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50. No way forward
🕑 Added 2025-08-30 10:24:57 +0000 UTC“Please wait, I’m getting dressed!” I screamed back at the doors. I then turned to the cats and whispered. “What do we do?”
“WE are going to go through the window. What you two do is the problem,” Q’Shar answered, pointing his tail at me and the tiger. He then approached the window. “No use going through here, the police are in front of the building.”
“Shit!” I swore. “Where is the car?”
“In an alley at the back of the apartment complex.”
The police were talking with some people outside. It was a matter of minutes at best before they came here and smelled the scent of blood.
Wait.
Smell.
An idea popped into my head.
I went to the kitchen, and sure enough, there was a gas stove there. I immediately started to turn on the burners without lighting them. The tiger finally noticed what I wanted to do as it approached me. “Move”. He said in an urgent voice and pushed me aside with his massive body. He used his claws to rip the stove out from its place, severing the gas pipes, as a low hiss could be heard.
The sounds of police radios were getting closer.
I realised the gas was not flowing fast enough and grabbed a kitchen cloth to start fanning the air into the hall.
“Officer!” shouted the person outside our doors. “I think there is something wrong here.”
“Fucking noisy people,” I murmured under my breath, wishing I was an air mage instead.
The police were making their way to the doors as a firm knock came. “Hello. Is everything all right there? Please come to the doors.”
The gas would not fill the air fast enough.
“Great move smashing the door lock,” snickered my broker as I looked at him flatly.
“What do we do?” asked the tiger. “I can pretend I escaped from the circus, but you will be screwed if they find you in this apartment.”
“He can pretend he escaped the circus, too.” Q’Shar was on a roll today as I was considering firing a spell at him.
I fished out a root from my robe and put it in my mouth just in case as the mask closed itself around my head.
“Tell them you are coming. I will carry the stove to block the doors,” I whispered to the tiger, and went to pick up the heavy cooker.
The doors started to open, but the massive cat blocked them with his body. “Sorry! I’m ummm… still not dressed.”
The rest of the police force were moving forward to look for the tiger, who was right behind the doors. But two officers, judging by the previous conversations outside, stayed at our door, now also aware of the smell of blood. Thankfully, the scent was now mixed with gas, making it not distinctive enough for them to immediately realise what it was and try to kick open the door. But I assumed it would come soon.
“Sir. Please open the door, we would like to check if everything is all right.”
The tiger was searching for an answer, looking around confused. Q’Shar came closer to him and started to whisper. “Tell them you don’t have to open the door.”
“I don’t have to open the door!” shouted the tiger.
“Sir, we received a report saying a crime has been committed in this apartment. Open up!” The voice was now more commanding.
“Shit” I swore. I was hoping they would forget the initial call with a literal tiger running around. But it looks like the smell, combined with the report, was enough to leave someone to check.
“Ask them if they have a warrant,” whispered the cat.
As the conversation continued, I was trying to figure out the escape route. The gas would take time to overpower the scent of blood enough for it to be smelled outside. Too much time.
Hiding and hoping they would come in, smell the gas, and go out was an option, but there was a good chance they would at least take a look in the apartment.
And then an idea came to my mind.
Why not use the same strategy as the initial owners of the apartment? Use the prepared scene for a distraction.
I quickly opened the doors to the room with the body. Entering, I kicked the corpse to the side so that the destroyed head would be lying in the doorway.
They should focus on that at the beginning, but we still needed to escape.
I heard a bang as the officer finally tried to push against the doors. But good luck pushing away a massive tiger.
Well, we couldn’t go through the doors or the windows. Then there was one option left. Through the walls it is.
I went into the bedroom to the right and hit the wall. Then I immediately thanked American cheap building practices and their paper walls.
“Bakari!” I got the cat’s attention. “Get the safe, and break through this wall. We then run out of the other apartment into the one across and go through the back windows.”
The cat left the door and picked up the safe as the police were trying to break in, now only blocked by the stove. Not losing any momentum, he simply crashed into the wall, going straight through, claws first.
I followed as I heard the door finally break.
“Get on the grou— Oh my god!” shouted the man. “We have 10-54 in the apartment. I repeat, we have 10-54. Requesting backup.”
“Oh fuck,” said the other policeman.
I stopped in the hole for a second. I could hear them slowly walk in. “Hey, do you smell that?” asked one to the other.
That was my cue. “I will blow up the whole fucking building! I’ll take all of you with me!” I shouted and went through the hole.
“Wait! No!” shouted the policeman, hearing my words.
We entered a living room. The door to the entrance hall was closed, but I could hear some people there, probably outside the apartment, standing with the crowd.
“We have to evacuate the building,” said one of the cops.
I could hear them outside starting to address the crowd. “Please, everyone, stay calm.”
Well, I was not going to help him with that. I went out of the small room. The person living here stood in the hallway next to the doorway, wearing pajamas, watching the whole spectacle, their eyes glued to the cops.
I approached the entrance, slamming the door closed before the owner could react, locking him outside of the apartment.
“There’s a gas leak!” I shouted as loudly as I could, although it came out a bit weak with the casting taking a toll on me.
“There’s a bomb, we’re all gonna die!” roared the tiger. His voice was so loud I almost felt my eardrums burst.
Not missing a bit, with my ears still ringing, I cast Ring of Fire, directing it at the door as much as I could. It flew from it's hinges, looking like a fireball had pushed it out.
All hell broke loose as people started running for the stairs. We waited a few seconds as the last person ran past the open door before we rushed out. The apartment in front stood open, the owner probably on their way to the stairs. We simply ran into it.
The place was a mirror image of the one in which we were previously. We made our way into the bedroom as it should have a large window.
Screams of panic could be heard in the building as chaos continued. The tiger threw the safe first and then jumped through the window. Not having much choice, I followed, using the rest of my second circle mana to cast Panther’s Agility to make the landing a bit smoother.
The fall was not pleasant. The feline landed on all fours with the effortless grace of a predator.
I did not. Mid-flight, I used the staff to cast Force into my own abdomen to stop the fall. It worked, but also turned me around, making the landing harder. My shoulder slammed into the roof of a parked car, as the alarm started blaring.
I rolled to the ground with a groan, emptying the contents of my stomach thanks to my own spell. I felt my entire left side scream at me. Only the agility spell stopped me from slamming headfirst into the car, but I was sure my left collarbone was broken.
I saw the van move in our direction. The back doors opened as the tiger picked up the previously thrown safe and entered the car. I limped after him.
With a grunt, I seated myself in the car, catching Ophelia’s confused eyes.
“All according to plan,” I said, smiling at her.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then just closed it back up, deciding not to comment.
We picked up the cats on the way, who simply walked down the building without much hurry.
We managed to get away.
We drove in random directions for some time, just in case someone was following us. I winced a bit at every turn, the broken bone reminding me of its existence at every change of speed. I couldn’t use a potion as the bones must be aligned first.
“We’ll need someone to realign your bones. We can’t get you to a hospital after the shit we pulled. This van will also most likely need to be gotten rid of, just in case,” my broker informed us. “We have a doctor who can take care of you on the down low.”
“I’m not going to let a veterinarian align my collarbone,” I joked.
The cats and even Ophelia looked at me flatly.
“Fine, fine. Take me to the guy,” I relented, changing my sitting position, trying to find the least painful one. The sooner I got my arm fixed, the sooner I could see what's inside this safe. The ache in the collarbone at least seemed to mask a headache I felt coming, so not all was bad.
I looked at Ophelia, who looked more and more sleepy, tiredness finally catching up to her. And not only tiredness, I imagine.
“Hey,” I got her attention. “We will get you a hotel for today. You will have to move to my neighborhood later, until the mansion is constructed.”
She nodded sleepily, but then scrunched her eyebrows. “Wait, no, I can’t just move out. I need to take care of my college and tell my mother. And probably testify about T—” She gulped. “Tom. And—”
“We took care of the Tom part,” said the orange cat. “We sent an official letter from a law firm to represent you in case of questioning, so that any inquiries should go through your lawyer.”
“But I don’t have any lawyers,” Ophelia said, confused.
Q’Shar smiled, “But the Alhazred clan does.”
“We do?” Now I asked, just as confused.
“Yes, we took care of it. Would you like to be informed of any law proceedings made in—”
“No,” I interrupted the cat.
“Anyway,” the first cat continued. “After hearing what happened, we monitored any changes on our end. If you are wondering about the trip and the people, they should have returned by now, or will soon. Before release, they were given some type of strong alcohol and left on the edge of the forest after calling the police. They found them drunk, so any story about a secret village and gods won't go through, and any blame put on you will be annihilated by any lawyer. The last update we received was that Tom’s father had been informed about his son's missing status and had pulled some strings to expedite their return. But don’t worry, even if they try to blame you, there is no evidence. It will be treated as a missing person case.”
Ophelia slumped in her seat, looking forward, her gaze unfocused. “What about my mother?” she finally asked.
“Well, we tried to inform her, but—”
“She didn’t care, right?”
“Well… I wouldn’t put it that way, but she ignored any correspondence, both from us and any calls from the university.”
Ophelia just nodded absentmindedly.
She did not have the time to deal with all her feelings yet, or so I would assume, as I never had to do much dealing with my own feelings. Missing a few of them can be useful, judging by the state in which Ophelia was.
“You should go back and close up anything you have left behind at home. And once you are done, contact the cats, and we will start with your training. We should get you to a fortune teller first to see what we’re working with." I turned to the cat. "Any update on her?"
“She should be finishing the trip in Europe and come back soon. Last we checked, she was in Portugal.”
I nodded. I should take care of my own growth as well. My ascension was coming after all.
