Mint gave a double thumbs up as Isaac repeated his mission back. "Be quick, I'll tail you to watch your six." he said before releasing a little Mareep. She looked up at the pair about to coo and glow before the trainer raised a finger to his lips silencing her immediately. "If you have any trouble, Zucchera can fry the system but don't resort to it. It'll delay implementation of the recipe by a couple of months if they find obvious signs of a break in." he added voice coming through a pair of brand new comms he had handed over to the grunt.

Zucchera stuck close to the shadows, aware that any excitement might make her tail glow. Mint stayed nearby as well, waiting for Isaac to push forward and listening for any sound of alarm from the grunt, before turning his eyes to their surroundings. A little prep work from earlier had allows them to knock out the couple of lights that turned on in the alley. Mainly above the dumpsters. It's hard to see, and he doubted the cops would be on foot in this rain. It's hard to escape the chill in the air. "Clear out here." he updated, touching a hand to the device in his ears.

The store is a rather typical boba shop. There's the cute boba plushies and stock of pokedolls on the far end of the store. A bunch of cute round tables and pastel pink boots in the main space. Empty display cases that'd be filled with pastries the next morning. There seemed to be a camera or two pointed at the wall of plushies and at the cash register but not much else. Just the basic security additions.

Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i

Mint can't hear the clicks of the tumblers as they move into place, but he is checking for the time. Isaac is fast, far more capable with a lock pick than Mint was at the moment. He ran a hand over Zucchera's wool as she made herself comfortable, leaning onto his knees as he squat in the dark. "Can you disable the cameras?" he asked. They were a simple system but he'd have to find the owner's office if he recalled correctly.

Didn't they have a window in that office? He squinted trying to remember the layout. Silently, he stood up. The bakery door was closed and there weren't any patrols. He could afford to check for the office window. "Actually- hold that thought, maybe I can more easily." he said quietly into the comms before moving around the building.

Its still dark, and his steps are muffled by the rain. He'd opted for picking up Zucchera not wanting her underside to get too dirty. A few minutes later and he's pretty sure its the right window. A small peak inside and he could see a computer on a desk. Was it this? Probably. He couldn't see if there was anything else. Aside from empty. He tried the window. It doesn't move at first. Mint glanced around, deciding to use both arms instead of one. "Sorry Zucchera..." he murmured as he put the sheep pokemon down. He grunted softly shoving the window upwards once, then twice before it finally budges. Just a little. But its enough. After a few more tries the window is open and Zucchera's inside on the carpeted floor waiting patiently. Mint followed soon after. "Hey. I dunno if you've been seen on Camera yet but...I 'm going to see if we can manipulate the footage somehow." he said before adding, "I'm in the back office. Should be a right out of the kitchen, down a hall." he added already lowering the window behind him. His glasses click, taking pictures of what everything looks like for reference when they leave. And then, he set to work.


Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i

"I'm not that good at it...but I can follow instructions and read database results." he replied back wit ha snicker as he waited for the computer to turn on, carefully looking around to see if there was another system that controlled cameras. More importantly, sticky notes with log ins and passwords.

He could hear the foot steps as Zucchera wandered around, stopping only to get up and open the door before settling back down in the desk chair and typing in a quick password. He'd pulled out a little miniature notebook from one of the drawers conveniently labeled in pretty cursive PASSWORDS. "I think...I can delete any footage that may have cropped up. At the very least, I can see if we got caught on anything." he said before shrugging and nodding at Isaac.

"Did you see anything in the kitchen? That recipe I mean." he asked before looking back down at the computer screen and clicking aorund a bit. "I can check if they might have it logged here somewhere, but do a sweep in case they're old school and put stuff in a safe." Judging by how chill the break in had been, he figured the chances of there being a physical safe about 7 out ot 10. "Ohmygods, what if they had like...a secret door somewhere?" he said with a snort. There's no way...right?


Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i

"Yeah, I suppose" Mint said before snickering at the thought of being called in for tech support for Walsh to send a single email. He nodded, flipping through the neatly handwritten passwords, scanning for anything of use. Nothing really jumped out at him. No SAFE combination or anything liek that. He did find something that said what he assumed was a program name and then CAMERAS in parenthesis.

"Mmm, yeah well kitchen's always nastier than the storefront I think." He nodded allowing to the blonde to show he was listening as he began combing through the desktop and opening up the camera program. As he typed away, both looking for a recipe book or recipe ideas and trying to find any spot of footage form the cameras that he could tamper with, he spoke again. "Yeah, chances are that safe, if it exists, is behind a fake cabinet do-"

As he talked he was interrupted by the sound of a very audible CLICK! as the book Isaac pulled out slotted out and into place, stuck haflway pulled out and still in the shelf. As Isaac tugged further the door became a handle for the surprisingly light bookcase that swung partially open to reveal a small safe indented into the wall. It looked expensive, but the mechanism was still a essentially a combination lock instead of a fancy electronic keypad or a fingerprint scanner.

Mint was quiet before letting out a cackle. "That was HALF their budget!!" he joked, eyes going back to work. He didn't see Isaac in any of this, and the few seconds he thought he saw things move were easy enough to delete. "Is this office...being recorded?" he wondered, going through the multiple cameras set up to operate. I mean, they were both disguised so it didn't matter but....it'd be a problem. Oh, right- "Let me double check if I have a safe combo for you." he added flipping through the passwords journal once more.

As he did. his Mareep wandered around trying to help. Mainly checking for cameras though...if it wasn't at her level there wasn't much she could see OR do.


Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i

"It's CCTV so... I think they could watch us remotely but..." he trailed off, squinting at the screen and flicking between it and notes on his phone. What the hell were these instructions even? "Just do it super fast. They're saying like 2 minutes max??" He was sure longer than that had passed by now. "Probably going to have to throw out another red herring for this break in." he added with a shrug.

"Wait-" there's a pause as he went through the list. Zucchera lets out a little BEEP, flashing once very quickly before returning to Mint's side. "Yeah...the owner lost all their budget on that shelf...and there's not a camera in here." All that worrying over nothing?? Cool. "No safe combo here." he added, finishing up his work. The rainstorm outside seemed to get even worse. He set to cleaning up after themselves trying to set back everything the way it'd been.

The safe isn't as glamorous as the wall that hides it. The owner is just an eccentric. Inside is the usual: documents of ownership, permits, and a cute pastel and cookie themed recipe book. Though it's a wild mix of real recipes and works in progress. It still seemed to be what they were after, probably. Had to dig a little bit to find it.

Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i

Mint's just about done, cutting off seconds here and there that may have looked suspicious, checking where exactly the cameras seemed to be located. He briefly glanced up at Isaac giving him a thumb's up as he seemed to be just about done. "Nice. I've got no idea how to break open locks." he said with a small laugh. Rocket had taught him a lot, but lock picking was still a skill he'd yet to learn.

He nodded down at Zucchera as he instructed her to go down the hall and spark up some interference. She obeyed, toddling out fritzing out some of the equipment. It'd be ok in this weather and better safe than sorry. Maybe don't blow your whole budget on a secret bookshelf. His attention fell back on Isaac. "Clean up, and we leave. I took some photos of how it's set up but...didn't need to dig that much..." he explained taking a moment to show his companion before beginning the task.

That's when he heard a distant banging. And then moment's later Zucchera rushing back to the office baaing in distress. "Shh shh what's wrong?" he asked, patting the poor sheep before going back to the computer and quickly pulling up the camera feed. Was- Was that a fucking?? "Cops?! At this hour?" he said to Isaac, half grinning in disbelief. OH- OH and they were radioing people? He shut everything off putting Zucchera back in her pokeball. "Yeah, ok, good news barely any tracks of us. Bad news, I think Zucchera got seen." They can only do so much about the office but he can hear more banging. "Out. Outoutoutout!" he said gesturing to the window and beignning to pull it open. He's one leg out, dropping into the pouring rain when he can see the flashlight approaching, about to turn the corner. "Gogogo!"


Isaac Merlo | mission prompt: recruitment act i