14121/These Crowded Streets

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These Crowded Streets
Date of Scene: 12 February 2023
Location: New York City, Warehouse District
Synopsis: A mob operation goes south as a new Crowd creature shows up. Being on the lookout for suspicious activity, MJ ends up joining with Caleb in order to stop it. Add fireworks and goo!
Cast of Characters: Caleb Dykstra, Mary Jane Watson




Caleb Dykstra has posed:
New York, the Warehouse District, nightime.

Caleb knows all too well that crime never stops, whether in Gotham or any city, for that matter. Unwillingly involved with mob boss Bazilio Vittorelli, he has to be there when he comes calling - and this includes late night shifts for businesses. In this case for operations, a business transaction with some unknown party (they never tall him anything), money for guns, to take place in a local warehouse by the docks.

As the car pulls up, he gets out and looks around. It's quiet. Even for these types of operations, you'd see someone signaling to step forward. But... No. Nothing.

The italian henchmen look around, and the leader looks at him. "...Well?", to which Caleb just shrugs.

The italian guy continues, turning to the others. "Gino, go knock on the door." His hands tense into a fist. "If this is a trap..."

And that's just what Caleb is starting to think, so he shudders momentarily. He'd say something if he didn't know they'd tell him to shut up - he's just a hostage as he is an employer; only without the binds.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She's here on overwatch for something else entirely. Hydra's been active lately, and a missed shipment along the area has SHIELD increasing sweeps. They only intercepted one of the convoys, after all. Mary Jane is still recovering from injury, but thanks to the general low priority of the mission and her being ordered to just report in if she sees something and wait for backup, this isn't a major factor.

One arm is up and over in a sling, and she's in a lookoout position, wearing generally casual clothes. So when she hears the sound of funs going on and quiet talk.. She goes to fade into teh shadows. Attempting to approach closer.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
The teenager glances around as Gino steps forward. When he glances upon a particular large patch of shadows, he stops. Did... Did he just see something moving in the shadows? This suspicion is such that he aims a flashlight in that general direction - and nothing.

Gino is by the door now, and knocks on it. And, surprisingly, it opens up; it wasn't even locked, in fact. Or somebody forgot to lock it? In any case, whoever did it are really a bunch of amateurs, if they didn't.

The italian fatso, Gino, peers inside... And he suddenly falls inside the dark warehouse!

Caleb is stunned at the event, and finds himslef gulping.

The leader exclaims, over the walkie-talkie, "Gino... You there?" He repeats, louder this time, "GINO... Come in, over!!"

Seconds pass...

Caleb doesn't like it.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Well, definitely something up. And Mary Jane can't get any good viewpoint from this angle. If it's just some gunrunners, then it's teh affair of the local authorities and not something she can get directly involved in. What she can, however, do, is poke her head in to make sure..

And, well, if it's not she does have her own friends on spdeed dial on her phone she can pass it forwards to. She goes in from anotehr direction. Her arm in too bad a shape to try and jimmy the door open or to pick the lock. SO instead she goes to take out a small pair of wire cutters, takes them up to the bolt that holds the window shut, moves ot cut it.. THen she puts it away, hand going to take out a small bottle of grease, to dash a few drops on the hinge, a quick rub down the window to ensure nothing is rusted or stuck in place.. Grease goes away, and hand moves to quietly open the window. Without much of a sound thanks to her prep work where the old thing might have ordinarily just screeched for everyone to hear.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"I-I don't like this", Caleb comments, but he's met with a smack upside the head, that makes his brain rattle.

"Shut up!", the smack having come from the gang leader. "Gino, are you there!? Pick up, you fat f..."

"I'm alright! I'm alright, I just tripped!", Gino's voice is made heard over the walkie-talkie. "Our pals here were busy with unloading something. Oh, man... Frankie, you gonna wanna see this! Come on over and get in!"

"Yeah? Well, you scared us shitless, you fatass!!", he announces. "Don't ever do that again, or you gonna be turnin' up in the goddamn Hudson, y'get me??"

No further reply.

'Frankie' gestures the others to move in, but Caleb is uneasy about it. He walks, but purposefully keeps his pace slower, staying behind.

Meanwhile, in the warehouse's back, MJ finds herself into a small division - a broom closet? -, with the door in front of her closed - or maybe locked? And it's then that she can feel in the dark something grabbing her ankle with a strong grip!

"Don't go out there...", is whispered.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
That yelling doesn't bode well over for things. Mary Jane doesn't know exactly what's going on and she's once more muttering to herself on jumping in without recon. But she can only blame herself for it. She once again goes to get out the small set of bolt cutters, letting her eyes adjust over to the darkness then right before she braces over against the broom closet wall. Going to reach up to feel over for the door and she has something on her ankle.

She resists her instinct to kick out at it and she glances in the general direction it's from. "It's all right, I'm here to help. What's going on out there?" She would ask quietly. "And I'll get you out of here as soon as it's safe." She's committed now, there's a civilian hostage. She goes to take her comm to quickly report it in, even as she goes back carefully to work on opening the door while waiting for the person huddling down there to speka. "And keep your head down as much as you can."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"It-it-it... M-my men! My MEN!!", he whispers, though ever loud. But behind the door... The sound of... Chanting?

No - humming.

He quiets down, "We had those deals, y'know? Something set up, and we saw a few people, seemed like a tourist excursion. We told them off, but they just grabbed and pulled my men towards their middle, and and and and and..." He panics now, "What're you doing?? IT'S OUT THERE!!"

Caleb by now is some good four meters away from the group, looking everywhere for the signs of trouble. And his head snaps in the entrance's direction, to have Gino show up, wearing a grin on his face.

A grin.

Caleb remembers. His eyes go wide.

"No..."

Back inside, it would seem the man's voice attracted attention, for now there's tapping on the door. "Henry, you there? You can come out now!", a voice says.

"Yes, come out! Everything's okay now!", another says.

"Glad you're here with us, Henry! You'll witness something wonderful!", yet another.

"Open up, Henry!", another.

"Open up, Henry!", another

"Open up, Henry!", another.

A choir, now.

The door rattles now - it won't hold for long.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
This is fortunately something she knows how to deal with. Mary Jane goes to simply take back her fist, and then goes to say in a creepy, creepy voice the likes of which seh had used to put a monster in the days of old on their ass.

"Henry's not here now." Mary Jane would take up her hand that wasn't in a sling, retract it and then go to slam it ofrwards into the door. The door *CRUNCHES* hard from the blow, splitting down the middle.

It's followed by her slamming her shoulder into it, which would send the twin halves of it smashing into the room. Hopefully slamming hard into the men on the other end that had been pressing their bodies right up to it and jostling to get it open.

Fortunately it was only a cheap door. Then again Sonja was known to bust through a lot more when it came to getting out of covering her bar tab over somewhere.. So hopefully she could slam her way right through it and barrel down the individuals on teh other end!

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
When MJ/Sonja bursts the door open to knockover whomever's on the other side, that brings about the effect of knocking down the first four people to the ground, which would be good...

But what about the people swarming around it?

They come into view from the sides, each looking at the people with their fixed stares, and... Their grins. Those awkward grins, like they were all in on some joke played at people's expenses. And in this case, it seemed like Sonja and Henry, for they begin to rush in, threatening to overpower the redhead.

The leader approaches Gino, whose grin just doesn't fade.

"Why're you grinning?", he asks.

"You should see what they got in there, Frankie!", Gino says. "It'll put a smile on your face, too."

"Okay", Frankie tells the others - and this includes Caleb, "Let's get to business! That's what we're here for!"

And Caleb is backing away, shaking his head. Nope - no way...

And the sound of stuff breaking is heard inside. "Hey, you got a problem in there? Is this place s...?"

Frankie's pulled inside, and the others shout in surprise, stepping forward to help.

All but Caleb, who's seen this all too recently.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Well, this is strange. Having busted out, Mary Jane now has the hooligans on all sides. She goes simply, "Bro like Bro. Brogoing to have to Bro you down Bro." Let these guys be idiots like most of the uptowners and not realize that the Tracksuit Mafia didn't have territory on this side of the city. But she was wearing sweats so that might help sell it..

"So Bro going to beat you now Bro." Sonja goes to slam mode now. Taking out a heavy baton, going to try and slam it down to the kidney of one, then going for an attempted throat smash of another. Her strikes are designed to have as large amounts of blunt force trauma. So hopefully over that means if she slams one or two away at a time, the others have limited ability to go at her. She has a chokepoint.. And that means they can only come upon her in small numbers. Even with one arm to wield a weapon and having limited range and trying to -not- cripple them. Hopefully. Shejust has to hopefully slow them down enough for them to be exhausted and worn down by attrition. And there couldn't be more than fourty or fifty of them. So it would just take a couple hours.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Sonja starts her slamming, her hitting, and it... Connects with people, who get hit, and knocked out. And they should be staying that way.

They should be - but they're not.

No, they're getting back up just as easily as they fall. And they are still grinning. Them going down just gives way to more - new ones - taking their place as the former ones get back up and push forward, wave after wave.

It will be a losing battle.

And 'Henry' realizes this, as he's on the ground, shuddering in terror. "OH GOD... WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" He cackles madly! "But they're not gonna get me... They're not! I'll go out on my own terms!!" He opens up his jacket, and it can be seen he was ready for the case shit going sideways, for he pulls a flak jacket full of /grenades/.

Grenades of which he pulls the pins out simultaneously.

Meanwhile outside, Caleb has a completely flawed sense of sel-preservation for sure, for he's still on-site and not backing away like any sensible person would. Still, the encounter he had before has told him that there be strength in numbers, and these numbers don't really divide - they aglomerate over an area from a central point. So maybe he's safe from a safe distance. And he goes to check out what the noise was, watching from some fifteen yards off. Maybe someone can still get out of this?

But are they the sort that should get out of this?

It's at that point that he spots movement inside, and he pulls out a flashlight. Is it... a woman?

Against all his better-judgement... "HEY!!", he shouts, "GET OUT OF THERE! QUICK!!" He approaches slowly, then backs away - if he's caught by some unseen hands, he could be overpowered and dragged inside, so he won't take the risk.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She's being hounded on all sides, Henry's doing something crazy as Mary Jane yells, "No, stop!" There's no time now to just try and run back to stop him. HE's made his choice and the grenades are well past the point that she could try and shove him away. So she changes tactics. Tehre's too many of them in close range and she has to clear a path. She's not strong enough or fast enough to evade them or shove her way past in her current state, and hse doesn't have any real specialized eqiupment on her.

She moves to snap out for her ICER - she has to put the baton away and switch weapons with her off-hand, given her other one is in a sling. So she goes to jab out the SHIELD neurotoxin gun and tries to fire in as many darts to close range over to each of the indivuals as she could! She could put 'em down..

But getting them to stay down was the trick! So hopefully enough drugs in them would give her at least a few moments to slow down the mass.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
It is too late for Henry, who's just gone and abandoned all hope. No blame on him - after all, he did lose the whole group he was with, some of them were even his friends, his family. So he's just resigned to his fate, decided to going out with a bang, that he picks up a cigarette. "Hey, Kyle... Y'got a light?", he asks in the direction of the swarming crowd.

It's safe to say that Henry pulled an 'Elvis', and left the building.

As for the grenades - tick tock.

Caleb is outside, still calling out, now more intensely as he sees the woman is fighting what's becoming an increasing number of these odd grinning folk. "GET THE FUCK OUT, DAMMIT!!"

Tick tock.

The baton hitting throws the crowd back with force to break bones, their bodies just going contorted like silly putty, but visibly fixing themselves in a fluid fashion in a matter of seconds. The ICER shots do virtually nothing, as they just smile with that impish grin of theirs and keep on coming. The neurotoxin darts also cause no damage whatsoever.

They are getting inside, but Sonja's been doing a fine job of keeping them from flanking her - but it won't last.

Only one resort now: the window. The one path that's still clear, from where the teenager is screaming for her to get out.

Tick tock. Tick. Tock. Tick... Tock...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
There's only so much she can do. The ICER rounds are useless, even as she empties the clip. There's no way she can actually yank off Henry's explosives. She can't leave the man to die. But she also can't stop him from killing himself here. She doesn't have the time to yank him along with her as well as all the grenades on him.

And at the same time she can't do something that will leave whatever all those men/things inside there are. So all she can do then is just hold her good arm over her face, and go to charge out and try and jump through the metal window. It's going to hurt. MOre than hse already is. Jumping to smash on through the metal window, past the metal bars on it, through the glass. On her already broken jaw and arm in a sling. It's going to hurt. But hopefully she can leap out and through before the grenades go.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
As Sonja makes her getaway move, one of the gathering Crowd makes a beeline for 'Henry', who is smiling at the recognition - the same clothes a clear indication that they're from the same group, too. "Kyle...", he says sadly. Then, he too grins.

"Smile!, you sonuvab..."

*BOOOOM!!*

The whole broom closet explodes, the window being knocked off the wall from the sheer force of the blast! Fire and... Something else that's both steamy and smelly, like pus from a purulent wound, is projected through the window. Nothing inside could've survived - well, nothing human, anyways.

Well, good for Sonja that she was no longer inside, having pulled away at the last possible second.

Caleb approaches, but keeping his eyes on the hole in the wall every two seconds or so. "Jeezus..." He looks at Sonja, "Uhh... You okay, lady?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson goes to land hard over, using her good arm to brace herself. Cut and bleeding, arm in a sling, what are clearly staples over her ribs underneath her shredded jumpsuit. She would glance at the ensuing explosion, the goo erupting up and over into the air like silly putty being strung along by a kite, then over at Caleb.

"No, but I'll survive." she would force herself upright. "YOu okay? What the hell happened there?" She hasn't the faitnest clue herself what it was.

She's memorizing Caleb's face as a person of interest in the affair that will be passed up along the ladder when she reports in.. She's at least not puking, and is resisting the bits of Sonja clamoring to go out and get drunk.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"That", Caleb replies, "is something I thought to be gone." He looks at the window still. "Can you move?" He looks back the way he came from. "I found it, I got to dub it. I call what you just saw 'The Crowd'." He adds, looking back to MJ, "Those people you just fought... They're not people, not anymore." Another look at the window. "From what I could gather, they're extensions of a central mass that seems to act like some sort of hive mind."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
That takes a moment for Mary Jane to translate it over into her mind. "Giant goo person, got it." What had life become where they could instantly digest, understand, and comprehend what that sort of thing was? "I really hope I don't have any bits sticking over to me from that." Priorities girl. Priorities. "How did you get tangled up in it?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
The teen shrugs, "I just did. It showed up in Gotham a while back; seems like there's even a video, apparently mistaken for a flash mob. Got saved by a few people with powers." He grimaces, remembering his experience, "And yeah, you don't want to get that on your clothes. It might just be better to burn them if you do, because the cleaners'll just quit their job, you know?"

"I found out that each of the people were once just ordinary people, until they got taken over by that hive mind, which is a fleshy hub. From that hub, fleshy stuff like an umbilical cord, links up to their 'victim', or 'prey', which it consumes." He pulls out a large combat knife from his coat, "You cut the cord, and the extension you're fighting clumps in a heap, lookout for any goo, though."

He keeps looking about...

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would look over herself and sigh, "Thanks,I'm going to have nightmares about it for a week. And I'll make sure to look myself over." Oh yes, she's going to be dumped right through detox and decontamination procedures then be dumped over in quarantine.

Again.

She would close her eyes, "And any idea of what hte thing is after? Or why everyone in it looked like they were Tweedledum and Tweedledee?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Hell if I know what it wants", he says. "Maybe it wants to grow in numbers at our expense?" He is still gesturing the knife, handle-first, in her direction. "And furthermore..."

A number of people start to come around the warehouse corner. Five, ten... Twenty or so. They're densely packed people, but what's more disturbing is that some seem severly burned, their eyes melted away into more of that dripping pus. They stop, and all turn their heads in Caleb and MJ's direction with the military precision of a collective intelligence.

They grin again - and start to pace.

"...I don't think it's dead", he finishes. Pulling out another knife, "You better prove to me you can move quickly, lady."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would shake her head over at it, "No, I don't think it is either." She's already tried her ICER and it's shown a degree of ineffectiveness. She looks about quickly. No signs of any sort of open electrical thing.. And she's not going to make a huge fire in the middle of a warehouse area. Too much risk of collateral damage and killing people. IF the cops aren't here by now, they won't be soon enough to make a difference.

"You seem to have an idea how fast it is. Can we outrun it?" She's got one arm in a sling, but she doesn't have a sprained ankle so can move at a quick pace if it's useful. "Our best chance is to get out of here."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"We need time to think, get our act together", Caleb says, starting to pace back. "We don't have a lot of options. Unless you cut that umbilical thingee they got attached to them all at the same time, then it won't make a difference. Each one you see is just an extension of the central mass, and is extremely du... ra... ble..." His gears have clicked into motion, and he looks at the ICER, "That thing... With an opening, if you hit the central mass, you can disorient it. The peo... The extensions can't, but it can!" He allows himself a half-smile, "Knock out the central mass, we win!"

"But first...", he says as the Crowd paces, paces, paces, "Get your ass to the car, lady!"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would grunt, "Lovely." Well, at least they can hopefully -drive- away from it! She goes to run towarsd the nearest vehicle, "We're not going to have much luck with that without some kind of really heavy explosive or construction vehicle, and I'd rahter not do it in an area where there are so many people!" She's racing over towards the nearest vehicle, and presuming she can get into it and start it up..

Fortunately for the duo there are two cars nearby. One of them is a beat up, slaggy looking 1980's station wagon that looks like it could match the speed of a VW overloaded with hippies going uphill. "F*cking garbage." More fortunately, however, there's a sports car nearby that's probably one of the higher ranked goons personal toys. All the other cars in the area have been trashed by the fight, upended by debris or damage, or in the case of one already had all the wheels taken off by a enterprising young thief. "We'll take that--" she goesto point over at the sports car, right as a large piece of the upending building landed atop it and flattened it. "... We'll take the garbage. I think I can do a stick shift. You might have to get out and push though." And she's racing over towards it, quickly forcing the door open and trying to twist the key nob around to hotwire it. The engine would slowly thrum to life, like a bad sitcom getting a made for tv revival, shambling liek an ancient corpse unable to die.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Well, at least look on the bright side", Caleb replies as he breaks the window and unlocks the door on his side. "This crap's so old and derelict, it won't even be considered stealing." He gets in, and looks at how MJ handles the hot-wiring. He smirks, "Not exactly an angel in this life either, are you?" He introduces himself - now might be a good a time as any; a few minutes from now they could be dead, anyways. "I'm Caleb, by the way."

The Crowd starts to pace faster, to try to catch up to the van. And it voices out...

<<CAAAAALLLLEEEEB...>>

Wait, it knows him?

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would go to hit the accelerator down as the engine refuses to start.. She goes to hit the dash, and starts swearing. She goes to slam her foot over into the floor.. Then gives a quick kick underneath the seat over to the engine block. The engine wheezes.

She turns the hotwired key knob a few more times. Even as it would rev to life. And then start to go along at speeds moreso like an old person on a scooter in the checkout line. "We're safe this way that someone won't try and take it from us while we're fleeing." She would deadpan. "And we're doing everyone a favor by taking it off the market. It's driving property values up in the abandoned warehouse district. And that thing eat friends of your's?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"They were not my friends", Caleb snaps. "They're the kinds of people that the decent world won't miss, people which I unfortunately have to work for." Although concern visibly shows in his face. Men valuable to his mob boss have died today, and he's still alive.

But he shoves that concern aside to look back, "Okay, the good news? We're moving. The bad news? We're not really making much headway in escaping. The worst news? If we escape it, what happens to the next poor shmuck who comes across it?" He closes his eyes, bringing up all his courage, "We need to stop it, Miss...?" He looks at MJ (who still hasn't given her name).

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The car would keep on going. "Well, I'm going to say that it was -had- to work for unless there's a lotmore of them. I'm guessing your boss is going to be worried on losing about twenty to thirty of his street enforcers and that's going to be his primary concern. You're just another casualty in the morass. You get absorbed in the blob and everyone loses track of you. And your boss is busy having to deal with that big a gap in his personnel and everyone else going for his territory."

The car slowly heaves along as Mary Jane continues calmly, "So he escalates for a bit when he gets desperate, the other gangs beat him down and he jumps ship when it's all over or someone caps his kneecap on a good note." The car continues to wheeze along.
    "Michelle." She would rely after a moment. "I'd say that we need to lose some weight, but withour luck it will be the engine."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"The crew was five, me included", Caleb explains. "We were meeting another crew for something, no idea what." He shakes his head. "Judging by the look of those people, the crew we were meeting came across it, and got assimilated. And when we arrived, they were next."

"Okay, so let's say I disappear", Caleb comments. "It's not like I don't have a family - a kid sister, no less - he'd send some goons after." He deadpans. "In Gotham, no less. Which is, basically, crime capital of the United States." He pauses for a couple of seconds. "I'd be open to suggestions on how to pull that rabbit out of the hat."

He looks towards the back of the truck. "I wonder what's inside here..." He looks at Michelle, "Still coming after us?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would glance over at Caleb and shrug, "Well, in that case I can't offer much. Unless your boss is very willing to cut his losses in things of this scale. They do have a level of backfiring. Throw good money after bad.. IF he's smart he'll decide what he's thrown into it won't drag out anything else." The car would slowly go around a pothole.

"I think we're about keeping even with it. Depends if we hit the light or not." She would once again evade a large sinkhole filled with water.

"The logical way you fill it is just having your boss replaced with someone else. He pisses off someone higher in the food chain, they squish him, they get rid of anthing left in his territory to stamp the place clean. You, being the smart cockroach you are, don't get in the way of this when it happens and so you're ignored."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"So, by what you're telling me, the competition would come after everyone or everything that's on his payroll... Right?", Caleb looks at Michelle. "Lemme get a bomb shelter built and go underground, then. Did that back when those aliens attacked. It's not like we don't live out of table scraps or anything so we're kept on the payroll."

But by now, an idea is forming in his head: what if one if these creatures was introduced to his mob boss? Nice, clean death, taking as many of the family over night...

No.

This can't be him. Surely.

'Jesus, what am I thinking?'

Then, his thoughts are interrupted by something he sees. "A-HAH!!", he exclaims. "JACKPOT!!"

In the back, the truck is loaded with gas cans.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would shrug, "Well, more likely that you're small fry enough that they wouldn't care if you keep your head down, plea and beg sufficiently and go on about how pathetic you are.. THey get a laugh from you, beat you up a couple times and forget you exist. Ify ou suck up and humiliate yourself enough, they'll decide you're not worth taking on and too pathetic to be competition that they need to clean out. And therea re always aliens, monsters, or just New Jersey."

Then they're slowing as she goes around the gas truck, "F$##*! if that thing goes off it will level blocks." She tenses - if they turn around, that thing will catch them. IF they go past the truck, it will risk going off when the thing attacks and the driver freaks.

"Can you get that thing?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"I think we found some upeer hand", Caleb comments. "With this, if we hit the central mass, we kill it. If not, we can take out several of its' limbs in one go." He starts to line up a can for it to roll off against the Crowd.

He looks around at the van, and the squeaky gears. "Plus, I dunno if the sheer weight of these is not what's hampering the speed..."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The station wagon creeks over, "If there's a way to handle it without killing everyone in the area, I'm all for it! You get to that, I'll keep it distracted!" Mary Jane goes to move to swerve the waddling car around to let Caleb get out.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
She want him to hop off??

Caleb looks at MJ, "No, no, no, what're you doing?? Keep going!" As he measures the distance, he looks at the twenty-something people-not-people coming their way, their coordinated movements making them like a centipede moving ever faster, to speeds that even an athlete would have a hard time matching.

It'll bring them to their location in less than half-a-minute.

He lines up the metal container, and kicks like he never kicked before! It rolls off the truck, on its way to meet the amalgam of voices that hum and whisper and moan.

<<Caleb...>>, is heard in the distance, <<What're you up to now?>>

But, luck not being of the Irish, Caleb also loses his footing from such strong a kick, and falls off the van(!) - which may just be heading away.

Yeah, it figures. Hashtag just saying.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And then the van is going to turn around and is doing a 180 that leaves the bumper behind it. And Mary Jane is ever, ever so slowly moving to drive it back towards the beast. SHe's not bothering to push the pedal hard. TH name of the game now is inertia. Which the fat thing has quite a bit of. The huge, fleshy mass of the thing is -still- made up of humans. Human flesh. No backbones. Evn wiht enhanced tendons..

Hopefully there's only so much kinetic force that rubber can take and exert. So, the station wagon busting it's engine going twenty miles an hour.. She intends ot just ram it up and over to the center of the thing, dropping out of the driver's seat at the last minute

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Well, Caleb had the idea of kicking all the cans and drums at it, as they went, and have them explode one by one in a more controlled explosion... But he guesses that works too! Although he blinks a little at MJ/Sonja's more maverick-like attitude. If she's not careful, she'll go sky high - just like a real airplane!

But maybe the drum he kicked can still be put to some use, giving the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent some extra seconds to jump, and also disorient the creature for the really big bang to hit.

He pulls out his gun, and steadily aims at the closing window of opportunity - shooting at an angle like this is never easy.

Five meters.

"Get out, girl... Get out of there!", he whispers.

Three meters.

He relaxes, exhales...

One meter.

A trigger is pulled. The shot rings in a loud bang.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And Mary Jane goes to hit the ground on her -good- arm, using it to brace herself and go into a quick tuck and roll away from it as things start to blow up in a controlled, yet chaotic fashion. NO one in New YOrk City is going to pay particular attention to explosions, things on fire, or giant monsters on fire. THey'll probably complain about it raining goo before going on with thier lives on the crowded late night city streets.

Mary Jane goes to keep on rolling, moving to keep as much distance between the goo-fiend and the gas cannisters rolling in an donctrolled fashion and going boom.

Apparently the 'kick and roll' routine having not slightly occurred to her rather than the 'blow them all up at once'.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
The first rolling container is shot, and it makes a hole, spilling now hot liquid as air enters. This causes the gas to ignite, the vapours expand...

*BOOOM!!*

The first explosion goes, catching the Crowd by surprise. Sa few of the once-people are engulfed by the flames, even projected upwards as they get separated from the bulbous mass that is the central hub.

A central hub that's now become quite exposed.

And this is where the second explosion comes in - the loaded truck itself, plus whatever gas it had in its tank. It hits the mass head on, almost threatening to run it over, and explodes magnificently, lighting up the whole road in a blazing inferno!

In the midst of the sudden burst of sound, one could almost hear its roar of rage and pain, the humanoid shapes of men, women, and children flailing and withering into nothingness.

And then... Rain! Not water, but goo that spashes all over the street.

As Caleb approaches to check on Michelle... *SPLAT!* About a gallon of the stuff lands on him,. Deadpan. "It figures..."

Hashtag YouShouldHaveSeenItComing