Mall

Sloane's jeans pockets were stuffed full of lighters. Her hoodie pockets were stuffed full of matches, and as she ran down the mall she had to stop every so often to make sure none of them fell out.

She stopped in front of the store and ducked in front of a display of skirts. She pulled a lighter from her back pocket and held it against the skirt closest to the front.

"C'mon," she said, willing the fire to spread. "C'mon..."

A few feet away, Hildegard readied her crossbow, in case she got a clear shot at the nuckelavee. That possibility grew more unlikely as the fight grew more chaotic, but anything could happen.

The Mall

Stan had mostly hid in the fountain for the majority of the ensuing chaos. He peaked out in time to see that this apparent horse demon was fighting Patrick. Stan hopped out from the fountain and grabbed his small can of mace. Feeling the need to do something, anything at all, Stan figured he'd do the most primal thing that his body could do.

Stan then proceeded to chuck the mace can at the head of the "rider" part of the Nuckelavee.

San Lorenzo, Cornelia's Store, 1st Floor, Living Room

Cornelia sighed, looking out of the window and deciding she should do something. Taking the crutches the doctor left and made her way back down to clean up a bit more.

Mall

"Hola Senoritas!" Lagarto Verde said as he landed next to Sloane and Hildegard. "Now's the chance, horsehead is distracted fighting- the other horse guy. You got a plan, I can tell, fill me in!"

Cornelia's Shop

Doctor Johnson went out to the ambulance, picked up the crutches, and returned inside. He delivered them to Cornelia, gave her some final tips and some stuff for pain and swelling, then said goodbye and to call if she felt worse for any reason. Then just as professionally, he smiled, exited and drove off.

Mall

Sloane remained focused on trying to set the skirts ablaze.

"Sloane's starting a fire to set off the sprinkler system, because freshwater is the nuckelavee's weakness," Hildegard whispered to Lagarto. "I'm trying to get a clear shot. Though Lark and Patrick seem to be handling themselves pretty well."

edited 25th Jun '17 8:55:19 PM by emilyorthoclase

"Ohh I see!" the Chupacabras said, in almost childlike glee. Then, finally, the stubborn skirt caught fire.

"Give that to me!" the reptile said, and snatched away the burning garment. He then somersaulted, reaching the roof effortlessly. He crawled along it until he reached a sprinkler, and stuck the clothing right next to it.

Brrrriinnngg!! the fire alarm began to sound across the Mall, and all water sprinklers came to life, drenching everybody underneath (Lagarto, who was still on the roof and kept the smoking cloth dry, smiled at the fruit of their labors, especially as the fresh water washed over the Nuckelavee.)

Bath Time, Senor.

Lark, Mall

Lark flew and ducked, before feeling the sprinklers on her hair and the tips of her wings. Lark had the wings of a certain breed of seabird, which lack waterproofing oil, in order to dive deeper within the water.

She was grounded. Lark flew to an area far away from the Nucklavee and watched carefully, Wings spread so that they could dry once the sprinklers stopped.

Freshwater didn't exactly hurt the Nuckelavee. However, it did cause to wail and roar, lashing out at Patrick and his horse. Patrick grunted as a single hard blow got the horse in the stomach, sending both flying away, before the Nuckelavee turned and bolted, screaming. It was not sticking around here anymore.

The Mall

Stan saw the creature run. "I got this!" He was stil, semi-out of it. He slipped his loafer off, and chucked it at the back of the nuckelavee. "Boom! Got it!"

The Nuckelavee burst out the mall, and turned around, hissing at Stan, with a burning rage in his eyes. However, he couldn't do anything. Too much fresh water. He was.....cornered, in a way. He could see several enemies, things he wanted to kill, but he couldn't. They had managed to beat him. It enraged him, but it was the truth.

Patrick groaned as he got up. He was sore all over, and his head was laying off to the side.

Leopold was moving up, and pointed his gun, aiming at the Nuckelavee.

San Lorenzo, Cornelia's Shop

By now Cornelia was back down, starting to clean up the mess in the store and calculating the losses.

Lagarto cursed when he saw the Nuckelavee trying to escape. They could not allow that, or the whole mess would just start over again. The whole city was in danger.

He dropped from the ceiling and ran in all fours; only he (and the other guy in a horse) could hope to catch up to it. Maybe the bird-lady as well.

Rocky also took off after them. He knew that, as a golem, he was the only one who could actually beat the monster. But he was way too slow to catch up, unless the others managed to slow it down.

Mall

Hildegard barely registered the cold water hitting her face and seeping through her armor. She instantly readied her crossbow, this time aiming for the nuckelavee's back left knee, and fired.

As her partner did this, Sloane focused on keeping the sprinkler system activated by dangling lighters underneath the sprinklers. She was thoroughly soaked by now, but she carried on with her task admirably.

The Nuckelavee roared and began to beat a hasty retreat, not willing to engage so many enemies and at such a disadvantage. Leopold fired as it did so, hitting it, while Hildegard's bolt grazed it, drawing blood. "Don't let it get away!" Leopold cried.

As the centaur-like monster burst out of the Mall, he would find it surrounded by several Monster Tactics Unit armored trucks, driven by officers wearing hazmat suits. They were not going to let it escape this time. Some were hefting rpg launchers!

"Hold your fire!" Captain Ironfoot shouted. "Let them have a chance first!" he added, pointing at the approaching characters.

Exterior Mall

Stan chased after Patrick, hoping to still help out. As he exited the mall, due to his one shoe and the fact that his clothes were soaked, he slipped backward, onto his back. "Damn...." he said, writhing in his spot.

Mall

The authorities had arrived, and they were better armed than the monsters going after the nuckelavee from the mall. The best course of action, Hildegard decided, was to make sure the nuckelavee had nowhere to run.

As Hildegard ran out of the mall, Sloane was about to follow Hildegard when she spotted the fallen Stan.

She turned around and offered him a hand.

"C'mon. There's strength in numbers."

Exterior; The Mall

Stan took her hand, and stood up. "Thank you. Your name was...?" he inquired.

Mall

"Sloane. Sloane Garcia. My partner is Hildegard Hoffmann. We're hunters. Pretty good ones, too."

She looked Stan over. He almost definitely wasn't a hunter - no weapons or armor of any sort. There wasn't anything to suggest he was a monster, but there wasn't anything to suggest he wasn't, and there were plenty of monsters who were stealth.

"Judging by your... everything, I'm guessing you're a civilian?"

The Mall Exterior

Stan scoffed. "I was hoping to be more, but yeah, it would appear to be so. Hunters, huh? What do you hunt?"

Mall

"Monsters. Humans, too, occasionally. Bad guys in general, really. In practice we're more like vigilantes."

She crossed her arms.

"What about you? What's your story?"

The Mall Exterior

Stan furrowed his brow. "Huh. Well, uh, I came down here to meet monsters. It's a personal things mostly. I didn't know there were monster hunters around here...."

The Nuckelavee roared, and as it charged head on at the police blockade, it reached out with the horse head, bit down on a car, any car it could find, tore a piece off and twirled around, before throwing it at the police. As it continued to charge, however, it began to change course, heading back to the hole in the sewer.

"Don't let it get away!" Leopold cried.

Just as the monster's escape seemed certain-

Thoom thoom thoom THOOM!

Rocky the Golem, running as fast as he could, reached the manhole first (actually, had the Nuckelavee not wasted time attacking the police first, it would have beat him to it. For once its savagery worked against it.)

The rock-hard wrestler then assumed a defensive position, bracing for impact and hoping to buy the others time.

Mall Exterior

Hildegard fired another bolt at the nuckelavee. She wasn't completely focused on hitting her mark; the point was to get the nuckelavee under control, and the golem and Ironfoot's men probably had a better chance of containing the nuckelavee than she did.

There was a chance of hitting the golem, but considering his stone exterior, Hildegard wasn't worried about causing him any physical trauma.

Mall Interior

Sloane blinked. "Huh. You know, they probably have websites for that. Or apps or something. You don't need to risk your life."

Sloane laughed and batted loose hair out of her eyes. "Hypocritical of me, I know. But I'm not looking for monsters to befriend. I got my start because my family got murdered. I'm kind of a downer."