Starring:
Summary: One guitarist, a mother and daughter having a day out, a Porsche driver, a researcher with a combined food/newspaper cart and random bystanders find their outing interrupted by a Truck Of Cookie Doom.
Date It Happened: June 22nd, 2007
Truck Of Cookie Doom
Battery Park, Manhattan, NYC
It's such a pleasant day, warm with temperatures in the mid seventies on one scale, mid twenties on the other. And there's no rain happening. Deciding to retry her attempt to play near the Statue of Liberty, Jane's making her way into Battery Park. As would be expected, she's got the guitar case and backpack over opposite shoulders. Clothing is a grey t-shirt featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson, blue shorts, and athletic shoes. Her eyes settle on the landmark across the water, then move back in to the landing to the spot where she found herself hauling people out of the drink last visit this way. Feet begin to move again, taking her toward the ferry. Maybe this time she'll go to the island itself and make music.
Desiree Russo is strolling through the park with her daughter. Indeed, it's a beautiful day, the bright blue sky filled with big, fluffy clouds. Numerous people, city-goers and tourists alike, wander Battery Park taking advantage of the weather, the various eateries, and of course, the ferry. It's idyllic. Who could ask for more? It's hard to tell that Dezi is a psychic who has been trying to uncover a strange murder plot and that her wannabe starlet daughter is struggling with the fact that she turns invisible. "You feel like some ice cream?" She strolls along a path beside Portia, parallel to the harbour. The ruffles of her cream-coloured skirt flutter slightly at her knee each time she walks. She has a brown tanktop on, besides, and her hair is cinched back loosely. "Ain't sure where it is, but there's gotta be some around here somewhere. I'ma get us lost before the day's over…"
Following her mother through the park, Portia pretty much has no idea what's going on in her mother's life in that aspect, while her mother doesn't know about her ability. She doesn't seem to mind, though, taking full advantage of the nice day and the fact that her mother isn't too busy to spend time with her. "Ice cream sounds nice. But even if we get lost, that's not the worst thing in the world. Sometimes being lost can be fun."
Unstoppable by The Calling blasts through the system of this Pale Blue Porsche 911 RS. Totally 80's style. Anyway, the car's going too fast to really not be paid attention to. Somebody's out and about for a joyride. The license plate reads: 'LEX' but the person inside definitely has hair on his head. It's none other than the illustrious Jaden Cain, in all of his speed racer glory.
He's paying fairly close attention to the road, but it doesn't seem to stay that way as his cell phone rings. His eyes leave the road as he starts searching around for it. This is probably not a good sign. Especially when going about 70 miles an hour…
She's unaware of the Porsche elsewhere. He told her he wouldn't drive, in fact. Thus Jane is enjoying her day, heading toward the ferry landing on foot. A pair of cheap sunglasses is pulled from the front of her shirt and placed over her eyes, partly for their value on bright days and partly in homage to ZZ Top. The music is starting to swell inside her, and has to come out. Singing begins. "When you wake up in the morning, and the lights hurt your head…" Her course may or may not bring her into the path of mother and daughter.
"Hey, yeah," Desiree replies with a big ol' grin. "That's what I always say. It's an adventure! I've pretty much figured it out by now that I ain't ever gonna remember where to go in this concrete mess of a city, so uh I have a lotta adventures." Using her detective skills - or more likely, her stomach, which thinks it wants ice cream - she squints against the sun toward the ferry. "I see some folks with ice cream over there." They don't have to change their course, in other words - a course that does, indeed, bring them closer to Jane. "Oh, hey. I think that's Jane. You met Jane, yeah? Day you met the Gomezes?" She lifts up a hand to wave.
Somewhere in Manhattan, a delivery truck - with giant chocolate chip cookies emblazoned on the sides, so enlarged that you can see every crumb and the texture of the chocolate chunks in their photographic glory - drives along at the speed limit. Not a main thoroughfare, the traffic is not as congested as it could be, which makes it easier for maniacs like Jaden to whip through without incident.
Zoom out! An aerial view would reveal that the pale blue Porsche and the delivery truck are on the same street, which ultimately cuts across a busy street toward Battery Park. Jaden has a lead on it. They are, at this insant, two entirely unrelated points in space and time.
Without warning, the truck veers harshly to the left, interrupting the flow of vehicles in the other lane and causing the screech of tires to carry for blocks - on that an ear-grating sound such as burning rubber is remotely uncommon. Wobbling to and fro as if avoiding obstacles that simply aren't there, the truck barrels unsteadily back into its own lane. Other cars hit the curb to get out of its way. It speeds up. Seventy miles an hour. Eighty.
Glancing up, Portia notices Jane as well. Especially given that her mother's mentioned it. "Yeah, Jane promised to teach me some songs sometime. She's pretty talented. She seems very nice." She glances back to Desiree.
This does not bode well. Mostly because he's trying to find his cell phone and at the same time… "Augh! Rufus!" The little Naked Mole Rat has clambered up onto his head and is playing in his hair. "Rufus! I'm trying to drive!" Gigglefitting the whole time, Jaden forgets about the jPhone (because it can go to voicemail) and works on grabbing Rufus from atop his head!
That's when the TRUCK OF COOKIE DOOM comes heading for Porsche! Jaden blinks and grips the wheel, stomps on the gas and holds Rufus to his chest to make sure he's okay! He blurs through the intersection and gets clear of both the traffic and the crazy truck, but not by much. Luck, it's what's for dinner.
Her pace slows and she seems to be looking in their direction, as if perhaps thinking she saw something, but doesn't quite register their presence. The glasses are dark, after all. After a few moments she resumes her normal pace, still within sight of the mother - daughter pair and getting closer. The lyrics from Cheap Sunglasses continue being sung. "… so go out and get yourself some thick black frames, with the glass so dark they won't even know your name. The choice is up to you, 'cause they come in two classes: rhinestone shades and cheap sunglasses."
"Yeah, she is. She's a singin' lawyer. Just goes to show this city's got all kindsa surprises," Desiree comments, cheerful as can be despite the fact that the city's surprises are not always pleasant. "I thinkin' somethin' with coffee and maybe chocolate" she murmurs on the subject of ice cream before the pair get close enough to Jane for her to call out, only several feet away by now. She hesitates, not wanting to interrupt the song, before she hurriedly interjects: "Hey there Jane!"
If the young EvoSoft CEO and his tiny, naked sidekick thing they're free of the truck of cookie doom, they've got another thing coming. Or, rather, the same thing, still hurtling toward them. The delivery truck barrels into the intersection, swerving this way and that with such frantic violence that it almost tips over onto a Nissan Rogue - the other vehicle's fate is only saved for a fraction of a second. In the truck's wake, a smaller car, turning into the chaos from another street, collides with the Rogue. The delivery truck's unstable, full-speed-ahead rampage causes disaster wherever it goes. It cuts an undulating path across the intersection until it's on the Porsche's tail again, by sheer coincidence or some other force, on its way straight for Battery Park.
"Vanilla." Portia states her preference for ice cream. She's not feeling the chocolate or coffee so much. She's feeling pretty ordinary and plain. She glances over as Desiree greets Jane and offers a wave herself.
The second attempt at catching her attention works. Desiree's voice causes her to turn fully in their direction and stop, letting them close the distance. A smile breaks out. "Desiree. Portia. Good to see you again." Yes, and doublegood with no irate Senor Gomez accusing her of importing a bomb into his home and no nervousness about facing Elena after her rash of Lyndsay-induced behavior. "So sorry I couldn't stick around that day and talk more."
"Vanilla?" Dezi repeats in a chastising tone to Portia as they approach Jane - entirely non-serious, of course. She smirks lopsidedly at the girl and raises an eyebrow. "C'mon now, at least get some chocolate and cherries on top. How'm I s'posed to feel like I'm spoilin' you if you just get vanilla?!" To Jane, she offers a friendly smile. "Oh, it ain't your fault! Things got pretty busy 'round there that day. We got a full house. How you been, Jane?"
"Hang on, Rufus! My Spider-Sense is totally tingling!"
Jaden's trying to whip his 80+ MPH vehicle with one hand, while making sure the Naked Mole Rat isn't thrown about or something. Turning his head for a quick second, he catches sight of the truck driver and narrows his eyes. "… Jinkies." is the mental note he makes of the driver's 'omgwtf' antics. But he can't look for too long because he's looking back in front of him to make sure he doesn't crash into anything.
"Hey! Dude! Road Rage is NOT COOL!" is yelled out of the window as the truck smacks into the bumper of the Porsche! "This is not a rental!" As the truck gets ready to bump him again, Jaden shifts gears and turns on the speed. Gotta' get away…
Portia smiles at Jane, shaking her head. "That's okay, you had stuff I'm sure you had to do." She looks back to her mother and then smiles. "Oh, yeah. I guess I could go with some cherries on top." She murmurs, then looks back to Jane. "You should come by and teach me stuff sometime. It'll be fun."
SCREEEEeeeeeeeeeEEeeeech. That's not the sound of brakes squealing, unfortunately: it's just metal scraping metal after the initial *BUMP!* The delivery truck ruins the Porsche's pretty, pretty paint job in the back. While the impact slows it down for a bit and Jaden speeds away, inside the cab, the driver is fighting a loosing battle with- well, it's not instantly clear. One thing's for certain, he doesn't stay in the disrupted traffic for long - the truck overcomes inertia and rolls on, gaining its former speed.
Headed straight for Jaden.
Who is headed straight for the Battery Park area.
Ramping curbs, the skids along a patch of grass, sending a group of tourists taking a picture of a statue fleeing.
She nods. "Certainly. Though you don't seem to need much teaching, Portia," Jane replies. "Did you tell your mother what I was saying about contracts, copyrights, and possibly playing around the city, if she gives permission?" Her eyes travel to the mother she just spoke of, checking to see if she seems to have heard this, or appears not to have. No secrets will be kept from her in things concerning her daughter. Her mouth opens again, she seems about to speak directly to the taller and slightly more senior woman, when suddenly the eyes go wide and she's taking a few steps past them. "Holy…"
Desiree is in the midst of looking with interest to Jane when the vehicles come rushing into the park. Derailed from any answer, she instinctively, quickly steps back and puts a hand on Portia's shoulder, clutching. "Jesus! What— "
"I haven't really—" Portia stops midsentance when she hears Jane as well as Desiree's surprised reactions. The clenched hand on her shoulder is enough to direct Portia's attention to the area of interest. And she says nothing. She just /gapes/.
Curbing his enthusiasm, Jaden looks around as if he's trying to get a good hold on what's going on. And he definitely knows what's going on… in regards to the whole truck trying to take him down and all of that stuff. "I paid too much for this ride, man!" Jaden tries to wheel the car, but he may or may not be too good at this whole driving while in the park type thing. His hand lays on the horn, to try and get people that are in the way to MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! Rufus has been sat in the passenger seat, of course.
"Move! Move out of the way! You've heard of Crazy Taxi! This is CRAZY MOTHER TRUCKER!"
Taking a moment to first hopefully see which way the vehicles are going to move as they keep coming, Jane watches the unfolding disaster. Once she thinks she knows which way will be safest, her feet are turning that way, while she also reaches back to try herding mother and daughter in that direction. "This way!" she shouts. It still doesn't occur to her who might be driving. She just wants to not get run over. Her jPhone is pulled out and a set of three numbers are quickly pressed. "Yes. Police? I'm at Battery Park, and… there are vehicles out of control. Ambulances might be needed."
The truck narrowly avoids defacing public property - that is, it doesn't crash into the statue. It swerves around it and continually changes directions, completely wild. The driver's head lolls and hits the driver's side window - leaving his foot heavy on the pedal and the out-of-control vehicle still very much on the move. For the most part, people don't need Jaden's advice - they're heeding it pre-emptively, scurrying like so many ants from a giant boot. It's careening toward the pier. Between the pier and the truck happen to be several problems: Jaden's car, Jaden, and the bystanders near the waterfront.
And Rufus! Don't forget about Rufus! He's a problem too!
Truck! Incoming! The thing's size is reason enough to get out of the way when it gets closer as such a fast rate. Desiree's escape is not graceful; it's an all-out run, all but pushing Portia along with her. "I guess we ain't gettin' ice cream," she murmurs under her breath as she runs along the harbour's edge away from the vehicles. She looks back over her shoulder at the first chance she gets and comes to a spinning halt at a safe(r) distance.
Given the incoming truck, Portia stumbles along after her mother, still managing to stay upright and keep pace as she moes to get out of the way, staring at the truck. "What got into him?!" Indeed, the girl doesn't know much what to say or do.. it's scary!
There's nowhere to go. The truck's on his ass. There's people on the sides. He can't really swerve. The only thing Jaden can do is floor it. And that's what he does. Right towards the pier. Maybe the truck's magnetically attached to his vehicle or something comic book-y like that. Jaden's not sure what the cause is, but he's going to sacrifice whatever he can to make sure nobody gets hurt. "Time for your first swimming lesson, Rufus…" is quipped to the Naked Mole Rat, as Jaden zooms towards the pier.
Rufus bugs his eyes out and gulps!
She runs. Quickly, not seeming to have any trouble at all keeping her footing in the sprint for safety. Once she's clear of the rampaging vehicle's path Jane turns to check that the two close to her also made it, and looks relieved to indeed see Desiree and daughter did. Then she scans the path those vehicles are still on, and winces when she sees the Porsche headed for pier and water. The 911 operator is probably trying to get a response from her, because she lowered the phone to take off running and the call is still open. But she isn't thinking of that right now.
The truck is on a precarious collision course. Its right wheels are close to lifting up off the ground as it incidentally follows Jaden's car; it may topple over any minute, its driver unconscious and unable to direct its course (as if he could when he was awake!). It crashes into the back of the Porsche and promptly careens, hitting the wooden posts along the pier that ultimately stop it from meeting the water. Half on its side, the truck's back doors fly open on impact, revealing many cardboard boxes. They spill out.
… And Jaden's car, propelled by the truck, sails toward the end of the pier. For a brief moment, it flies through the air! Sailing, sailing—
It hits with a loud *THUD*. That doesn't sound like water. No, it's a boat. Jaden's car landed on the deck of a boat, a small one, barely clearing its height — but it nevertheless hits hard, threatening to flip and, just maybe, keep on sailing straight over the other side. Abandon ship!
"I dunno," Desiree says under her breath with a certain measure of awe. What /has/ gotten into that driver? "It's like he went wild." The woman wraps an arm protectively around the teenager, holding her close as she stares at the scene. "Someone's gotta be hurt with all that," she says, and after squeezing Portia around the shoulders and saying "stay here!," she runs off toward the pier.
Stay here? Stay here while your mother runs off into what could be all sorts of trouble? So, looking around quickly to make sure she's got some sort of cover and that no one's really looking towards her, Portia attempts to cleverly disguise herself by turning invisible. However, as soon as she tries, she realizes it hasn't worked. Not entirely. Portions of her are still visible. Her eyes go wide and she looks around quickly. "Shitshitshit.." She mutters to herself, looking for something to hide behind so she can concentrate on trying to become invisible.
"We'regonnadiewe'regonnadiewe'regonnadie." These are the words that come from Jaden Cain… until he knows that there's, well, there's not a splash. They hit a boat! "Booyah!" But there's not much time. At all. "Come on, Rufus! We gotta' jump!" And there's the quick snatching of the Naked Mole Rat as Jaden kicks open the door of the Porsche and totally does a barrel roll to get the heck out of that death machine!
"Mommy!"
No one's in the water, at least not yet. If there is later, well, she can come back and get the straps. Jane slides the guitar case and backpack from her shoulders, setting them on the ground. Looking Portia's way, she quickly asks "Watch my stuff, please!" She blinks, once, twice… Then she's off, running behind Desiree toward the vehicles. Her first target is the truck, to check on the driver. On the way, she pauses, checking out some of the cargo for a moment.
Running onto the pier, Desiree glances sidelong at the boxes tumbling from the back of the truck with her brow furrowing in confusion. Her main concern is the driver, however, but she can't get to his door - the truck is practically on its side, the side that the man is in. She reaches up as if she could reach the passenger side door's handle. No luck. Even Dezi isn't tall enough. "I can't— I can't get to 'im," she shouts to Jane, stepping back and frowning, concern written all over her face for the wildly driving stranger inside. She's too distracted to notice her daughter's… dilemma. However, she does squint down the pier. "…is that… is that Mister Cain?"
Crouching down nearby, out of the way, Portia struggles to get the whole situation under control. Concentrating, she tries once more, but there's just as much of her visible as there was before. "Dammit.." She murmurs to herself, ignoring the situation with the truck for the moment for fear of being spotted herself.
On the boat, but wincing just a little bit because of the pain of smacking into the deck, Jaden rolls a bit longer and comes to a halt. He cares not about what happens to the Porsche (even though he did just buy it) and is more worried about the creature in his hand. Laying flat on his back, he holds up his hand and checks it. "Rufus? You okay?" He's more worried about the little creature than anything else. Rufus clings to his thumb and nodnods to show that he's ever so okay! "Whew."
She doesn't even look in the Porsche's direction when Desiree asks her question. The reply is quick. "It can't be him. He told me he wouldn't drive. Is the car driver hurt?" And thus it's not physically possible for the car driver to be Jaden Cain. He wouldn't break his word. Or so Jane thinks. She's coming around to look over the truck and check out ways of getting to its driver, knowing if the taller one can't reach, she also can't. But, like any other vehicle it has a windshield. Glass. So task one is to see if it's intact, cracked, or already shattered by the crash. Task two is checking the area for something which could easily break the glass if used as a tool. If there isn't, well, she comes equipped with her own glass breaking tool.
"I think he's okay," Desiree says, although she sounds unsure; it's hard to interpret the ball of Jaden on the deck. She follows Jane around to the front of the truck; even the windshield is awkward to get to without climbing on one of the posts of the pier. "Careful, Jane," she cautions softly. "Someone called 911, right?" Right. Surely someone must have! Dezi was too concerned with safety to notice that Jane had her phone out. "M-maybe we oughta wait, don't fall in the harbour!" Glancing around and not seeing her daughter, she jogs around the fallen truck to find Portia. She sees her — or thinks she does — and then she doesn't. A crowd has started to form. "Portia?"
Finally, with another attempt, Portia's finally got the invisibility under control, and she's gone, fully into the background. But of course, now her mother's calling for her. "Shit. This isn't my day." She murmurs to herself, before calling, "Um, just over here, Mama." Hopefully just hearing Portia's voice will be enough to fool Desiree, as the girl slowly creeps over for a closer look.
Jaden is not moving. He's going to stay right there on the boat and cuddle his Naked Mole Rat. Because lives just flashed before his eyes and that would be bad. Very bad. For them to move and get dead somehow. "It's okay, Rufus. We're gonna' be okay." Finally, though, Jaden starts to look around the boat, to see if there's anything familiar or anything at all to get himself out of this crazy predicament. "Please, don't let this be the Titanic…"
"I see the top of the driver's head, Desiree," Jane reports after checking the windshield and looking through it best she can. "And it's going to be hard getting in there. Might need to leave it for the pros. I already called 911." But still she feels the need to do something. First order of business in the apparent absence of something to smash the glass with is to use her voice. "Desiree, you should step back." It's a warning, meant to tell Desi what she's about to do without having to say it outright. Hoping the glass from it doesn't cause the man injuries worse than he already has, she draws in a deep breath, opens her mouth, and screams full force at the barrier. Nothing is heard by those around, except the sound of suddenly shattering windshield.
Desiree just wants to know where Portia /is/ — just to see her in the crowd would be enough. When she hears her but doesn't see her, the woman's eyes narrow as she scans the waterfront area looking for the familiar face. Huh. Well, she's there somewhere. "… Okay," she calls back in Portia's general direction, looking confused. After giving the truck a long, worried look, as if she could see through its metal frame to the driver inside, she crouches down by the back of it, plucking a small, glass bottle from the ground. That's not a cookie. She overturns a nearby box; bags of chocolate chip cookies fall out. The crumpled box next to it yields more of those small, unlabeled glass bottles, however. "Hunh." Pursing her lips into a thoughtful frown, she looks up sharply when Jane says to stand back; she scrambles to her feet and does just that, palming one of the bottles in the process.
Police, ambulance and firetrucks are arriving! They start to swarm the area, ushering people away from the scene. Although most of the attention focuses around the truck, two firemen are ushered off to help Jaden off the boat.
Portia frowns a little, just observing the scene. She moves in closer towards her mother, trying to get a better view of the situation and what's going on. That and she's not so sure it'll be so easy to become visible again.
A late arrival to the excitement once again, Randall is pushing what appears to be a repurposed hot dog cart, only this one has a rack of newspapers and magazines all up and down both sides (complete with even-we-think-these-are-dirty plastic shrink wrap for the obligatory row of adult selections). Someone decided to get a little creative with what's normally a niche business. He slows down at a distance as he sees the cops directing traffic, rising up on his toes and trying to get a look over the heads of the crowd.
"Mah Hero!" Would be Jaden's voice as the firemen are here to help him. He keeps a loving grip on Rufus as the firemen do their duty and he's rescued from the boat without too much trouble. Back on the land, finally, he realizes that there's a huge mess up here and starts with the looking of the around, before letting Rufus climb up onto his shoulder.
"Whoa." Yup. Keanu moment.
With the windshield shattered, and firemen arriving, Jane starts to slip away from the scene. She doesn't want to stick around and have people connect her in any way with how the glass got broken. Hopefully most will rationalize it away as having been weakened by the impact and finally giving out on its own. But she does want to see about checking out those bottles among the cookies in spilled cargo. If she can get close enough, she intends to pocket a few of them. Then she'll be on the way back to her grounded gear, hoping… expecting Portia will be there guarding the items.
Intent doesn't meet with success; as Jane tries to go around to the back of the truck she finds two policemen already there starting to go through the items. No attempt is made to escape their attention, she heads for the gear and hopefully the musical daughter, still believing Jaden's nowhere near this mess. Because he told her he wouldn't drive.
"Portia?" Desiree calls out again, brow furrowed. "C'mon, we should get outta people's way." Granted, Portia is very much out of everyone's way - so appearances, or lack thereof, would say. Glancing around the crowd once more, she stands at the edge. "Mister Cain!" she shouts - she really has to yell over the hustle and bustle. "Mister Cain!"
Backing away from the crowd a little, Portia's still quite invisible. She keeps a close eye on her mother, but also tries to find somewhere else to go hide herself. "Shit, there's a lot of people." She murmurs to herself.
Randall is largely stuck where he is, what with the authorities and the people and everything. He hangs out, leaning against the cart's sales counter and waiting for things to subside - then glances up and waves as he spots a familiar face or two. Maybe. Over there-ish.
This is totally their chance to get the heck out of dodge. Which is what Jaden and Rufus do. They were there. Then they escaped from the eyes of those that may be watching, via ducking into the crowd.