UP IN FLAMES ➳ S. STILINSKI [02]

[09]

Walking out the Animal Clinic I pressed the dial button on Allison's name, holding the phone to my ear. "Hello?" She breathed down the phone. "Ash? Are you alright?"

"Hey" I walked towards my car, unlocking the door and climbing inside. "Are you busy right now?"

"Uhhh.." She trailed off, pulling the phone away from her ear. "It's like 7pm - are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yes" I laughed slightly, it seemed every time I phoned her there was someone in danger or some kind of supernatural drama - I guess there was, but I needed a catch up too. I had been around testosterone filled werewolves for far to long and needed girl time. "Can I pick you up?"

"Sure!" I pulled the phone away from my ear before I heard her speak again. "Oh - Ash!!"

"Yeah?" My eyebrows rose.

"Scott and Stiles won't be with you, will they?"

Pulling a face, I was taken by surprise - I didn't realise she felt strangely towards them, although it made sense. "No, don't worry, they're not with me"

"Great, see you soon!" The dial tone rang out and I ended the call, shaking my head and turning on the car, pulling out of the parking lot.

Gazing back to the clinic, I could still see the lights on and that all of them were still inside creating a plan. It wasn't that I didn't trust Scott and Stiles to get the information we needed, but I just thought that taking a more physical approach would be the best idea.

The jeep screeched to a stop outside her house and she jogged down the driveway towards me, dressed in dark clothes and a small handbag. "Good evening madam" My head bowed to her as she slid in the passengers seat and closed the door. "How are you?"

"Hello to you too" She giggled. "I'm good! However, I do feel as though there is some sort of strange cause of this meet up.." Trailing off, she looked at me and I pulled a face. "There is, isn't there? Knew it!"

"Well..." I smiled and threw my head back laughing - she had great intuition.

"Spill those guts of yours Ash" Swivelling around to face me, she placed her hand on the dash. "Spill them!"

Looking at her for a moment, I squinted my eyes and smirked. "We're going to get financial advice, that's all"

"Financial advi..." Coming to a stop and making a surprised face, the cogs seemed to click behind her eyes. "The Bank! No way - this couldn't have been more perfect, damn you're too good"

"Perfect how?" My eyes stayed glued to the road as we pulled into the side street that lead down to the Bank. "You know something I don't?"

"Let's just say I was already coming here - tonight. Just to scope out a few things and see what was going on" Her eyes rolled and I put the handbrake on, turning to face her with narrowed eyes. "Fine" She nodded. "Lydia and I have these marks"

"Yes, I heard about them" I nodded along with her as she continued.

"And we traced them to this bank, so I was going to come and see what the hell is so special about this bank - even though we all know exactly what is so special about this bank..."

"Erica and Boyd" We spoke in unison.

"So, we need to scope out the area to try and find a way in - Stiles and Scott are trying but I really don't trust them that much, so I thought we could do better"

"Oh, we could totally do better" She smiled at me and pulled her hood up over her head, smirking. "Let's do better"

"Let's" Fixing my hair in the mirror, I pulled my hood up and stepped out the jeep with her, heading around to the boot and popping the trunk. "Now, we can't actually go inside, that would be stupid. But - doesn't mean we cant look inside from the outside"

"Nice touch" She picked up the night vision goggles and slug them around her shoulders, her hands scanned over the series of butterfly knives I had placed in there for emergencies. "Just in case?"

"What can I say? - you can never be too careful in this town"

"Amen" She shut the boot as we walked towards the building, ducking around corners making sure not to be seen. From the outside the building looked completely abandoned, there was no lights on, no sounds and no sign of life at all.

"Are we sure there's anyone in here?" I half whispered - half mouthed to her and she shrugged her shoulders, motioning to a set of fire escape ladders that were on the side of the building.

I went first, gently scaling each individual ladder making sure not to make too much noise or slip over the corroded metal. After I reached the top I turned around and pulled Allison up, making sure we were both low to the ground just in case.

"It's high up here" She commented as we scoped the roof for any possible entry.

"One time I had to scale the top floor windowsill of a fifty story hotel" My eyes scanned over the edge. "That was definitely higher"

"I'm not even gonna ask"

"You shouldn't - it was weird"

Walking over to the edge of the building, a small grate big enough to just fit a person caught my eye. "Hey! You see that?"

"That is...claustrophobic, but perfect" We inspected the grate and nodded to each other. "It'll do"

"Team Hunter - 1, Team Werewolves - 0!" I threw my hands up in victory and gently high fived her, excited to go and tell the boys the news in a few hours once I had taken a nap.

***

"Minutes!!!" My hands slammed down on the desk, waking the two sleeping boys with a loud bang. "You said minutes, Stiles!!"

"Woah!" Scott yelped as he slipped out of the chair and onto the floor, clearly still half asleep. "What's wrong?!" Jumping up, he rubbed his eyes and stared at me in shock.

"What's wrong? What's wrong is the fact we have mere hours to get Boyd and Erica out and you guys have been having a sleepover!!"

"And what have you been doing exactly? I didn't see you in here with us researching"

"I.." My hand pointed to my chest. "...was doing something actually"

"And that was?" His eyebrows rose.

Grinning widely, I winked at him. "Finding us a way in"