The Ravinhill City files: book one

[Britt Nightshade]

Jeremy took his friend by the shoulders to make him still, any more anxiety would trigger his tail and blow their cover. Frank was in full thermal mode, and it was possibly scaring him to think he is blind not just in the smoke.

"You have to calm down and focus, luckily ssssmoke is cooler than bodies so finding figures sssshould be a little easier. It's being near other heat sourcesss like fire you'll have to worry about, the main thing to know thermal images and know your friends figures. I know that soundssss a little strange but in this cassse, you know none of us have a tail dragging on the ground that is the enemy here to attack." Frank started to calm down his breathing, to take a moment to focus on the figure right in front of him.

The scent was familiar enough to know he was talking to Jeremy, and Issac was too far with the more fluffed looking figure not too far and an arched longer figure confused in the smoke. Of course with the constant yelling it made it too easy to place his location. Keeping close link to the others, Frank weaved in the smoky path before hitting a wall of fresh air. He was able to avoid the burning sting thanks to his visor, but it took the other to take a moment to clear their vision. Just as he was getting his posure back, Frank felt himself slid backwards like being caught on a rope. From seeing the pier, seconds later he was face to face with angry slit eyes looking right down at him in pure hate and irritation.

"Okay smart guy, you wanna play with the big boysss, I'll make sure you feel every bit of pain I'll give out on you." Eric angerly hissed before going for Frank's neck.

He grabbed hold tight, lifting him off the ground pressing as hard possible to watch him lose his breath. Frank pried and scratched to give some loosening, rattler shaking and start to coil to ram right into Eric. He was lucky it hit it's mark as he was dropped coughing for air while hearing a holler in agony and smell of blood around him.

"If you think smoke and mirrors is all I got, apparently you're as dumb as I thought you were." he said before lunging back ready to bite.  

[Britt Nightshade]

At this point Eric was beyond the point of no return in giving every scrape of fury onto Frank, rage was in his eyes as he staggered to catch a breath from the blow. His footing was off even with his tail as a support, but even agony and pain wasn't going to keep him down as he was rattling for another attack. This caught Frank in defense mode and ready as he was met by a scattered pattern of tail swings. Jeremy had been watching with Issac from a distance at the fighting, at first it was instinct to try and protect him but that change faster than expected. He didn't want to doubt Frank on his first time out, in fact he almost predicted that Frank would be in a heap of trouble for someone to get him out. However that wasn't the case from what his eyes were seeing, he was actually doing well in defense combined with a little bit of tech added. Jeremy was impressed, but at the same time he knew his brother much more than anyone could ever know and was keeping eye.

The fighting snakes were at the heat of the moment, with every swing and jab barely making effect on each other. With Eric slowed down from his injuries, it gave Frank the upper hand on attacking on the weak spots to prove a point that he was able to defend just like the others. He was just lucky for the time being that he didn't have to bite, not sure of what the outcome would be if that did happen. Instead he managed to put in a few dry bites as he was about to get slammed. Eric on the other hand knew that he was in something he didn't expect to happen, realizing he was wrong on just by going on assumption. He truely did found an opponent that was willing to give a good fight, but the tables were turned on him and he didn't like this at all.

Eric started to become dirty with his counter attacks, trying to use Frank's tail as a way to take him down or to give a chance to strike. However it wasn't easy as Frank was just as alert and focused on the fight at hand even with thermal being his only way of sight. As he tried to go for a final swing, he was caught off guard as Eric slithered from behind and took a grab at his vest. The sense of feeling the cloth shift back triggered Frank's reflex, and ended up wrapping Eric in a tight hold with his tail.

"You said that you were one of the big boys?.....well all I ssssee is a mere garter snake caught by the bigger snake in the grass." Frank hissed, and threw all his weight down to make Eric go air bound right into the water. All he heard afterwards was yelling and more choice words as he looked down to see him drenched and climbing back up to land.  

[Britt Nightshade]

No matter how much he tried to resist the urge to bite, enough was enough since it was clear that Eric wasn’t going to go down and stay. The sharp pain suddenly came to Eric, as his tail started to loosed around Frank’s neck. He coughed to breath, hearing more from his target as the sense of anger was still in his voice. But for Frank however, he was thinking about what had just happened and if it will leave repercussion later. He had no choice though in the matter, Eric was trying to choke the life out of him and it was the last resort of defense. Just like he was told many times in the lab, he did have a powerful bite and it could do some damage if enough venom was in the system.

Apparently, this wasn’t the case of if death was going to be an issue here Frank was about to turn around he heard a staggering voice still trying to taunt him. Over his shoulder he could still see a lingering sense of fight remaining on Eric. The only difference was that he appeared to be a little slower than just recently. Although Eric was bitten, somehow by some sort of reason he was still able to barely stay on his feet. Of course, knowing more about variety of snakes is another thing to put in place. The venom was taking a toll on him, but more of making him more and more sluggish than actually succumbing to it more worse. Eric tried to drag himself near Frank, though his body felt more and more like lead as he tried to keep moving. Frank knew that this fight was over, sure Eric is wired to keep going but he had reached the final limit in this one. He went near the near incapacitated rattler, knowing he wasn’t too much of a threat in this condition.

“Lookssss like the basement lab rat changed the game thisss time, maybe if you taunt lessss you would actually win a fight. I think you need a refreshment course on how to intimidate, don’t do it to sssomeone that can actually take you down. You may have fight, but ssso do I.”

Jeremy wasn’t too far when he saw the scene right in front of him, careful not to startle Frank in the process. He knew right away that it wasn’t a hostile touch as he could feel hands guiding him on a path.

“I can’t believe I’m ssssaying this but……you really show another side I realy never thought you had. Frankly I’ll be honest, I thought that I had to get you out of a ssticky situation with as head strong my brother can be. Guessss you showed me wrong with your first encounter, your defense is pretty sharp even in thermal.”

Frank just looked ahead, realizing that even though he was doubted earlier, it felt kind of nice to get praise over lecture for once.

“Sssssee, I told you I know a little bit about fighting…...even if it does come from a video game perspective. But now you got the idea and won’t have to hover over like a mother hen, thissss snake guy hasss a few tricks up his sleeves.”

Jeremy just smirked, “It wasn’t all on that, but more of I didn’t know what my brother had up his own ssssleeves. Even as kids he would play dirty, even if it meant I got a bruise or fracture he doesn’t care unless he hasss the upper hand. But then again, I was wrong and you were alright on this one. For now, let’ssss get you away from the edge, unless you want to go for a night swim.”

Frank elbowed him playfully, as he was led away from the water over to where Isaac had been hidden when the smoke cleared up. He poked his head out a little shaken, but still alright after watching the fighting in the distance.

“Okay, now I know why Tobias is selective with these things.” Issaac looked around as every sound has now put him on alert. This made Jeremy and Frank laugh a bit, since it was still a tri to watch out pinpoint he was with something as simple as a pin dropping even.

“I’m serious! One moment were surrounded by the enemy, next thing I know I almost become snake food. So yeah, I’m going to be watching and listening to every sound in this place.”  

[Britt Nightshade]

He turned the pen over to what he was trying to hold, getting a better grip of how to put everything on without breaking anything. The watch was fairly easy, as it started humming slightly from feeling the warth of skin to know to activate.

"Well, that's one step down know for the tricky one." he said not too sure what will happen since it looked like any ordinary sports visor.

Placing it over his eves everything was a brighter hue through the night lenses, at first there was nothing till spectrum of lights starting beeping in activation. This scared Jeremy for a moment, but it became more fascinating as he was able to read everything that was seen from the main computer. He knew that Frank was a whiz when it came to tech, but this was a level that would be seen in sci-fi that was right in his face. Sometimes he had to wonder what all Frank could really do than just the gadgets he works on in the basement. As the thrill lessen a little, he looked through the panels trying to figure out each one and the typing encryption being displayed.

"So it looks like everything is on and running, what are you trying to do at this point?"  

[Britt Nightshade]

Nodding, Jeremy looked over the section that was showing something like a video and pressed on the watch siding to zoom in a better look. It showed a camera from across the street, something that even he was still impressed that Frank was able to hack but had to keep his mouth shut not to get Tobias all wild up about more than at this moment. There wasn't much happening right at the building himself besides passing vehicles, Jeremy thought about skipping over to a couple more security cams just to see if there about the path towards the targeted place.

"I have to admit even though Toby will be ticked off, you really do know how to get around with knowing the city. So far I don't see anything right at the building itself, so that's good."

"Don't get all relaxed yet, if you know how those prowlers are, they can't be too far keeping to the dark. Not many of them can just simply walk in the street lights without a little bit of being noticed from onlookers."

Frank was right about one thing, usually if there is a major decoy it means a distraction for the other pairs to get to the next stop. His hunch was right as he looked over a few blocks away, a hovering dance of glow was among the trees of the park. That's something you don't usually see even at night, it had to been sets of eyes peering into the dark moving foward. Jeremy focused closer to the moving dots, and see shadows darting along with limited rest times.

"Looks night we gotta call the big guy on this one, at least three are in a group coming over towards the hospital. From the location specs they are about ten minutes away from location."

Just as he was trying to communicate to Tobias, an incoming beacon came from the corner that was coming from the manor. At first he wasn't too sure how anyone was able to call from the lab and went off the incoming messege, but if something wasn't done to reach to Tobias there was going to be more trouble of another ambush. Since this was having to do with animals, it was obvious that there wasn't going to be good intentions with the deranged mindset Aaron head with his disturbing work. Without much haste Jeremy moved a few sequences to connect with Tobias, alerting of what was seen on the computers about the trouble about to happen in a matter of minutes.

"Well for the mean time he knows that something isn't right, let's try to clear out of here so you can focus back on seeing without bumping into things."  

[Britt Nightshade]

He turned off the screen only to meet a pair of beyond annoyed eyes looking at him, though normally Jeremy isn't the one for joke making even though this was too much of an oppertunity to just let pass. However hearing a little rattling noise sway a bit was enough to just try not to show the humor of this.

"Don't worry about it, I didn't save the image or anything, Sam was just wanting a better understanding and-"

"Just save it! once I get my sight back again to normal I'll be the judge of that, and two can play that game if you did more than to show an explanation."

Frank was right in his face, tongue zipping back and forth as he was knowing well it was him he was speaking to, then again there was the slight sheepish tone he was hearing too.

With hands up in defense, Jeremy put a hand on his friend's shoulder to ease him a little away from tripping on his own self. It's not like he always had the hunch to kid around, but of course he did promise to be a guide for Frank till they were able to return. Issac was keeping his distance from the back in the case of another possible ambush from a small group, even though they've seen most heading towards the hospital there was no room for error and all eyes were needed from every angle.

"Well with you pretty much incapacitated, best to get you back to the manor where you can calms your senses more easily then in plain sight."

Jeremy wasn't trying to make Frank think that just because he was caught by surprise he was not longer good to fight, it just meant that he got a lot than he thought was possible to happen on his first night out. At the same time Toby was closer to the set target, and could be able to jump in if anything starts up and could call anytime to send in for reinforcement.

About at the halfway point the visor beeped again, Sam appeared wanting to get a little detail to what happened out there and why Tobias wasn't responding as much. It didn't take too long for Jeremy to give just the right amount of detail to keep her updated, although she was still eager with the questions.

"So what you're saying is that the first response was just a decoy ambush? Then again I can pass that from Aaron to do, with all the goonies he has there are plenty of pawns to play his game in his favor."

"We should've thought there was something a little strange going when it was just my brother and a couple others, usually if it was big the main one would be there too." Jeremy looked over watching Frank flick his tongue in the air, almost in a state of pure curiosity.

"Never knew you can really get the hints of everything around you, do I smell ham burning somewhere?"

There was a short moment of silence before he jumped from the sudden bursts of laughter, even Sam was losing it on the speaker from hearing him.

Even in a serious predicament Frank was good at cutting the tension with his antic ways, something they kinda needed with the expense from a friend's misfortune and curiosity.

"Oh laugh it up, beat a rattler when it's down more eh?" this just made them laugh even more as he wasn't always good with his wording of things. Jeremy gave him a firm smack in the back.

"Now you know how it feel on the other side of the joke."

"Don't even try me bud, I can't see you but it won't take much to knock you on your butt and me laughing back." Frank said with a sway of tail near Jeremy's ankle

"Alright boys settle down, GPS is showing you not too far from here so fight when you get home. Not like there hasn't been enough of that already with myself and Brittney earlier, I'm still feeling the sudden assault."

Although Frank was still huffing from his own predicament of being the butt of the joke, he did wonder about what was the fighting was even about. It couldn't had been some minor girl issues to have excessive damage and weapons drawn.

"I'm still mad about the shards in my tail from the vase you threw but humor me this, what in the heck even started that in the first place to get into a full out royale in the house? Uness it's a deep feminine thing happening that you don't want to disclose around men." He felt an elbow jab him in the side, but perked up at hearing a response.

"Honestly I have no idea what happened, it was like a wire was snapped and she went verbal at first but it escalated when she started shoving me. You know me when someone strikes first it's on after that, especially almost falling down stairs. Yeah we both were a little boiled up, and I guess adrenaline was going through our veins as you saw and heard but at least it's quiet back here but I'm still a little uneasy about the whole thing. It resumed when you left, and I went a little too far as the talons came out and there was blood. Since then she had disappeared, probably still thrashing around her anger but that was hours ago. I just think it's best I didn't think to look for her, and then I was seeing the computer acting up and responded to find out what was going on. Now that I know the truth of everything I won't say a thing about the hacking, he wont find out."

Sam was waiting for them as they crept from the underbrush, she was all snickers as she was watching Frank dart around to all the scents of the woods till he looked over from hearing them.
"Don't even say a word, I'm adjusting to this stuff plus it's actually oddly pleasing I can smell just by licking the air. Gotta get the hang of everything happening right?" he went on to say before he was back to the flicking.  

[Britt Nightshade]

As crazy and out there he already was, the others really didn't know what to say but to think the only way Frank was going to learn of his abilities further was on his terms. Who else but the person with the skills can be a better way to learn. On the bright side it was probably the most energetic anyone had seen of him, especially just going all out with actual physical activity even with extras added to him in the process.

He was right about one thing, his energy was almost ten times active without the need to drown in caffeine to get a jolt. What was probably the most thrilling was the agility level, granted he was a little more on the husky side among the other males in the group so this was a bonus benefit. Frank felt around till he got the sense of bark, a smile gleamed as if he had an aha moment brewing. If a somersault was a breeze with him then a scaling up a high place would be a piece a cake, at least with the limited sight that is. With the wooded area being more in the cool spectrum, things were a little more easier to see in shape then it was at the pier with all the explosives going off.

"I wonder if I can pull something I never did in gym class, the ol rope and bell routine."

Sam just looked at Jeremy and only got a shrug as a response.

"Since when did do ever willingly went to gym class, you'd hide in the library before ever hearing a whistle blow."

"Well today's always a day to try something new."

Frank took a moment to clearly feel the trunk, and with a small jump was clinging instinctively in sort with finger latching close to the bark. A couple flicks in the air he quickly was sensing the earthy scent tones as his arms shuffled forward up the trunk. He was pretty much having a good time as he reached the what he sensed was a pretty high up branch. Getting a little bit over his head, decided to be funny wrapping his tail and hanging from it. Before Frank thought his tail would be extra weight on him, but with his senses of touch and smell in overdrive it was just like another arm. He was able to see three small dots from above, not enough to pinpoint a face then again who could really upside down that high.

"Well looks like his humor side increased ten fold as well. Jeremy hissed under his breath with a face palm.