied the storefronts of all the supplies. There was nothing that could be done. Charlie and Dr Hale were likely expecting them back at any second now, ready to give out the one item that was actually needed. What would they say? Would they even comment on it, having already expected failure? Troy wasn't sure he wanted to know.

‘We are not going back yet. Instead, you need to move a few blocks down from here. Be sure to have constant sight of the shop we just exited,’ Adam ordered. That… was not what had been expected, but Troy wasn't at a mental point where he really wanted to argue.

Doing as asked, the young man moved towards the outskirts. Not entirely to them, of course, only moving a hundred meters or down so. Enough that a small alley appeared, where light from the lamps did not reach. Troy just sat down there, keeping an eye on the store he had left not too long ago.

Even from a distance, the glass still caused light to scatter everywhere. There were a few rainbows showing on the walls around it. Maybe it would have been beautiful for an average person, but Troy just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Tiredness was coming onto him faster than he wanted it to. But, it wasn't like he could sleep now. It snowed still, the storm growing with each passing moment. It would be a hard battle to go through it. Yet he needed to, lest the cold would creep deeper in than he could survive.

The police vehicles would likely wake him up nicely. Troy had always grown tense when being around them. From his earliest memories, he had learned to fear those vehicles, for they had within horrors that would shake most to their cores. That’s how he had imagined it, back in those days. Might have been the reason for his capiophobia. Boy, was it a good thing that had disappeared over the years?

However, a slight problem slowly began to emerge. Thinking back to the time spent inside the store, the young man remembered having been mildly anxious about the longer duration, due to the multiple floors needing to be searched through. Yet, he had apparently been faster than predicted, getting out before the police came.

But that still meant they were supposed to come soon after. It took them less than five minutes. It always took them less than that. So… why had they not come? Troy had sat huddled in the alley for more than that, yet the young man had neither seen nor heard any vehicle moving around.

It just made him all the more anxious about it all. There was constant discomfort, the young man’s body refusing to calm down. Mentally, everything might have been fine, but his physical state was anything but. It was frustrating.

‘They're not going to come,’ mister obviously sent out. Adam sent it out. The AI was likely being nice and putting it into words. Troy needed to remember that, and not become angry at somebody who didn't deserve it. A deep breath or two was had before he even attempted to think about it at all.

“Might be that they know we’re not getting what we are looking for,” Troy commented. His back felt like it was turning into mush slowly. He needed to get back to the house sooner than he thought. Or… maybe he would need to sleep in a trash container again. It had been a few years too long since his last adventure in one of those. Were people still throwing out their magazines? Only one way to know, and there was a good chance that the man soon would. “No reason to care about it, when they know we won't be able to find it.”

What exactly were they supposed to do now? The shops had been emptied. There wasn't any chance of finding any of them now. There could perhaps have been some in other cities, but Dr Hale wouldn't be able to move over to them. She wouldn't survive the journey, and especially not in this weather. It all seemed bleaker than Troy wanted it to be. But… his desires rarely did obey the reality of the world.

‘I believe it's for another reason, actually,’ Adam sent, causing a small surprise in Troy. The AI knew something.

“Oh? And what might that be?” Troy asked, raising his left eyebrow. He was more than a little intrigued, yes, but the man just wanted something to pass the time. The sooner it all ended, the better it would be.

‘During inspections, I realized a part of the software had been crudely added as of late. It is a pulse transmitter to the police station, sending out a message at a controlled interval. Every time we have entered a building, it has been turned off and has subsequently alerted the police to our presence. I tested going around it this time, and it seems to have been a success. Do you know what this means?’

“That we can scavenge stores without worrying about being caught?” Troy suggested. The news was good, yes, but they would have been so much better to hear when they were already back home. He needed to lay down for a few hours, and it was beginning to sound like that wasn't going to happen. More stores… it wouldn't be good for him. But he would still do it if asked.

‘Partially. But there is a more important factor to it. These securities are directly linked with the police station. I can interact with the police stations software from afar. From what was said on the tracker, the police vehicle we saw earlier drove directly to the station after it left this location. This means that the items we seek are the station itself. To get it, we need to break in.’

“You want to do a heist?” Troy questioned, not sure he was hearing that right. He had to be joking, right?

‘Yes. Now, I see that there is a store focusing on sports equipment close to us. Please move towards it. We have much to gather, and we have to be quick.’

He was not joking. Troy just sighed at the world before getting up to do his sacred duty of being a pawn.