I was panting as the Snake Ancestral Spirit was finally destroyed. I began coughing, the poison that had entered my body was quite a bit. I stumbled slightly as my father rushed over.

“You okay?” he asked me as I waved him off.

“Fine, fine. Bastet?” I asked and we both went over to her corpse. I kicked her. Nothing. I then leaned down and checked her eyes. I even gave one a light poke. No reaction. I was about to get her snake pendant from under her robe, but felt an immense sense of danger. Probably poison.

“Poison, on her body,” I said out tiredly as the snow swirled around us. I bent down, and carefully picked her up by her robes. My father didn’t say anything as we both made our way to a small metal shed off to one side of the lumberyard.

Going inside, there was just spare equipment, no heating and no light. At least we were out of the wind and the biting cold. Dumping the corpse in the corner and tossing a small plastic trap over it, I turned to look around. I shivered. My father had found a fuel cannister.

“Will be back in a moment, find something for a firepit,” he told me, and I nodded. I looked around for anything else useful. I found a large can that used to have oil. I brought it over to the center of the shed. My father came back and dumped several large pieces of wood on the floor before going out a second time, and then a third.

I was grateful he was handling getting fire wood. My body was shaking heavily as it tried to fight the poison. It was going to be a rough night. Once my father was done collecting firewood. He tossed several pieces into the wood can.

He then poured fuel over the wood pieces. After that he struck his claws together. There was a woosh as the fire lit up. The wood quickly caught. The smoke went up and began to fill the shed. My father quickly went near the top of the shed in the corner and poked several holes in the metal siding. The smoke quickly cleared while most of the heat stayed in the shed.

I was leaning against a crate next to the fire pit and my father came to sit next to me. “You okay Mittens?” he asked me.

“I…just painful, the poison is passing through me. I should be fine,” I forced out. He nodded at that.

“That was impressive Mittens. This old cat, is falling behind,” he said with a sigh. I took a moment to try and think through the pain about what to say to something like this.

“Without you distracting it, no way I could have won on my own. Thanks for being there,” I told him.

“I worry Mittens. I am surprised you are even speaking and are still alive. I was thinking about rushing out to get help for you. Did you get help from Doctor Sharpeyes?” he asked me.

“Something like that. I focused on learning to counter poisoning after fighting that group of Apostates when we stopped the Quackening,” I said.

“I would tell you not to be reckless, but you are an adult and can make your own decisions,” my father said heavily. He reached out to the side and tossed another piece of wood into the fire. The smell was irritating, but it was better than freezing. Also, the smoke was leaving at least.

“Mittens, your eyes,” my father said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“They are bleeding,” he quickly said.

“Don’t worry, the poison is being pushed out of my body.” I held up my paw. There was blood leaking out from in between my claws. “I have my secret techniques. Don’t speak about them, please,” I asked my father who slowly nodded.

“I trust you Mittens. But I worry. You are my daughter. If there is anything, please don’t hesitate to ask,” he told me, and I nodded at that.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I know,” I leaned against him, blinking the tears and blood coming out of my eyes. We watched the burning fire. I slowly drifted off to sleep.

“Mittens,” my father gently shook me awake. I forced my blood crusted eyes to open. “Its morning, we need to get moving.”

I nodded at this. “Give me a moment,” I told him as I forced myself to get up. My entire body hurt and I had a headache. I carefully wiped the dried blood off my face, being careful not to poke myself with my claws.

I then made my way outside. It was cold, but at least the sun was coming out. The cold quickly woke me up. I relieved myself behind the shed and then made my way back inside. “Not too much snow,” I said and my father nodded. “Cold.”

“It is, how are you, can you run?” my father asked me.

“Give me a moment to stretch,” I told him, and he nodded. I slowly went through several movements. Everything was incredibly stiff and sore, but no serious issues. My arms hurt quite a bit from blocking that blow from before. “I am fine to travel. If there is combat, it would be rough.”

“That’s fine. Let’s go,” my father said. We were leaving Bastet’s corpse behind. The clean up crew in the area would retrieve it. We quickly set off. Leaving the lumberyard, we followed a dirt road back towards civilization.

Around noon we came to a paved road and there was a familiar face with a car waiting for us. “I am glad I was right, about finding both of you,” Mousethief said. We got into the car, turned the heat to max, and then buckled up. Missy was in the back seat as well.

“You get them?” Mousethief asked and I kept an eye carefully on his reactions as he sped down the road.

“High Apostate Bastet is dead,” my father said from the backseat.

“That is good, the rest?” Mousethief asked.

“Dead or running away,” he replied. We got the main target, which was the most important thing. “Need some rest, at least a couple of days.”

“I had another mission picked out,” Mousethief said and glanced at me.

“What is it?” I asked tiredly.

“A local company, Point Industries is possibly working with the Apostates. Wanted to investigate it then nab up the ring leaders when they run. They should be looking to escape sometime soon,” Mousethief explained.

“Alright, just point me in the right direction,” I said.

“What, Mittens! You need to rest,” my father said.

“It is fine. I will get better. Completing missions is important. I know you are worried, but I know my limits. My guess here is that Mousethief is going to drive for the afternoon, then we do a little bit of work this evening?” I asked.

“Yes. They are taking the train out. So back to the station. Then getting on the same train,” he replied while maneuvering between two other vehicles at Mousethief speeds. “Everything will be wrapped up then.”

“Just bringing some creatures into custody. I can rest on the train then. Alright?” I asked my father.

“Like I have said. Your choice Mittens. Personally, I would have just alerted authorities at the port and then let the clean up crew arrest them,” he added.

“Why don’t we do that?” I asked Mousethief.

“They might have some leads. Also doing the follow up yourself, can lead to new things and looks good,” Mousethief explained. I didn’t buy that explanation, but I was committed to completing missions and getting EXP no matter what. I could rest as we traveled. My father let out a long sigh, but I needed to push myself and get stronger no matter what. I couldn’t afford to take it easy or slow down in the slightest.

Mousethief showing up as he did was quite suspicious and it confirmed he had two skills. One to locate me in some way. And another skill to deflect suspicion of him showing up like he did with no explanation. It was scary to think about how he was manipulating everyone. But Mousethief was my friend, so there was no cause for concern.

“Did you get the owl?” I asked my father. I had forgotten to ask about that.

“No. The owl escaped with that other cat, Faststrike, I believe,” my father said. We were in no condition to continue chasing. I guess there was no honor among Apostates. Not that I was too surprised.

“But you said you killed him?” I asked with a bit of surprise.

“I was lying to put more pressure on Bastet,” he replied. “What? I can be tricky as well.” I shook my head at that. Still, it was a shame that he had escaped. Perhaps he would become my Bastet like she was for my father. I shook my head slightly. That wasn’t going to happen.

He only escaped because he was weak. I would only get stronger in time. I wasn’t that concerned about an Apostate that I outmatched a while ago, coming back as a threat. It was honestly impressive how much I had improved, but that was thanks to Mes’ help.

Once this mission was complete, I would take the time to look over my stats. Trying to do it while in pain or tired wasn’t a good idea in my mind. I would rather take my time and evaluate my decisions and how I spent my EXP. I had a good hunch, I was about to get a lot. Enough that I might not even spend any in order to get a higher authority level.

That was the most important feature in my mind. I needed more information from Mes to understand exactly what was happening with Mousethief and open up new options. It was a risk, not getting more practical upgrades like stats or skills, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I had managed to defeat Bastet with my father’s help.

So, while I might not be a match for an actual snake, I was still quite pleased with how I had done. Poison related skills and hypnosis related skills were also a priority. But I wasn’t about to go to the southern continent and battle snakes any time soon. Better to sort things out with Mousethief first and get this situation resolved, before tackling new issues. I needed to handle one problem at a time, rather than get stressed out.

While I would take easy solutions if they came up, I needed to go from the most urgent to the least urgent. Mousethief remained the most urgent issue I needed to address. More than the end of the world, the Covenant Church, or anything else that might be going on at the moment.

Our fates were bound together quite tightly, and he clearly was using me in some way. The other threats could wait until I got to them.

***-***

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