New York In The Time Of Monsters - West Side Highway

[gone_byebye]

Normally the West Side Highway in Ray's Manhattan is an elevated roadway that runs the length of what used to be 12th Avenue, from the George Washington Bridge down as far as Water Street. Normally. Right now it's a parking lot, thanks to the people trying to get the heck out of the city because of the blackout.

It's a parking lot full of screaming people, too. That may have something to do with the shapes one can see from street level, leaping and creeping and moseying and stomping their way inexorably southward, with odd trumpets and roars. There's an awful crunch and a bellow as something huge puts its foot through glass; Ray winces. "We'd better get up there in a hurry," he says, and starts running for the nearest entrance ramp, waving his ID card at the startled police. "They're with me, guys!"

Comments

[evil_koala_626]

Stitch begins skittering back toward the others when the Andrewsarchus' lunge catches his attention. He turns in time to see the rather impressive set of jaws clamp down on the masked man's arm.

"Choota," he half hisses. That doesn't look fun at all.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon offers a fairly choice set of words himself. They start with "FUCKIN' 'ELL!" and continue in an unholy mix of English, yautja, and Dardanian Greek while his...arm, at this point he's only got the one...starts shoving his wristblades as far into the trophy-to-be's eye as is possible.

[calderon-crow.livejournal.com]

Tavi groans and gets to his feet.

"Okay... someone needs to tell me when things are going to do that."

[sighteddancer.livejournal.com]

Cre'hktdi, who threw herself under the falling trophy to keep it from getting damaged by the pavement, would agree. . . but she to try to catch it on her unarmored body, and even something of her mass is not happy to have a prehistoric skull drop upon it.

She is, in a way, unsurprised to look up and find Spoon in the grips of something that should not have happened. Not happy, no, but she starts carefully easing the trophy off.

She needs to prevent duel interference.

[gone_byebye]

There's not much left to interfere, unless you count the sudden grey shape looming up from the trail of wreckage left by the Sarkastodons' passage... although it appears to be holding still at its current position.

Spoon's got a good stab going and Andrewsarchus had sizable eyes. There's a sick wet little plorp! sound as the blades are driven home and the fluid starts to run- and then vanishes, because Spoon has now got an Andrewsarchus skull devoid of all flesh stuck on his wristblades. Looks like he got to the brain after all.

Ray looks at Tavi and notes, "If I'd known they were going to do that I would've said something."

"It's an unfortunate side effect of the process," calls a woman's voice. It's high up and some ways off- it's coming, in fact, from the vast grey shape. (And when we say vast, we mean eighteen feet high at the shoulder- and rather higher when the beast raises its head to its full height.) "Dr. Curwen was only interested in preserving animal bones, and I had to base my spells upon his solutions of essential salts in order to get them to work."

Dear Lord. There's a blonde woman riding that monstrosity.

[evil_koala_626]

Stitch isn't entirely sure what's going on. There's a woman sitting on top of this new menace. She appears to be taking credit for the situation but he's not entirely sure. What he is sure of is that Ray specified that these critters were definitely not supposed to be wandering about. He selects one of the myriad of bones now scattered about and throws it at the monster with considerable force.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon's attention (yes, even bleeding...although he's not bleeding as much as he should be. Less with every heart-beat, in fact.) is caught by the prehistoric cows in the background, "You're working with them." his voice is equal parts horror and disgust.

Spoon has issues.

Stitch's bone, however, doesn't seem to faze the riding beast. Actually, it doesn't seem to notice

[sighteddancer.livejournal.com]

Cre'hktdi notices. Huge feet, bone-throwing aliens, and it's time to get the trophy to safety.

She growls at the creatures and woman as she goes for the skull of the creature she killed, deep and long. She sees their large and heavy feet.

[gone_byebye]

"No, they're working with me," the woman corrects. "They're not as good at absorbing impacts as the titanotheres, but they're smarter and easier to bring in line- and they're not those damned mammoths." Her voice is filled with loathing. "Do you know how many times I've had people asking me about the mammoths? Do you? Every. Single. Time. I set foot in the mammal halls of the museum, it's ALWAYS the damn mammoths! Half of New York couldn't name another prehistoric mammal if their lives depended on it- just the goddamn furry elephants! No..." She recovers her composure a little. "No mammoths. Just my titanotheres, and my aurochs, and Belle here."

At 'Belle', she pats the Indricotherium- for that's what she's riding- fondly on the shoulder.

"We're going to show them all."

[evil_koala_626]

He growls to himself in frustration. The thing didn't even flinch. The woman is saying something. Something about elephants? What do elephants have to do with anything? Stitch tunes her out, tongue lolling and eyes beginning to glaze over. Until something catches his eye: the skull of his previous mount. Strolling forward the little alien lifts the skull to eye level, turns it over to inspect it form all angles and places it on top of his head.

The Foramen magnum of the Andrewsarchus cups the edges of his head forming a very crude hat. That's actually longer than Stitch is tall.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"COWS! YOU ARE WORKING WITH COWS, YOU DAFT BINT!" Spoon is bellowing back up at the woman, "COWS ARE THE INCARNATION OF ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD! IT'S A FUCKIN' BOVINE CONSPIRACY!"

Someone may want to shut-up the one-armed crazy-man.

[calderon-crow.livejournal.com]

Tavi looked over at the crazy--

Great furies!

[sighteddancer.livejournal.com]

"You worked in a trophy hall and could not show people your creatures before?"

Trophy stashed--and the next thing to go near its cache will get a plasma bolt in its path--Cre'hktdi moves closer to examine the scene. It's worth observing.

"Very well. I have seen your prey animals. So have the others here. What else have you to do?"

[gone_byebye]

"Why," says the woman, suddenly smiling beatifically, "I have to finish what I started. That's what this is all about, you see. When it all began all I could do was summon their ghosts. It was all right, but it wasn't enough, so I did my research and I found Dr. Curwen's work. A little experimenting here, a little tinkering there, and one fine warm summer night what did I find but that I could give them bodies. Real, living, breathing bodies, for as long as their spirits inhabited them. I could see how they lived. I could know what they were really like. It was everything a paleontologist like myself could dream of..."

"And then I thought, my high school is having its fifteenth reunion this month. And you know? I never liked anyone I went to school with. At all."

She sits up straight on Belle's back and clucks down to the titanotheres that've meandered forward (crushing things in their wake) to see what's going on. "Come, Rico! Come, Patsy! We have an appointment to keep at Chelsea Piers!"

(If anyone is wondering why Ray isn't trying to stop her, it's because he's holding up his radio with the 'send all' button held down, and the frequency knob turned to the NYPD police band.)

[evil_koala_626]

This has to be the most patently ridiculous thing he's heard all month. It nearly rivals some of Jumba's "evil genius" rants.

Stitch points and begins cackling. From above it may very well look as if the skull is mocking her.

[gone_byebye]

The woman scowls at the little blue creature WEARING ONE OF HER CREATURES' SKULLS and starts to shake a fist; then she shakes her head instead. "Don't try to stop us," she warns, and kicks into Belle's sides with both heels.

They're going to be fixing this stretch of highway for YEARS. It was so never meant for this kind of weight, let alone this kind of weight at a gallop. The road itself shakes beneath our heroes' feet, rippling and trembling like a California overpass. By the time the beasts are out of sight and the shaking stops Ray is nowhere to be-

"Guys? GUYS!" yells Ray from down below the elevated highway. "Come on, I think we can beat her to the pier. There's a boat tied up at the dock here! I can totally drive the boat!"

Oh, dear. This should be interesting.