The Principles of a Grand Hunt // Part 1 - A Cars Story

Chapter 17 - Busted!

The hotel room was completely silent. There sat Dash, Demetria, and Finn McMissile staring at the car in question...

"Wake up!" Finn yelled at Jarred, causing him to wake up.

"Gah! What the hell?! W-where am I?!" Jarred yelped.

"Calm down. You're just in our hotel room." Demetria notified.

"Oh thank the Manufacturer, it's just you... hehe... hung up at a pretty bad time, huh?" Jarred asked, a bit guilty.

"Yeah, that part wasn't cool. It was a mere coincidence that we found you here in time, to be honest. But Dash here managed to go against our wishes anyway, and decided it'd be a good idea to knock you out and take you with us." Demetria said, looking sternly at Dash.

Dash stood still and stayed silent as he stared angrily at Jarred.

"Heh... not much of a talker in person?" Jarred asked.

"He's just a bit... indifferent... at the moment. Just seeking his credit where he thinks it's due. But I don't think he realizes that we don't have a car on the inside now." Demetria said, looking Dash's way aggressively.

Dash remained silent, looking at the ground, smirking smugly, and shaking his hood.

"That is quite unfortunate, yes... but we might still have a chance." Jarred proposed.

"Wait, really?" Demetria asked.

"How can we do it?" Finn added.

"Nettes knows he's got a car missing now. I assume that means he's looking for me, either because he thinks I've stolen my share of cash and fled or that he's genuinely concerned for my wellbeing." Jarred said.

"The latter seems unlikely," Demetria added.

"Precisely. In a way, I have to thank you for hiding me away from him." Jarred said, looking Dash's way. Still, the racer didn't say a word.

"So what do you know? What are his plans?" Demetria asked.

"I... wish I could tell you. Seeing that my cover has been all over the place, he hasn't clued me in on a lot of things. From what I can tell, a lot of henchmen don't either." Jarred admitted, sighing.

"So he's purposefully not telling anyone his plan in fear of insiders." Finn assumed.

"I can only assume so." Jarred added.

"Damnit. What does that mean for us?" Demetria asked.

"Well, I think it has less to do with worrying about insiders and more to do with the fact that he's trying his best to avoid a Miami repeat, which for him means that he's refraining from telling his henchmen about his plan. I suppose that's working for him so far, seeing that no one knows what on earth he's doing." Jarred said.

"Do you think that explains the sudden urge to rob a bank in Paris?" Finn assumed.

"I can only guess. But then again, without the funding from the academy, he's basically left scrounging around for scrap parts. He wasted the last of what he had on some secret lair only the Manufacturer knows where, so he's essentially broke. What do you do when you're a broke criminal?" Jarred asked.

"Conduct a bank robbery," Finn answered.

"Bingo," Jarred said.

"That's unlike Nettes to not think before he acts." Demetria quipped.

"Oh, that's good! He would not like you saying that." Jarred chuckled, slapping a tire on the ground and pointing at Demetria.

"Do you think I care at this stage? Look at what he's done to us; turned us into our worst selves." Demetria said.