How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-three: Escape from Humanity

~Chapter Twenty-three: Escape From Humanity~

The interrogation by the Taiji police lasts all of ten minutes before they become frustrated and decide to lock me up in the holding cells for a few hours. Apparently, answering with nonsense answers with the driest tone gets on their nerves. And since they could not really resort to torture, as they are supposed to be the legal representatives of their town, I was free to annoy them as much as I wanted without fear of retribution.

Nero - who is dressed only in too-big pants - does not seem surprised to see me when the Taiji police put me in the holding cell across the hall from him, but he does not look happy either. "Felix actually let you leave the palace?" Nero asks, as soon as the guards are gone. Wisely, he does not just immediately assume that I did not run away on my own to come find him.

When I nod, his expression darkens, and I get the feeling Felix will be receiving a lecture as soon as we return. "He shouldn't have let you come," Nero says darkly, and I glance uncomfortably at the other Mer in the cell next to Nero's, who is not even attempting to not pay attention. And even if he was actively trying not to listen, these holding cells kind of lack privacy, so it is not like he would not hear it all anyway.

"I'm more useful up here than either of you are," I point out, intentionally referring to Private Drest as well, in hopes of reminding my fiance that we are not alone. Whether he gets the hint or not, though, remains unseen as Nero just frowns at me.

"In case you didn't know, you can't teleport in front of humans; it would break the number one rule of the supernatural community," Nero says, and while I would like to point out that I kind of already did that once before, I have no intentional of teleporting. After all, I can see the security camera in the corner of the room clear as day, and I am not that stupid.

I'm still my own brand of stupid, though.

Which is exactly why, instead of teleporting, I use my fire, something that could be explained away as some kind of hidden device, to heat up my hands and grab the bar that the door's deadbolt secures into. I could just melt through the door's bars, but that would not be as easily explained away, as something that hot would melt my hands faster than the door. However, with enough heat, the metal around the space the bolt slides into...

The metal around the deadbolt starts to glow a bright red as I pour more magic into it, but it does not melt. Since that is not what I am aiming for, though, I am not disappointed. Instead, when it finally turns a nice neon color, I remove my hand from it, take a step back, and kick the door. The metal that was holding the deadbolt still bends and then quietly snaps, causing the door to swing outward.

Since there is no time to waste, I run over to the door that separates the holding cells from the rest of the precinct, grab the handle, and twist it upward with enough power to jam it. Having bought us some time, I then quickly make my way back to the holding cells and repeat what I did to both Nero's and Private Drest's doors, though they are the ones who have to kick their doors down, as I would have just jammed my foot otherwise.

Once both Mer are free, though, I am surprised to realize that no one has tried to break down the door I jammed yet. And when we walk right through it without trouble - after I break the handle for real this time - and no sign of anyone waiting for us on the other side, I have to wonder if the security camera in the corner is even real. Surely they would have checked it by now if it was.

Through the door, there is a hallway full of closed interrogation rooms. The hallway then leads out into the main room of the building, where are the desks and a few officers lingering about. Even when we enter the room, though, not a single one glances our way.