New York In The Time Of Monsters - NY Waterway Ferry Terminal

[gone_byebye]

The problem with whole herds of prehistoric monsters is that sooner or later you're gonna lose track of a few, and they aren't always really good at keeping up with the rest of the herd. Not when there's tasty tasty prey about and a nice convenient off-ramp from the elevated highway down to the land of tastiness.

New York is currently in the middle of a blackout. New York Waterway is currently operating ferry service off the island of Manhattan.

Or they were, before all the screaming started.

Comments

[hopeitsworthit]

Oh Jesus.

Dean runs closer, firing at the thing.

"Hell if I know, Sammy. Looks like it's more than just the teeth though."

He takes a breath.

"Hey, huge and ugly! Turn your ass around!"

[gone_byebye]

There's singed fur and scorching and blood in the air, and the monstrous carnivore turns with the inexorability of stars around the Pole.

It's not bright, but it knows when it's being challenged.

[gavemea_45]

As soon as it turns, Sam stands and tracks it with the barrel of his gun.

"Dean, get behind something!"

He doesn't fire yet, not with the chance of hitting his brother. The guns aren't working all that well, anyway.

Sam takes a moment to dart a quick glance around, looking for anything about the environment that might be useful.

[gone_byebye]

There are- let's see- there are several parked buses, and a number of stanchions to prevent people from driving into the terminal from the street, and some parked bicycles, and a few of those especially large and heavy trashcans you see on the New York streets every so often. There's some abandoned luggage, too, and a downed lamppost- if that helps, he's welcome to any of it, or all of it.

The beast lowers its head for a charge at Dean.

[hopeitsworthit]

Now would be a really awesome time for the shield thing to work.

A really, really awesome time.

Now is also an awesome time to dive behind one of the buses, and then, of course, keep moving, because inertia is such a bitch, and Dean's never really planned to be crushed to death between a bus and a wall.

[gone_byebye]

Fortunately, Ray built the shield well. Ever seen a giant bear-monster from the Miocene era go SPLORT and then BOING? It's totally that scene of the manatee ramming its face into the glass at the aquarium.

Except that the manatee wasn't roaring and trying to kill the audience. Oh, and the glass didn't get pushed back several paces by the transferred force of the manatee's attack, and the manatee didn't wind up sitting on its big furry ass looking like it wanted to evolve language on the spot just so that it could express the concept of 'D00D, WTF???' properly.

But other than that it's totally the same scene.

[gavemea_45]

"Dean? Talk to me, man--"

Sam takes advantage of the creature's confusion to break cover behind it and go racing back across the street, toward the satchel that's lying against the side of a building.

We need a better plan or a hell of a lot more firepower.

[gone_byebye]

The beast shakes its head confusedly and paws at its nose. It comes away with blood on the pads, and one can almost see it visibly becoming aware: hey, something hurt me! I'm bleeding!

It cranes its huge head to attempt to sniff at the wounds the Winchesters' guns have left in its sides and back.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Mrghalkdf."

Given that, without the shield, Dean would've been Winchester-paste on the sidewalk, he's doing really well.

Just--he can't really breathe.

Give him a minute.

[gone_byebye]

The beast attempts to lick at the nearest of the wounds a few times, only to find that it doesn't really help anything at all. With a moaning grumble it straightens itself out and comes to its feet. There were two little things attacking it, it remembers as it snuffles at the air... ah. There.

It starts to amble in Sam's direction. Running is not really an option right now. That would hurt more. A lot more.

[gavemea_45]

His brother's alive and the beast isn't running. Things are looking up.

Sam drops to one knee by the satchel and shoves his gun back in its holster as he reaches in, searching for a few things.

"I doubt salt's gonna help, but --" It's stream-of-consciousness, laying out his thoughts aloud so Dean can hear him. "-- this thing isn't supposed to be here, right? Not demonic, so exorcism's not gonna do us any good, but it came from somewhere--"

In the meantime, he's found what he's looking for. Sam snatches up the sawed-off shotgun and breaks it open, slamming in two salt shells before he snaps it shut.

With his free hand he grabs an already-loaded flare gun, then stands and moves out into the street again, away from Dean.

Sam aims the shotgun right at the beast's head-- at its eyes -- and brings up the flare gun, then waits for it to get just a little bit closer...

[gone_byebye]

It's intelligent, after its kind. It knows that the humans can make it hurt, and so it moves carefully, watching Sam but keeping an ear in Dean's direction.

It hasn't quite yet associated the guns with the source of that pain, though. It's making ready for a swat at Sammy's head with one paw, ignoring the guns altogether. It's going to have to get closer to do that, of course, so it eases itself forward some more.

[hopeitsworthit]

Okay. This is just pathetic.

Dean inhales, coughing a little, and pushes himself up.

It takes him a second to focus on the whatever-it-is, and once he does he looks more than a little pissed.

Hokay, looks like he's gonna have to get a move on, here.

And Dean't not limping at all as he repositions himself for a better shot.

A closer shot, too.

This thing is going down.

[gavemea_45]

One way or another, this had better work.

Sam lets out a breath and fires the shotgun-- both barrels, right into the beast's face, followed instantly by the explosive whoosh of a magnesium flare as he triggers that into the beast's face as well.

He doesn't stand around waiting for its reaction, but dives to one side, rolling as he hits the ground, out of Dean's line of fire.

[hopeitsworthit]

It isn't even a two-count after the magnesium flare when Dean plugs the ugly-ass giant thing full of iron.

It kinda sucks that gloating's gotta wait, but needs must.

Which explains why Dean cracks open the shotgun and reloads as fast as he can.

No sense wasting this opportunity, right?

[gone_byebye]

Ray isn't here to say it, so the narration's going to have to say it for him:

Blech. Smells like barbecued dog hair.

Once you get through the smell of cordite and magnesium and blood, anyway, and hoo nelly is there a LOT of that to go around. The beast staggers backwards in an explosion of bloody skull fragments, trying to shake its head...

... and failing, as the last of Dean's shots rips through the last vital part of its brain remaining. It collapses to the ground and breathes its last. The flesh falls away from the creature's bones in a shower of bluegrey dust, leaving only the gigantic skeleton (sans forehead and a lot of the rest of the brainpan) behind.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Yeah. Okay. That's kinda weird."

Huh.

Then Dean turns to Sam, moving pretty damn fast.

"You okay, Sammy?"

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah, I'm fine -- I didn't get bounced off a bus," Sam tosses back.

"What about you?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"Peachy."

Dean grabs Sam's shoulder, careful but tight, just to check.

He is in no way favoring one arm. Nope. Not this Winchester.

"You see anything else around?"

Dean doesn't. Yet. Except for some more panicking civilians. Those're probably dangerous enough.

[gavemea_45]

"No, but--"

There's a loud squeal of static from the half-forgotten satchel, followed by a broadcast over the NYPD police band radio that Ray had handed over.

"-- you have got to be kidding me."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Rico?"

Dean always concentrates on the important stuff.

"What the hell?"

[gavemea_45]

"You can ask her about it once we get there, okay?"

Sam looks around, then points toward the ferry terminal.

"Come on!"

[gone_byebye]

The terminal is a building designed with open spaces and lots of natural light in mind, an open rectangular space walled in by glass. The river is on one of the long sides, and the ticket sellers' booths are on the other. They're quite empty, of course. Nobody in their right mind was going to stay around when that thing was on the loose.

There are, however, a few people left on the river side of the doors. This is because they figured- correctly- that the beast couldn't or wouldn't bother itself to come out and attempt to get on one of the ferries. The smallest ferry, named the John Lindsey, is the one closest to the docks. Its pilot is watching the land side warily, his flare gun in his hands in case the beast comes back.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Yo, dude!"

Dean figures sometimes the straightforward approach works.

And if not, at least he's keeping the pilot-guy busy so Sam can be sneaky. Or whatever.

"Mind if we borrow your boat?"

[gone_byebye]

The pilot's head whips 'round and he stares. "What the hell do you- what just happened over there?" he asks, jerking his flare gun towards where the creature's bones can still be seen. "Was that you?"

[gavemea_45]

Sometimes explaining is faster than anything else, he knows.

"Yeah, that was us. And we've got to get to Chelsea Piers now to help deal with the rest of it so that things can get back to normal, okay?"

Or as normal as things ever are in New York, that is.

"So -- are you gonna take us there, or are we piloting ourselves?"

[gone_byebye]

"Buddy," says the pilot, "I've never seen anything like it and I don't ever think I wanna. Welcome aboard."

As he throws down the gangplank for the two of them he adds, "So, you guys with the Ghostbusters or what?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"Pretty much, yeah."

Dean grins crookedly, slinging his shotgun into a more comfortable carrying position and climbing on board.

"Independent contractors, or something, right Sammy?"

[gavemea_45]

"Something like that, yeah."

Even in the middle of everything, Sam gives Dean a quick grin as he steps onto the ferry.

"I guess you could say we're colleagues from out of town."

[gone_byebye]

"Sweet. Man, with all the weird crap we've had this year, it's about time they got some help in..."

He's gonna talk all the way south to the pier if he's left to his own devices.