JP - Smell a lot of bad things

Lyle pulled a wad of hundreds out of a pocket and tossed it to them.

Tears escaped Tzeitel’s eyes and she nodded to Klaire, the wad of hundreds bouncing off her so she had to pick them up. “Thank you.” She said, catching Ami and Cody in a quick hug as she headed out with Klaire.

Klaire blinked at the hundreds. “Why are you carrying around so much cash?!” She blurted.

James stared at Lyle. “Dude…”

Tzeitel had not even noticed the denominations in her hand. “Oh.”

“Let's get going.” Klaire said and made her way for the door.

"For situations just like this where you either need to give someone some money or bribe someone" Lyle shrugged "Riley carries even more than I do and don't get me started on Mark."

James just stared at Lyle like he needed help.

Ami looked at Cody, her eyes bright with worry. Tzeitel was so close to going to the Underground and getting help… but now Colt was gone and she was going after him.

“Hey, Lyle, I think we should follow them…” Cody said, seeming to practically read Ami’s mind through the look on her face.

Lyle nodded pulling out his keys and texting Anna about what was going on before gesturing to his car.

Anna would already be in Lyle’s car. “You’re not going into a fight without me.” She stated.

Cody got in the car and sat with Ami. “How…?”

“I am a cat. I can get anywhere…”

Ami buckled her seatbelt. She knew her sister would not want her going after her, but of course that would not keep her behind.

Lyle chuckled and leaned over to kiss her "take note of that if you ever date a cat girl Cody. By the way don't forget about that thing I asked you to do."

Ami looked at Cody, wondering what Lyle asked him to do. Maybe restore his eye? Tzeitel would not be happy, even if it did not cost Cody anything.

Cody just kept silent, looking at Anna. Honestly, he wasn’t going to do anything unless she requested him to do it.

Anna let out a soft hiss and looked at Ami. “Got that swear jar? I think we’ll need it.”

Ami was confused. She shook the swear jar.

“Cool,” Anna giggled. “Lyle told me how much Tzeitel cusses.”

“A lot. If Cody was able to go to school the swear jar could pay for his med school.” Ami said.

"By now it's probably paying for Amber, Leon, and lotus's school as well" Lyle replied as he drove.

Ami wished Tzeitel put enough in the swear jar to not have anything left over to drink with.

“There’s smoke and the scent of Klaire and Tzeitel are that way.” Anna explained, pointing.

“Smoke?” Ami asked anxiously, looking and seeing the smoke.

“I smell the wind boy, too.” Anna added and looked at both Ami and Cody. “I smell a lot of bad things…”

“That means someone is injured, doesn’t it?” Cody asked they got close and saw both Klaire and Tzeitel trying to help Colt. “Called it…”

🚗
Tzeitel headed out with Klaire. “He had parked over there…” She said, pointing to the empty space.

Klaire frowned at the empty spot and got in Tzeitel's car. "We should follow the road for now."

Tzeitel nodded and got in the driver’s seat. She started driving and rolled down all the windows. Klaire might hear an empty bottle rattling in the glove box. She slowed as they approached an intersection.

At the intersection, Klaire leaned her head out the window and sniffed the air, pointing to the right. “That way,” She instructed.

Tzeitel nodded and drove where Klaire pointed. “I hope we can catch up to him before he does something stupid…”

“Or something bad happens to him…” Klaire muttered and kept sniffing the air. Her ears perked up, twitching slightly. “I smell fire…burning oil…”

“Shit.” Tzeitel pressed down on the accelerator when she saw a plume of smoke ahead. “Fuck.”

The closer they got the more Klaire could smell. Blood was mixed in with the smoke and oil stench, but she could also smell something she hoped never to smell amongst her friends. “Oh, fuck…I’m gonna be sick…” She grumbled, covering her nose. “Burning flesh…”

Tzeitel swore, flooring it. They were getting close and she was dreading what she would find.

When they finally reached the fire, they would find a truck and Colt’s mustang. Only the truck was destroyed and burning, but all windows of the mustang were shattered and it was off. The body halfway inside the truck was charred, but obviously not a meta - just a poor imbecile that had been in the crossfire of something horrible.

Getting out, Klaire went to Colt’s car and sniffed around a bit before it felt like her blood ran cold. She froze, eyes wide. “I recognize this smell…” She whispered.

Tzeitel was relieved that the body was not Colt and before she could feel bad for the guy in the truck Klaire froze. “What is it?” Her first thought was Canestone’s clones and she started to shake.

Klaire shook slightly as she stepped away from the car. “Thrane was…here.” She gulped and looked around for that sick bastard.