@ricky-corderbro replied to your post “[pm] It occurred to me when I got back to my apartment after our...”
[pm] it’s the fucking opposite of shocking to me that you’ve managed to piss off both the living and the dead. If you need help I might know a few people.
[pm] Already got an exorcist on it. And, uh, it’s my mom. The ghost. It’s-- Like I said. Be happy yours didn’t become a spirit. Your dead mother can’t fucking disown you.
ricky-corderbro replied to your post: [pm] Heads up. Mimes at least know where the three...
[pm] We’ve got an…… unorthodox security system rigged up at home. So we haven’t been outright attacked yet. But I’m definitely concerned about it. If you need a safer place to lay low come over.
[pm] Did you go all Home Alone on the place? Yeah, I don’t blame you for that. Those mimes are terrifying. I don’t know if that’s a good idea Can I bring my mini fridge full of blood You have to invite me in I’m allergic to roommates Thanks for the offer. I think I’m good for now, but if things get bad, I might take you up on that.
Lions, Tigers, and Nix! Oh My | Forest, Ricky, Molly, & Q
The case of the ‘Creepy mermaids’ get a little wild at the Ashkent Zoo and Aquarium
Molly sat in the shotgun seat silently while the three drove to the zoo. She was very, very out of her element here. Forest had probably done stuff just like this a million times before. He was well trained, he was disciplined, and he was motivated. Molly didn’t actually know if this was commonplace for Ricky, but regardless he was still confident, and strong, and with those fangs and his anger he was downright deadly. Molly on the other hand was clumsy, soft-spoken, and just apparently only adequate when it came to computers. She hadn’t even been able to find the Nix on her own, while Q and the lady that worked for the ACPD had apparently pinpointed their location already. Molly was planning to take control of the cameras to try to keep an eye on Ricky and Forest but would she even be able to do that? The car lurching to a stop broke her of her thoughts and she sat back and stared out the windshield for a long moment before reaching between her legs for her backpack. “Okay. Here we are.” She didn’t really know what else could be said, or any motivation that she could think of to give the two. Instead she just threw the passenger side door open and swung out of the car, ready to trade seats and hop into the driver’s seat.
Sitting in silence in the back seat of the jeep Forest ran an absentminded hand over his bow backpack in his lap the feathers of his iron tipped arrows spread neatly on his knees. He had debated on not bringing any of it, and just resorting to his arsenal of knives. I mean they were going to be in a zoo after all, and with Ricky’s unknown abilities trying to shoot and handle well whatever the hell else he was going to have to handle could be tricky. But they needed him at his best. And Forest was best with his bow. So he guessed that was the ultimate solution to that problem. Feeling the car come to a stop though Forest put on his game face, mind switched from regular Forest mode, to hunting mode. Climbing swiftly out of the Jeep Forest swung his bow backpack patting his legs and chest a few places for reassurance. Always gotta check you’ve got everything you know. And it was good that he had because he was suddenly missing a vital piece of this mission. “Flashdrive.” He commented turning toward Molly, realizing he didn’t have that already stored away somewhere “And since we’re soon departing both of you are going to need at least one of these.” He said pulling a few of his newly sharpened iron knives from the pocket of his bow pack.
Ricky was barely holding on. He was angry. So angry. Angrier than he thought he'd actually ever been before in his life. Reed had been hurt. Reed had almost been murdered and now it was finally time for justice to come; frankly he wasn't picky if it came at the hands of police or the weapons he and Forest both had. His hands gripped the steering wheel and he ran his tongue over the smoothness of his fake teeth. No sense in revealing what he was to Forest unless he absolutely had to. Too many people knew already. As they pulled up he slid out of drivers seat and onto the dirt, checking to make sure the jagged fishing knives he'd packed were still in place. "Remember the bargain, Majesty." He squeezed Molly's arm and gave her a smile "stay in the car where it's safe." He took the offered knife and nodded slowly "I've got a couple. But one more never hurt anyone. You're the professional. I'll let you take point. Time to fuck some assholes up." He paused a snickered under his breath "no homo."
Quinn was curious, no one could deny that. So when both Reed and Molly had asked Q for help in finding a specific location some people were, Quinn knew something had to be up. He had a location, and he had a sneaking suspicion of the date. Quinn had asked Ricky if he wanted to do something today, and the response he had gotten was suspicious at best. Were all three of them up to something today? Quinn was sure that the only way to find out was to keep an eye on the zoo. What better way than to hack into their security system to monitor what was going on at the zoo? So that was exactly what he was doing. Quinn had his set up ready. His three monitors were each had different images on them. Arranged in a pyramid, the top monitor held the security feeds. Throughout the day he'd checked to see if anything was going on. Other than some people in the zoo itself, he suspected they were the people Reed & Molly were looking for, nothing had happened yet. When he looked up next he saw a car had pulled up and people were piling out. It looked like Ricky and Forest, but he couldn't see who was in the car from the angle he had.
Rolling her eyes, Molly grabbed for the knife Ricky had taken from Forest, "That's for me actually." She plucked it out of his hands and smiled at him, "Don't worry. I'm staying right here. But I need a little defense." She fished into her bag and grabbed out her flash drive with the virus she had built added onto it. She handed the thing to Forest before grabbing his arm and pulling him off to the side, "Be right back." She drug Forest to the other side of the car, more than enough distance for Ricky to be unable to hear the two. "Be safe in there. And keep and eye on him please. And this might not be the time, but thanks for the gifts. We need to talk after this. Okay?" She patted his shoulder and then walked back around before offering a high five to Ricky, "Go get em tiger"
Smiling slightly Forest pulled out another one from a secret crevice and passed it to the other boy again “I’m giving one to both of you Molls, since I figure those aren’t tipped with iron.” He motioned to the fishing knives. They’d be alright, but iron would be the only thing to force a nix back into their true form. And well, let’s just say that could be useful if this turned more bloody than it was supposed to. Killing something was always easier when it looked like a monster after all. Letting himself be pulled to the other side of the vehicle. Sitting there with his heart racing in his chest though Forest just looked down as Molly spoke, cheeks flushing pink with every word. “Uh yea sure. And you’re w-welcome” he stammered slightly mind racing with the possibilities of what Molly might want to talk about. But he pushed that aside knowing he had a job to do “Do stay here ok. And don’t be afraid to use that” He nodded placing his hand over hers, the knife between them. Coming back to the other side of the vehicle however, forest put his game face back on again. “Alright Ricky you’re with me then” Forest nodded walking slowly away from the vehicle careful to make sure Molly was out of earshot before he spoke to the other boy “Before we go though, just want to mention we were here for apprehension only. That means if you have to hurt them, try for survivable areas only. This case is already too wrapped up in police business for us to get away with murder, plus” Forest took a deep breath “I told Reed I and by extension [i]we[/i] wouldn’t kill them. So let’s try not to ok?”
Ricky looked at the high five with no small measure of disdain. "Are you serious? I'm going monster hunting. That deserves a hug." And so he wrapped Molly in a tight hug and followed Forest, idly twirling the knife between his fingers. "Lead on fearless leader." He stuck close to the shorter man, listening only to the soft tap of his boots against pavement. "I'll try not to kill anyone. But. I made my own promise. We'll see how it all shakes out though. I'm mostly interested in reciprocal vengeance. So as long as I can cause some damage, and believe me I can cause damage, I'm gonna be happy with how it all turns out." He peered into the night, happy for his stellar night vision, and scratched his arm "How many are we expecting?
Quinn spotted Molly when she exited the car and nodded. So there were three of them. That... didn't look great. There were a lot of people in there. They didn't look like a particularly friendly crowd and the weapons that they were all sporting made him think this was not a friendly mission they were going on. Frowning, he pulled up an internal schematic of the zoo, looking over it a moment before refocusing on the camera feed. There was no sound, which was disappointing. That was an easy fix. Cracking his knuckles he set to typing. In a few moments he had hacked into the three phones and turned on their microphones, giving him a live feed of what they were saying. Quinn leaned back into his chair, pulling his headphones on and focusing on the cameras, watching as the three spoke on the camera.
Molly wrapped her arms around Ricky as tightly as she could when he pulled her in for a hug and tried squeezing the life out of him. She was pretty frail in comparison to his height and muscles though, so Molly figure the squeeze felt like a pinch more than anything. When the two walked off heading towards the zoo Molly crawled into the driver's seat and set her phone, her backpack, and the knife beside her on the passenger seat while she fished the laptop out of her backpack and rested it on her lap. Hopefully, Forest would plug the flashdrive in sooner rather than later so Molly could get access to the cameras and have a better idea what the heck was going on.
Trying hard to feel like he had done the wrong thing by not hugging Molly (was he supposed to hug her? Like he could, he liked hugs, but were they a huggy people? He didn’t know) Forest shrugged it all off focusing on the task at hand. Frowning slightly though at Ricky’s statement, he couldn’t help but bite his lip. “Alright, but just remember, this is an open police case, and murder is frowned upon by human society. So be careful” He stated wondering how he was going keep murderous, well whatever ricky was, safe like he promised molly and fight himself. But that was all in the future he guessed, and there was no use trying to predict it “3 at least. If not more.” Forest shrugged, the number hadn’t really been clear from the files and there was no use really dwelling on it if he didn’t have to. “So you have any ideas on getting in or are we going to do this the hard way?” He questioned looking at the large wall surrounding the animal park.
Trudging after Forest, Ricky rolled up the sleeves on his shirt and looked up at the wall in front of them. The man's curious turn of phrase "human society" made him wonder if Molly had inadvertently said something to Forest that had clued Forest into Ricky's identity. She had said the man was skilled in hunting fae.... he wondered if that extended to Selkies and if he was going to face a battle on two fronts this evening. "I think it's climb. You can stand on my shoulders if you wanna. But while I"m pretty good in a fight I'm not great with a lockpick." Running a hand over the rough stone he wondered if they could climb the wall itself or if they would need to shimmy up an adjacent tree "Yeah I'll try to keep too much blood off my hands. Too much. There'll still be some. One of these fuckers left a handful.... literally.... of scars on my back. So... some recompense is due."
Looking at the wall Forest nodded in return. Their best best was probably to get over the wall somehow “While I do know how to pick a lock my expertise is more in the housing variety of locks and not well” Forest looked at the wall not even wanting to know what kind of security this place had installed. I mean probably didn’t even have actual locks, just buttons and gates and deadbolts. “So climbing might be better for the both of us. With a Tree being probably the best solution since hauling you over after me might be a bit of a feat” He side eyed the other. Yea he was strong, but Ricky probably had a good 50 pounds on him, not to mention forest would have to do that while sitting on top of a wall with all of his gear strapped to him. So yea a tree was probably their best option. Walking down the wall towards some trees that looked like they’d be able to carry them over Forest listened to Ricky. “Well not saying you can’t well rough them up a little” He replied knowing that if it was up to him the other boy could do whatever the hell he wanted to them. “but probably best to stay away from major organs and veins.”
Ricky nodded thoughtfully as he tucked the knife into the back of his jeans "Tree it is. We can rock that. We can rock the FUCK outta that tree, dude" Starting to haul himself up the rough trunk he hummed softly, enjoying what was bound to be the last peaceful moment they had before all goddamn hell broke loose. "So. How'd you get all caught up in this? Molly said you were some sort of trained hunter and well.... let's be honest. I'm here with three knives in my incredibly fashionable jeans and you've got a goddamn armory in a backpack." He hauled himself up on a branch and shimmied along it until he was close enough to the edge of the wall to jump and grab onto the edge. "Maybe I should have worn shittier jeans." He started to heave himself up as he talked "I can promise organs. That's it."
Quinn watched through the cameras, as grainy as they were, and saw as Ricky and Forest began to discuss how best to get in. Climbing a tree. That was... interesting. He shifted one of the cameras over to focus on what they were doing. The other turned to keep an eye on the car Molly was in. He listened to what Ricky and Forest were saying before turning to his second monitor, frowning. He was already this deep in that Quinn might as well help them, besides, Ricky didn't exactly look like the climbing type. Quinn was already into the security systems so with a few quick strokes he found the locking mechanism. Not all of them were electronic, but the main ones were, and that meant he could control them. Pressing a button he heard a large lock click through his headphones and grinned.
Nodding at the boys ample enthusiasm Forest placed a hand on the tree. It felt sturdy under his palm, his magical leshy energy trying to keep it that way. He would hate for it to break underneath the larger boy. Standing there at the bottom of the tree though Forest bit his lip “Uh, I have a job that kinda uh” He paused trying to figure out how to phrase what he was going to say next “Well it requires me to track and hunts things. But none of them are like good things. They’re all bad things, so I guess you could say I’m like a bounty hunter” Forest shrugged yea that seemed like the best possible explanation. Standing there watching the other boy though, Forest heard the audible crack of a lock being opened, his entire body tensing. “That was a lock. Someone knows we’re here” Forest hissed looking around trying to gauge what to do next, and how much danger they were in. Drawing a knife as he looked up at the other boy “Get down.” He hissed again refocusing his eyes on where the main gate was not knowing if he wanted to trust anything at this moment. “On this side, or the other side, I don’t care but get out of their line of sight and do it quickly”
The sound of the massive gate clicking unlocked was a forceful reminder to Ricky that he was 6'4" of target hanging off a wall. "Oh that is just ten pounds of nope in a five pound bag" he hissed, hauling himself up and over the ledge. Forest's explanation of his job, troubling as it was, was pushed to the back of his mind as he drew the knife "do not. Take. That. Tone. With. Me." He hissed as he dropped, as gracefully as he could, down to behind a bush. The imminent attack he'd been waiting for never came though, and as his stellar night vision scanned the area in front of him. He found it entirely devoid of people, "get in here." He stage-whispered, "we either have a guardian angel or someone's prepping us for the slaughter."
Scoffing slightly Forest watched at the other boy disappeared over the wall. This was almost as bad as when Hunter and his mother went on a hunt. Just bickering bickering everywhere. Shaking it out of his head though he listened sharpley hoping that he hadn’t just accidentally sent the other boy to his death. Because yea Molly would never forgive him for that. But luckily for everyone it seemed that this wasn’t an ambush and Ricky was fine on the other side and giving him the signal to come in. “Slaughter most likely” Forest replied as he walked toward the open gate, every nerve ending on his body alert. Passing through unscathed though he stalked toward Ricky mind filled with millions of possibilities “Alright well, weirdness of that aside, the control center is a about 30 years this way.” He gestured to a small path to their right.
From his admittedly non-dignified position from behind a bush Ricky scoffed a quick laugh as he stood up, brushing leaves off of his shirt, "okay so the small one gets to walk through the gate and I have to dry hump a fucking bush. This is a wild success of a mission already." He tucked the knife back into his jeans and met up with Forest on the main path "Well slaughter looks like it rhymes with laughter so that'll be a helluva good time. Or some shit. Back to you being a goddamn bounty hunter though?" He started walking down the path to the control center, eyes carefully scanning the path in front of them to make sure they weren't about to be ambushed. "You don't kill good......... non-human things? How the fuck do you qualify that shit because that seems subjective as fuuuuuuuuuck dude."
Letting out a single solitary chuckle, Forest shook his head. “Not quite, but I’ll go with it” He quipped back as they walked, his knife still gripped tightly in his hand. Thinking it over through Forest wondered why his well “bounty hunting” lifestyle was something that most people had a hard time understanding. “If something does bad things to people with seemingly no remorse, then I take it out and make sure it doesn’t hurt people again. it’s really not that hard.” Forest shrugged not knowing what else he could really say. I mean half of the stuff he hunted weren’t exactly human or human like. And even then the human looking ones he mostly left for his mother. Not wanting to deal with that, well mental conundrum. Approaching the control center though Forest stopped moving toward the shadows. “That’s it” He whispered to the other boy.
Ricky narrowed his eyes as they walked. Forest explained it well but... a lot of things could be explained in such a manner where they didn't seem terrible and yet were, "Alright we'll put a pin in that one and come back to it later. But now let's talk about you and Molly. How do you know her majesty?" As an only child the 'big brother' mentality wasn't exactly second nature to him, but when it came to Molly... he felt pretty goddamn protective. They walked in silence for a little bit more until Forest identified that they were approaching the control center. Ricky put his arm out to stop Forest, looking into the dim to try to discern if they were entirely alone or now, "We're alone.... for now. At the very least there's nothing outside the control center." Trying to use his superior sense of smell was useless... all he could smell was the exhibits, "Let's get Molly in on this adventure."
Trying not to sigh at Ricky Forest just kept walking. No one ever really got his justifications. And to be honest he hated that he had to make the, but that’s what it took to survive in his household alright. And while Forest could get by with his warped moral code about the thing his hands were never going to be clean that was for sure. Raising and eyebrow slightly though at the other as he asked about Molly Forest bit his lip again. “Um. She’s my best friend?” he replied trying to figure out why Ricky would want to know this. I mean if anything this conversation should be the other way. But then again he knew now from the files exactly how these two had met. Stopping at the others arm Forest Rolled his eyes, who was supposed to be point on this adventure? But then again considering Forest had a feeling the other boy must be some type of something that could see well in the dark he guessed he couldn’t complain too much about it. “Fine by me” He said reaching out for the door handle to test the lock. Didn’t look too difficult. At least not as difficult as the main gate looked good lord. Taking out his lock picking tools from his sleeve Forest knelt slightly inserting his tools into the lock. A few moments later the door swung open.
There wasn't an ounce of Ricky's being that believed that Forest had just friendly feelings for Molly. Ricky was used to being lusted after, desired, admired, longed for because of how he looked (and how much he flirted with everyone) and he knew the looks that Forest had been shooting at Molly in the car. But for the moment he decided to let it go. As Forest unlocked the door to the Control Center, Ricky took up position behind him, carefully looking out into the gloom. "Remind me to get your phone number for the next time I lock myself out of the Jeep." As the door opened he let Forest take the lead, since he was after all the more heavily armed one. But Ricky still kept his eyes peeled for anything in the dark inside. "Looks like we're still alone. You've got the flashdrive?"
Placing his lock picking equipment back in it’s secret place in his sleeve Forest shrugged “I don’t do cars very well, but I can always try” He replied eyes scanning the booth. It seemed empty which was confirmed by Ricky. Pulling out the flashdrive from another secret pocket Forest held it up for the other to see as he strode across the roode. “Yup” Arriving at bank of computers, cycling through the camera feeds of the zoo, Forest sat down inspecting a few things. The system was ancient. Which was actually probably to Forest’s advantage considering he knew older systems better. Searching for the USB slot with his fingers he smiled when he found it jamming the stick into the slot “Alright Molly should be in now,” He nodded toward Ricky.
Molly had been leaning back in the driver seat patiently waiting for Forest and Ricky to reach the control center. Part of her wondered how the two were getting along. Forest and Ricky were such huge parts of Molly's life here in Ashkent that she couldn't imagine how it would be if the two didn't get along. But the two had a bit of... conflicting personalities. Ricky was always so confident and outspoken, whereas Forest was more withdrawn. Forest was fantastic and hilarious once people got to know him, but he wasn't exactly open to just anyone. For obvious reasons. Her heart exploded in her chest, afraid for both Ricky and Forest as well as herself. But wanting more than anything just for this to finally be over. She would taken the fear of a panic attack and the shaky hands if it meant that she could finally try to get a tiny bit of sleep at night without worrying about one of them showing up in her bedroom. She perked up immediately when she saw a window pop up with files being transferred to her. Bingo. Soon enough she was clicking through files and opening camera feeds, opening several different tabs of different cameras and shrinking them down so she could fit multiple on her unfortunately small laptop screen. "Good luck out there you two" Molly said to herself, shooting a message off to Forest, who she knew would have his phone at least on vibrate to tell them she was in. Then she scanned through some of the camera feeds before shooting off another message. "They are walking around all over the place. Wait for my text messages. There are a lot of them grouped together inside the aquarium."
Waiting for Forest to connect the flash drive and Molly to get in contact with them was excruciating. Ricky wasn't a phenomenally patient man to start with, and when you combined that with the fact that there was a roving gang of murderous creatures ready to kill them somewhere inside the zoo it really didn't help at all. He flipped through messages on his phone while he waited, keeping one eye on the entrance to the control room in case someone decided they looked ripe for attack. "When she gets in contact what's the plan? Guns blazing or try to pick them off one by one from the shadows?" He nibbled on his lip absentmindedly, "I'm fine with either. Though, to be entirely honest with you, i'd prefer the former. I need a good fight." He didn't hear Forest's phone vibrate, but he saw the man reach for it. Apparently they were in.
Quinn was just returning from the kitchen with a snack, chips and a late night roast beef sandwich, when he spotted Forest plug something into the computer. Humming softly through a mouthful of sandwich, Quinn scrolled through the computer, seeing that the USB had was designed to give someone remote access. Was Molly trying to do what he was doing? He swallowed and grinned, testing it out by moving the cameras around a bit. It wasn't just to test to see if Molly was doing anything, but also to see how many people were in the zoo.
Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket Forest pulled the device out scanning the message before responding to Ricky “She says they are walking around all over the place. Which means there’s probably more than I expected, so Guns ablazing would be the worst thing we could probably do.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket and ran a hand through his hair. Forest agreed with Ricky, he’d much rather go in there and get this all over with, as he needed a good fight too. But that apparently wasn’t the plan and for now he was going to trust that Molly knew what she was doing “She wants us to wait for her to text us” He said, with a nod “So that’s what I’m going to do for the moment until I know more.”
Scanning through an entire zoo of cameras by herself on a laptop screen was more taxing than Molly originally thought it would be. She pulled up a few cameras that began moving on their own, without Molly choosing to move them. She stared at the screen confusedly for a few seconds, but being in a hurry, she chalked it up to faulty wiring and and moved past the camera, mentally marking each spot where she saw someone. Trying to keep track of all of these was going to be next to impossible. But she would have to figure it out. For Forest and Ricky's sake. Eventually she sent a picture of the zoo map to both of their phones and began texting them instructions. "Two guards walking along the Lion cages. Head there first from here and take them out. Then you need to go straight from there in the direction of the Elephants"
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. It had to be waiting. Every minute that passed sitting in the control room and doing nothing brought Ricky one step closer to insanity. He just wanted to fight someone. Was that really such a terrible thing? Eventually though, their eyes in the sky came through and a text buzzed through on both of their phones "Lion cages. Just two of them? I like our odds there." He tucked his phone back in his pocket and stretched out a little bit, looking out into the night beyond the control room. "You wanna go first or do you want me to? Either way, I think it's high time you and I brought the pain." The smile on his face might have been a little wicked but, in the dark, nobody could really see.
Standing there, leaning slightly against one of the desks as he watched the other boy, Forest tried to keep himself calm cool and collected. This was just another day at the office after all and there was no need to get worked up about things. Especially when the telltale vibration in his pocket meant that Molly had come through. Listening to Ricky, Forest pulled himself up unlocking his bow from his backpack. “It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things” he shrugged out, knowing that battle was battle and sometimes the person who was suppsoed ot be in front didn’t end up that way “though shooting around you makes extra work for me, so I’ll take the lead for now” Forest added glancing over at the giant form that was ricky. Yea, getting objects around [i]all[/i] of that, well it was doable but not exactly a walk in the park. So stepping forward Forest put himself in the lead hand poised on the door knob. “Alright Rambo, just remember pain is alright, but no killing” he said as he opened the door, casting the two into darkness “The lion cage is straight ahead and to the left” Forest whispered as he stalked forward bow at the ready.
Ricky waved a dismissive hand "yeah yeah yeah I'm angry I'm not a fucking psychopath. You can spare me the lectures, Boba Fett. I've got it." He let Forest walk in front of him.... it seemed the best way to avoid an 'accidental' arrow in the back, and pulled two knives out. Padding along as silently as he could he realized he was at a distinct disadvantage. "I can't hear really well. See fine. Hearing no good. So. Lemme know if I'm making too much noise." As they approached the lion cage he saw the two figures in front of them in the distance "I'll take left. Subdue don't kill I know I know. Just tell me when."
Trying not to let out a sigh, Forest just let it all go. Whatever Ricky did or didn’t do in the heat of the moment was his problem he guessed. Forest would keep his promise and aim for extremities and that was all he could do. Listening though to the distinct padding of a large person who wasn’t used to sneaking around much Forest just nodded “Not going to lie you sound a bit like a lumbering giant, but after this it’s probably not going to matter” He said as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver and notched it the two guards in the distance still oblivious to the whole thing. “When” Forest called out before launching an arrow straight into the right guards calf.
This was what the predator that lived in the spaces between Ricky's bones had been waiting for. The minute Forest gave the signal, Ricky charged. He heard the pained yelp of the guard that got an arrow in the calf but before Ricky's target could turn to do anything the Selkie was on him. A quick kick to the back of the knees dropped the guard and from then it was simply a matter of smacking him hard enough in the head with the handle of the knife to knock him out. "okay. I can't promise he won't have brain damage. But he's alive." He took a moment to remove the guard's belt before dragging him off the path; tying him to a tree and gagging him with one of his own socks. "If that tastes like shit it means you need to do laundry more." He told the unconscious ruffian. "Aiiiiiiight that went pretty well. Nobody dead. Nobody raised the alarm. Go us."
Quinn blinked as he watched Forest take out a guy with a bow. A bow? Who used those kinds of weapons? And then Ricky came after him as well. What the fuck was going on? He turned to his monitor, running quick searches on the names tied to the computers he had located. Frowning when not much came up, he dove into the police station’s record, hacking into it easily. So that was why Reed wanted the information. He saw what this gang had apparently done. At least they were bad guys. That meant, for now, he would let them go along taking them out. Knocking them unconscious at least. He frowned though, they really should have left something like this to to the police.
Watching at his own target stumbled, Forest rushed forward kicking the other’s good leg out from under him. And luckily for Forest the dude went down, and went down hard smacking the back of his head onto the pavement, his eyes closing as he lost consciousness. Unceremoniously pulling the shaft of his arrow out from the other’s leg Forest wiped the blood off of it looking at Ricky. He actually didn’t do half bad. “Not sure how many brain cells they had to spare in the beginning but a little brain damage never hurt anyone” Forest shrugged, looking at his own target and he put the arrow back in his quiver. Yeaaaa he wasn’t doing much better on the potential brain damage thing. Reaching into his pack Forest pulled out a small length of rope and a piece of cloth, tying the man’s hands securely behind before tournquiting his leg. Didn’t want him to bleed out after all. Dragging him next to the other victim, Forest reached into his pack and pulled out a roll of duct tape securing it to his mouth. There all nice and pretty and unable to call for help, just like he liked it. “Yea go us” Forest nodded smiling slightly before turning toward the path a bit. “Our work here isn’t done yet though. The elephant cage is this way”
Ricky grinned stupidly "Concussions build character that's what I always say!" He watched as Forest, far more professionally than Ricky had, bound his victim. "Look at you go, BDSM Bounty Hunter." They walked back onto the path and Ricky looked again into the gloom in front of them, reaching with his eyes as much as he could as they headed towards the larger group. He eventually put a hand on Forest's shoulder, tugging him off the path as they got close "There's a lot. There's a lot of them up there." Chewing on his lip he weighed their options "I'm open to suggestions but it seems like you cause damage from afar and I go in like a wrecking ball seems like our best option. I've gotten in plenty of fights. I can handle it."
“Rope is useful?” Forest shrugged slightly embarrassed. He was not into BDSM just because he liked to carry different lengths of rope with him and he knew how to tie a knot ok. Back on the path though Forest put his game face back on stalking down the path. And he could hear them before he saw them, a large crowd gathered around the cage. “How many?” Forest asked the other boy as they veered off the path wanting to know an estimate. Though he guessed that didn’t really matter considering there were far more than two. “Alright I mean i don’t see much of an option though i promised Molly i’d keep you safe.” He shook his head notching an arrow in his bow. But of course safe didn’t matter as he heard the muffled scream, one of the guards must have gotten part of their gag off. Sensing they were in trouble as the gang looked in their direction. Forest took aim hitting the nearest one straight in the shoulder “Fuck Surprise. GO NOW” He yelled pulling another arrow out.
The sound of the muffled scream brought a flush to Ricky's face "Okay that's probably totally the one that I gagged with a sock so I owe you a beer when... and if.... we make it out of here in exchange for that." Ricky watched as Forest's face turned to iron resolve and he brought his bow up. "You got it, big man! Let's make these fuckers pay!" He started charging down the path, knives in both hands. If he was entirely honest with himself, something he was loathe to ever do, he didn't really know how good he was going to be in a group brawl. But he just had to buck up and go balls to the wall with it because that was the only option he had at this point "GET SOME BITCHES!" he screamed as he entered the group, knives slashing low across the first enemy's legs. He felt a blow glance of his shoulder blade and turned to face the new enemy, "This is for Reed, you fucking bitchfaces." A headbutt made his head spin and he felt a dribble of blood down his nose, but it felt good to deal damage in the name of vengeance, "I'm gonna fuck.. a... bitch... up."
Quinn’s eyes flickered across the screens. Forest and Ricky were getting into some trouble over there. But there wasn’t anything he could do about that. He frowned, eyes focused on Ricky as someone punched at his shoulder and winced a bit. It looked like it hurt, but Ricky seemed able enough to keep his own, even if his battle cries were lacking. But as his eyes glanced over to the one at the front gate, he jumped a bit. There was someone sneaking towards the car, and he doubted Molly could find it. He pulled up a program, sending her a text message from Q. Someone is coming. Defend yourself. ~Q.
Molly had anxiety sitting in Ricky’s jeep. She could flick through the monitors so fast, and the fact that someone else was using these same computers was becoming overwhelmingly clear. The more frustrating part was that Molly had to work herself around this person’s control. Because whoever it was, they were better than her. And as much as that infuriated Molly, she knew that she had more important things to deal with right now. She had her eyes glued to the screen, staring down Ricky and Forest. Making sure that nothing went wrong. When her phone buzzed she barely noticed it. Then another text rang in. She glanced over at it, picking it up only when she noticed that the text wasn’t from anybody in her contacts. “Oh no” she muttered to herself, reading the text, signed Q. She immediately reached to lock the doors and grabbed for the iron knife and had only just gripped the handle when she heard the glass shatter and felt glass shards flying onto her. A hand grabbed onto her hair and she was being dragged out of the car. She felt her leg catch against the broken glass on the window and screamed as it cut through her.
“When!” Forest yelled, as he ran forwards into the fray firing off another arrow “WHEN WE GET OUT OF HERE” He yelled again ducking out of the way as something was launched at him. There were no ifs only whens in his damn book as he uppercut another gang member with the but of his bow. Backing away again Forest took another arrow out of his quiver firing with no remorse, there were probably about 20-30 gang members swarming now. There was no way he was going to get him and Ricky out of here without some questionable shots. It was inevitable. Backing into the side of the cage Forest just stood there with quiet but iron resolve keeping as much of an eye out for ricky as he could picking off some of the members rushing to defend their comrades from, well whatever Ricky was.
This was going poorly. They were phenomenally outnumbered and Forest could do a lot of damage but he knew he was bringing the man down a little bit. As more and more gang members joined the fight Ricky started to get a little more indiscriminate with his slashes and stabs, hearing the grunts and occasional screams from around him. That filled him with a sick satisfaction as the blood sprayed around him. More and more blows were landing on him though, harder and harder and he was suddenly filled with the thought that they might not have this as under control as they thought they did. A kick to a gang member's knee, and a stab to another one's stomach and he looked for Forest through the fray, schooling his face into careful concentration and not the well of fear that was growing in him, "Can I kill them yet?!"
Quinn watched as things got worse and worse for everyone involved. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself, wincing as the shouting and screaming grew louder. He had to do something, both for Ricky and Forest as well as Molly. But he didn’t know what. There wasn’t anything except the lock he could hack into outside. Biting his lower lip, he looked around the camera. If some of the cars were smart cars though… He pushed himself forward, leaning over his desk as he typed into the computer. It took him a bit longer than he would have liked but eventually he got several of the car alarms to go off. Now he just had to figure out what to do about the others.
The woman threw Molly down onto the pavement, where she slammed against the icy blacktop with a painful thud and felt all of the air rush out of her body in one single gasp. She immediately gripped at her leg, trying to put pressure as she saw blood pouring from it. But the Nix was on her just as quickly and taking the knife from occupied hands. “What do we have here? The little girl that stole our laptop?” her smile was devilish and sadistic. She bent down over Molly, knife in hand and rubbed the flat end against Molly’s forearm. Molly squirmed and fought as hard as she could, but the Nix was too strong. “Is this pure iron? Fancy gear you got here. Does it work on humans too?” The Nix laughed and pressed the blade against her arm, slicing down as Molly screamed out in pain. “This is what you and the rest of your friends get for butting into business that isn’t yours.” This time the Nix pressed her hand over Molly’s throat and began squeezing as she made another nick on Molly’s skin, this time on the other arm. Molly couldn’t even scream because she couldn’t breathe. She was getting dizzy from the lack of exhaustion, and could just see her vision blurring when the car alarms started going off. More than one. At least a dozen alarms must have been going off. The Nix became distracted and turned her head, readjusting her hand ever so slightly. Just enough for Molly to push her head up enough to bite down on her hand. She bit so hard that she felt the rush of blood pouring into her mouth and immediately began spitting it back up. But it had been enough to get the Nix off of her. She rolled her, grabbing the knife that the Nix had dropped onto the ground and swinging it forward, landing a stab right in the Nix’s stomach. The Nix screamed as the illusion began wearing off and Molly could actually make out it’s true form. In a way, the Nix was almost beautiful when it looked less like a human and more like the aquatic creature that it was. And in a moment of panic Molly tore the knife out of the Nix and stabbed it in again, this time a little higher. The side, maybe a rib cage if she was lucky. That time when Molly pulled the knife out she pushed herself on her feet and limped backwards, ignoring the searing pain and bumping into a car. She held the knife out, though her hands shook in fear. “Stay away from me.” The Nix screamed at Molly, and stood, but it was obvious how badly damaged the two both were. Instead of coming after her though, the Nix turned and fled.
Firing one after one Forest watched as the iron turned each fae back into nix, the one’s he hadn’t shot not marked clear as day. But there were still too many and that was apparent as a gang member was able to break through his defense and slash at him with a knife. Feeling it slice across the lower part of his jaw and catch a bit of his chest. He could feel it but it wasn’t deep, though it still hurt like a bitch. “Are you kidding me?” Forest yelled dropping his bow and pulling out knives from his sleeves. Taking a defensive stance Forest countered each of the gang member’s attacks elegantly, before kicking the man onto his back. His Nix skin shining in the moonlight. God he really wanted to kill this one. “Oh what the hell what’s one less Nix in the world” He whispered a drop of blood dripping onto the other man’s face as he drove a knife down into the gang members heart. “Do whatever you need to stay ALIVE!” He yelled toward Ricky, picking back up his bow.
Things were getting hairy and Ricky was starting to actually get concerned. He'd already dropped one of his knives because the blood, both his and the Nix's, had proven too slippery a thing to hold onto. He looked over to see Forest dripping blood of his own and heard the man's command to do anything it took to stay alive, "okay okay okay alive is something I can do." He twirled and stabbed one of the knives into a gang member's torso, hearing the pained yell dimly as the man stumbled backwards. The victory was short lived however, as two more gang members moved in to take his place. In a brief moment of distraction, someone managed to sneak up behind him and get him in a tight hold, as one of the other stretched out his arm against a nearby railing. "no no no no no no no no no" he gasped under his breath. "Let's see how well you swim with one flipper, little seal." one snapped with a sick grin before raising his boot and slamming it down on Ricky's left arm between his shoulder and elbow. The snap was loud... louder than it should have been, and as Ricky screamed in pain he looked down to see white bone poking through his tan skin. The pain was white hot... and then non-existant as the shock set in and Ricky stabbed the one holding him in the eyeball with the one knife he'd managed to hold onto. He started to stagger through the crowd and back to Forest. They had to regroup. He definitely needed to get out of here as soon as possible before he bled out in a zoo. That was not how he wanted to go.
Molly couldn’t do more than limp back to the jeep. She was freezing, her arms were wrapped tightly around herself as she tried to retain some heat in the freezing Maine winter. She reached into the broken window to unlock the car door and grabbed for her jacket that she stuffed behind the seat earlier when she got too hot sitting in the car. She used it to try to wipe some of the glass pieces out of the driver’s seat and out onto the pavement. Everything ached. Her back hurt from being thrown against the pavement. Her leg and arms hurt from the knife. Her throat hurt. And as she crawled into the driver’s seat she became painfully aware that she hadn’t gotten all of the glass pieces out of the seat. Tiny bits of glass duck into her legs. She did her best to brush them out, but became distracted by the camera feeds. “No, no no.” She muttered to herself, just saying the words sending a jolt of pain up and down her neck. Her phone buzzed from the passenger seat, exactly where she had left it. And she glanced back at the monitor after reading the text message. The two were outnumbered, and were going to be killed if they didn’t get out of there. She went to text them, but thought they would become distracted. So what did she do? She couldn’t make a decision, but then watched in horror as one of the Nix grabbed onto Ricky and bent his arm back. Even through the silent feed of the security cameras Molly felt like she could hear the crack. “No!” Molly screamed, tears pouring down her eyes so rapidly she could barely see. She needed to get them out of there now. She saw on one of the cameras an intercom, and realized that might be her only chance. She recorded herself saying “Get back to the jeep” And then sent the audio file to the computer, plugging it into the speaker system before blaring it across the zoo. It wasn’t exactly stealthy, but it wouldn’t distract as much as a text message would either.
Head shots. Forest was now making an subsequently landing as many head shots as his quiver would allow, but it was no use. They were coming in droves now and even the battle hardened boy could tell they weren’t going to win this way. Stopping slightly Forest trying to regroup and figure out how to get them both out of there alive, but It was then that he heard it, the telltale crunch of bone and the scream. Yea this was going to be harder than he thought. Running over towards Ricky Forest shot off a few more arrows knowing his quiver was running low. Crap. “Can you run?” He asked bluntly wanting to asses what he was now working with. It was then though that Molly bust in over the loud speaker voice echoing the thought that had been running through Forest’s own mind after Ricky was well, taken out of commision. Get back to the Jeep “But how do you suggest we freaking do that Molly?” Forest muttered under his breath the stress of the situation starting to get to him. He wished Hunter were here. Shaking his head though Forest turned towards Ricky knowing this was their only option “Just go back the way we came, I’ll catch up once I’ve cleared more of a path.” He nodded wrenching the shaft of an arrow from one of the bodies around them.
Quinn winced and gasped loudly as he watched the bone come through on Ricky’s skin. There was blood everywhere, so much blood. He had seen worse, certainly, with what his parents had done. But for some reason this was just as sickening, maybe moreso, because it was someone he knew. It was Ricky. He shuddered, watching as they started to shamble down the path to Molly’s directions. He should have done more. What, he didn’t know, but he should have done more. The only thing he could think of were the police. So with a few quick strokes he’d sent in an anonymous tip to the police about the gang relating to officer Reed’s incident. Shuddering, he pulled back, watching as Ricky and Forest made their way back.
All Ricky could manage was a weak nod as he started to run down the path, Molly's voice ringing in his ears. Every step was agony. Every. Single. Step. He. Took. sent lightning bolts of white-hot pain down his arm. "Follow close." he managed to gasp out, good arm grabbing at Forest's shirt, "We're getting out of here together or we're not getting out at all." He continued running, holding his wounded arm as close to him as he could manage to try to minimize the jostling from it. He was roughly familiar with how shock worked, and he knew he only had a very short window of time before the pain from such a monumental injury made him unable to move. plus.... blood loss was going to become a factor pretty soon. He could see the great gate of the zoo in front of him and hoped he could make it to the truck. With Forest. Molly probably wouldn't forgive him if he was responsible for the death of her maybe-eventually-boyfriend.
The pain had grown rather distant as Molly became almost entirely focused on the safe return of Ricky and Forest. She aggressively clicked through the security feeds, following them as the two waddled through the park away from the gang that was chasing after them. They had come in ridiculously overestimating themselves. The three had never stood a chance on their own. She started up the jeep when she saw Ricky and Forest limp towards the entrance to the zoo and peeled out of the parking spot, flooring the ignition until she practically pulled up on the curb to meet them. The back seat door was thrown open and Molly almost began crying because she could just tell how hurt Ricky was. She stomped on the gas pedal again once she heard the door shut and she drove off, only stopping when she was finally out of the zoo parking lot and back on the main road. She heard the police sirens, and she pulled over onto the side of the road and threw it in park. "Get down." She spoke out loud, leaning down against the center console and wincing at the pain that shot up her back from the awkward position. She didn't move again until she couldn't hear the sirens anymore. Then she sat up, stared at Ricky teary-eyed through the rear view mirror, and starting driving again. "We're going to the hospital."
Fighting hard not to wrench the kid’s only good arm out of his socket Forest stood his ground “Fuck together Ricky. This is about survival” Forest yelled at him moving only a few inches “So you will drive. And you will drive away without me if need be. Is that clear.” Forest spat finally forcing Ricky to let go. If he didn’t shoot now none of them were making it out of here. And so that’s what he did He cleared a path while Ricky ambled toward the main gates only stopping when he ran out of arrows. Sprinting now through the park Forest hoped that he’d given them all enough of a head start and luckily for all of them he had, as he caught up to Ricky no problem. “Alright. Let’s get you to the Jeep” He said throwing Ricky’s good arm over his shoulder and waddling out to meet Molly. Shoving ricky into the car as gently as he could Forest practically threw himself into the front yelling at Molly to drive. And she did only stopping once to let the police cars by. Breathing a sigh of relief that they all had made it out of there well relatively unscathed “Yea, he’s going to need some surgery” Forest nodded solemnly. From there they drove in silence the stress of the night weigh heavy on everyone.
Quinn let out a sigh of relief when they all managed to get into the car. He leaned back, making sure that the Zoo main gate mechanically locked with a loud click into place, keeping any remaining gang members from getting out, with a sigh. That was… intense. Not in a great way either. Ricky had gotten hurt. Badly. Forest seemed to as well and so was Molly. They had gone in blind. He almost felt like it was his fault. He’d given Molly the information after all. But even he hadn’t known how many people there had been. Perhaps he’d send her a message as Q to be more careful should they try that again. He could be more helpful with all the information. But the first thing was to make sure that Ricky was okay.
[pm] If I have a cookout are you capable of coming and not wearing your Hunter hat? Because you're my friend and I want you to be there but I also have a responsibility to the safety of my supernatural friends and undoubtedly some of them would be there.
[pm] You’re inviting me to-- I-- Okay. That’s-- Um--
I can do that. I don’t know if this makes you feel better but I can only sense werewolves and if there’s too many people and I won’t know who it is. Just that there is one in the room. If there is one at all of course. Which happens in about every fucking bar in this town as it is. Fairly used to ignoring it in public as it is.