In the second or so between Amstrad waking up in his material body and Horst attempting to do the same, Amstrad had shot Horst with the good old fashioned gun in his boot. Thousand Words rolled between them, far too late.
>:ᗡ
Amstrad knows it won’t understand the truth of the matter. He raises a hand to it and crushes it like a trash compactor with his mind.
Then he realizes he still has the glasses on. They followed him to the real world.
Well, boy… Charmorag says. Perhaps I judged too quickly… Amstrad unplugs his head and springs to his feet. He looks around like Charmorag might be with him in the closed off room.
Have no fear, boy… with only one of the relics in this world my power is not such that I might apparate. Your city is in no danger……… for now.
“I don’t like that you can talk to me.” Amstrad says.
But you love my power… as if it were made for you…
Amstrad ignores that. He collects himself. He opens the door and sees Cairo has Porco Hackett in a headlock on the ground.
“Fucker tried to kill me for knowing that daemons are real.” Cairo says. “Cool shades.”
“Who'd've thought Porco was a cop. And thanks.” Amstrad says.“
Kill him. says Charmorag in the back of Amstrad’s head.
Porco strains. His gun is across the hallway. Amstrad psychically dismantles it and bends the barrel in half. Porco stops trying. Amstrad wonders if Charmorag can hear his thoughts. “Let him go Cairo. Let’s bounce.”
“Yes sir.” she stands up and sees the room that Amstrad just left. She chuckles. “Sick bro.”
Amstrad glares at Porco with the glasses. “Don’t fuck with us.” he says.
Porco shrugs. “I’ll do what I can. I got a nose for trouble.”
Kill him. It seems like no one can hear the voice but him.
Amstrad stares for a second. Turns away.
He and Cairo leave through the hole they made to Amstrad’s room. As they enter the main hall, they find it swarming with construction workers. Dozens of people with hard hats and orange vests are crowbarring the place apart.
“Woah woah woah woah!” Amstrad shouts, flagging down the first one that sees him. “What’s happening here! This is my house!”
The construction lady shakes her head. “Slated for demolition. This here tower construction compromised some key support structures. It’d be dangerous to keep it up. Gotta go down.”
Amstrad hears Charmorag faintly laughing.
“Can I get my stuff?”
“If you can manage in the next ten minutes. You know, you should’ve gotten a text.”
Amstrad scoffs and whips open his flip phone. He got the text minutes after he last checked his phone. He closes it.
He and Cairo collect all that they can carry. It is everything he owns, but it’s also all that they can carry. They head down to the garage. Cairo says she’s got a ride, so they go to her ride. It’s an ‘89 Cressida and it looks about that old. They put the stuff in the back.
Amstrad gets in shotgun while Cairo gets behind the wheel.
They sit there for a moment.
“Do you have a place?” Amstrad asks.
“No.”
“Wanna find one? As roommates?”
She thinks for a minute. “Sure.”
They drive away. As they wait in the constant traffic, they see the windows and lining of the apartment getting dismantled by hundreds of faceless goons. A newspaper stand they’re stopped next to says nothing about more statue incidents. Things seem normal if not for their red and blue tint.
“So did they move your wall back?” Cairo asks.
Amstrad looks back at the demolishing of the whole building. He knows she’s not joking by now. “Yeah, I suppose they did.”
“And you’re rich, right? That robot said you get all his money.” she chuckles.
Amstrad winces and shrugs. “Weeeellll. Probably not after I killed him.”
“Oh shit. Well that’s ok. We’ll live.”
“Yes we will. Yes we will.”
The black sky parts to let down one clean ray of just normally cloud-dulled sunshine. It shines on their car. Amstrad lowers the mirror to block it. Cairo squints to see the dozens of pedestrians crossing while she has a green light. Whatever.