5249/A strange encounter

A strange encounter
Date of Scene:	26 August 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Strange, Katherine, Professor Zoom

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Doctor Strange has posed:
    It's mid sunday, the church crowds have basically dispersed, except for a few of the creamed colored blazer wearing old foagies dilly dallying about with conversations about Barbra's pie turning out well and how the grandkids are doing well enough and just starting school for the year. Doctor Strange is out in the left overs of these crowds, having made to a deli near the Sanctum in order to grab a pair of sandwiches for himself and Wong.

Katherine has posed:
Yes, it's Sunday. Not that Katherine cares what day it actually is, she's been doing some self-diagnostics, scanning her own code and events and has come up with something is terribly wrong. It took a long while to route, and look over information, absent information and then found only one possible explanation. And that's why she's here, where Doctor Strange is present and she's approaching him at the Deli. The most odd thing about her? The lack of any shoes, and she approaches with a bit of a smile, "Excuse me? I have a problem, you can likely help." She grins, tilting her head a little to the side as she talks with Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange is slightly startled by the appearance of the woman beside him without any shoes on, "Oh, um... I can?" Stephen says with a furrow of his eyebrows as he looks towards the girl and then holds his hand up to the impatient New Yorker who had just asked Stephen what he would like on his sandwich. "What do you need from me?" The wizard asks Katy.

Katherine has posed:
There's a pause for a moment, "I am... bad luck, is happening. Now it is not exactly luck, as all things happen for specific cause reasons, that lead to effects." Katherine chuckles at that a bit, before adding in quick procession, "Though, from the family history, and how it is affecting me... I've been hacked. Is really what I'm trying to say, and it was from a magical or supernatural invention. I would really much appreciate that being removed, and as I'm just a normal person, I do not do magic." There's a pause and she smiles still, staring right at Strange.

Professor Zoom has posed:
It's mid-sunday... and a rare opportunity of Doctor Strange out of his Sanctum and away from backup, away from all those annoying magical defenses he'd otherwise have to put up with. Surveillance on the Sorcerer Supreme has paid off, and there was time enough between his scheduled meetings to try and pull it off. Sitting in his office in the Directors Office of Future Solutions, 'Harrison Wells' got out of his chair and released his costume from his ring, superspeeding his way over to a rooftop just above the Deli in a few seconds.

Stopping just off the rooftop edge, Professor Zoom isn't able to be seen for the moment. As he inches closer to get a good look at those below though, the red glow emitting from his eyes could potentially be seen a few stories up as he observes for the moment. Waiting for Strange to become isolated enough for an attempted grab.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange cants his head to one side, "You're bad luck?" He says with a curious look before his attention in snapped to the man behind the counter. "I- Fine. FINE!" Strange says in a annoyed tone, stepping out of line with a hand moving to Kate's shoulder and he pulls her to the side with him. Strange sighs softly at the loss of his potential lunch but he starts with a soft sigh, "You want me to lift a curse off of you. That, yes, that is something I can certainly help you with." Unawares of the second set of eyes looking at the Sorcerer.

Katherine has posed:
If Katherine understood that Professor Zoom was some kind of threat, then it would be likely that she might know of his presence and care. Those vibrations he causes, that movement, there's sublte shifts in patterns. Right now though she's very very busy fighting off a band of hackers that have managed to infiltrate a great deal of her code. "Yes, cursed. That's exactly it." Katherine reaches up and taps at her lower lip for a moment, "It's very strange to have this right now, and I feel like I need a doctor to fix it." She offers a big wink, and then does it again before her face goes back to that big, overly friendly smile. "I feel a bit doomed." Then she laughs a bit, and its a heavy hard bit of laughter, hands on her knees and sort of doubles her over for a good 10 seconds. Then she's standing again, normally, smiling.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange gives Katherine a peculiar look with a pursing and twisting of his lips off to his side. "Alright..." Stephen then takes a step towards the doors and motions for Katy to follow him. "My house is not too far from here, we can do what we need to do to get you cured there without issue." The wizard says with a glance to the sandwich counter and frowns, he'll have to eat later, and Wong will certainly complain about the lack of food.

Katherine has posed:
There's a pause and then Katherine, grins even bigger, "You are inviting me to your house? Well, thank you. However, that could be seen as forward, I understand that you are not being so, do not worry that I will make that mistake." She starts to follow Doctor Strange heading along next to him. "Were you already set with your sustenance? I really enjoy eating. And drinking. The way water flows down a throat is rather interesting. Amazing really, when you start to think about the actual molecular composite of liquids and how they stick together." Katherine seems rather excited about it as she talks.

Professor Zoom has posed:
A few feet out of the Deli, and both Strange and Katherine will see the red lightning trail coming down the building opposite if they're paying attention. It takes all of a split second for Professor Zoom to traverse right in front of Doctor Strange, and for his right hand to wrap around the Eye itself, already moving to take it off his neck.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange looks over his shoulder and down towards Katy and simply shakes his head, yes this girl is beyond bizarre, but it's not his place to judge, it is merely his job to help others in any way that he can. "Can you tell me more about this bad luck you experience. How long have you had it? What actually happens to you when you experience this bad luck?" Strange asks while walking down the sidewalk towards the Sanctum not too far now.

     Strange's line of questioning is cut short with the sudden appearance of a costumed man reaching for the amulet he wears around his neck. Though Stephen would try to counter with a palm strike to Zoom's chest, there's likely no way he's fast enough to hit the man, but the spell around the amulet would begin to flair up the moment a hand tried to approach it, an intense heat rising up out of the sigils and smouldering neons that spark instantly around and before the Eye of Agamotto on Strange's neck.

Katherine has posed:
Too fast for Katherine to really respond in physical time. Though in the virtual space of recording, she is certainly able to track the movements of Zoom. Just not fast enough to respond to any of them even though compared to a normal human she's rather quick. Though compared to a speedster she's still in the far far far far slow lane. Answering the question, "I am mostly being put into places with another person, that I may or may not actually want to be..." She pauses as she starts to move in the way of this person trying to take the Eye, but again, she moves about 1 inch and Zoom moves hundreds of feet...

Professor Zoom has posed:
Even with his enhanced durability and healing, Professor Zoom recognizes the futility of keeping it. It would burn right through his hand anytime he tried to use it, even with his superspeed.

Almost as quickly as he grabs it, red lightning streaks away from Doctor Strange and back up the building, the Sorcerers palm strike hitting empty air even with the reflexes of the man. Professor Zoom is quite probably far faster than anyone he's ever come across.

Up on the rooftop, the blurred visage of Eobard stops in the middle of the rooftop as he checks his palm. His suit already half burnt, he can easily see the burns on his hand. They'll heal in about an hour, but damned if it didn't hurt. "So much for that idea. I need to find an expert." Professor Zoom mused to himself up there.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange is suddenly standing there with his palm hitting nothing and he's left dumb founded. "Okay... what was..." He frowns and looks back to Katy, "Please, hold onto my cloak." Stephen requests and crosses his arms across his chest before pulling them back apart with his fingers bent and twisted with purpose. The amulet itself begins to open, a greenish glow errupting from the center, before a series of polygons form around his wrist and he begins to rewind time, attempting to figure out what just came after him and the eye.

Katherine has posed:
Taking he cloak, Katherine looks to Stephen and she tilts her head to the side. "Well, with cross analysis. The blur of speed is a very fast person. About the right size, the amount of movement, necessary and speed to go up and down the outside of..." She looks up the building, the very tall building. "Backtracking through recordings. And cleaning up for distortion from increased gravity..." Pausing she mentions, "Will not do you any good. He is wearing a costume that blocks much of his identifiable features. But, certainly a speedster." Grinning Katherine is holding the cloak with one hand and keeping it there for now. "Though seems like he really wanted your necklace."

Professor Zoom has posed:
Back in the moment it happens, Professor Zoom can be seen coming across the street. The actual attempt itself only lasted about a second, so Doctor Strange has to slow down time /severely/ to have even a remote chance of keeping up with the Speedster. He can see the arcs of red lightning flowing over the man in the yellow suit, and the red, glowing eyes as he has his eyes on Doctor Strange, along with the trail of lightning that follows the man. The black and red lightning bolt symbol on his chest is the exact reverse of the Flash. If Doctor Strange has ever studied the other Speed Force powered Speedster, he'd recognize the costume design as a reverse of the Flash.

As Doctor Strange slows down time to get a look at the thief... those red eyes actually *follow* him. It's clear that Professor Zoom realizes something is amiss, and this time is changing course to go around the Sorcerer.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Holding onto the cloak allows Katy to be immune to the minimal time travel, meaning they're now going to be roughly two seconds older than they were when time resumes. It's a small toll, but one that Strange will pay greatly in the future. Strange squints his eyes and does his best to memorize the figure recognize anything about the man he's watching try to steal the amulet once again. It would be a great help if he could use other spells while pushing back time, but he's hindered in that both his mind and his hands are busy at the moment. Stephen whispers to himself, "He looks like the flash but... wrong somehow."

Katherine has posed:
"Yes, a kind of inverted flash costume." Katherine mentions and smiles a bit at that, "Well, he is also very much like the flash. Super speed, the suit colors. I wonder how friction doesn't just... well, maybe, yes, probably the suit helps with that." She taps her lower lip a few times, "Unfortunately, if he were just shaking very very very fast, up to the point of molecular destabilization I could piece back together what the full image of his masked face looks like with enough time." She comments to Strange, before adding, "However, he is capable of destabilizing himself enough to destabilize but not disperse." Waiting she holds the cloak for Strange to finish his manipulation of time.

Professor Zoom has posed:
This time, instead of going right for the amulet, he goes for the chain from the back. Professor Zoom is still running at extreme speeds... and seems to be bending -if not outright ignoring- the laws of physics as he reaches for the chain.

His distorted voice can be heard, and this close, the red lightning arcing over his form can be seen doing thermal damage to the ground below, "Impressive, Doctor Strange. There aren't many who can keep up with me." Yes, he's talking as fast as the other two are, effectively allowing him to have a conversation with them.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The amulet is protected from the front, but something Strange hadn't quite planned for the chance that someone could steal the necklace from his very neck via the whole chain. He moves his hand, the time spell being broken as he wraps his fingers around the bulk of the Eye of Agamotto. "That a fact?" Strange says as he struggles to maintain a grip on the large pendant in normal time. He glances over to Kate and makes a motion that he could use some help before sending his fist out with a spell to act as a mystical flashbang. A brignt blinding light and a massive concussive BOOM.

Katherine has posed:
The lightning man is running down the wall again, and Katherine was already moving as soon as the man was coming down the wall. Though he's fast and can easily react to her, she's also calculated and put herself in a way to best optimize being a burden to getting away. Her hand reaches out and she grabs ahold of the pendant now that it's not moving super speed, and yanks on it. Even if it burns her hands, she doesn't care, and has far greater strength than would actually be humanly possible and is entering into the meta realm of strength. Add to that her brain, unlike most human brains, is actually capable of working faster than Zoom's and she's got quite a few of them. Her other hand is reaching out to grab ahold as well, trying to position her hands in such a way that there's no optimal angle for Zoom to take it. Though her hands are burning, flesh is coming off, and she's not even screaming... either way she can only keep this up a limited amount of time before her hands will melt right off.

Professor Zoom has posed:
Professor Zoom is far stronger than your average person. Being peak Olympian athlete, and aided by the Negative Speed Force makes it so he can overpower Doctor Strange in a pure physical contest. Katherine would have turned it into a much more even contest

The thing that gets him to release his grip just a split second after he grabs the necklace... is that gigantic concussive boom. It throws Professor Zoom off his feet, and right into the wall behind him, shattering tile and glass and leaving a solid imprint as he grunts out in pain, "Argh!" It's obvious his durability is enhanced though... because he seems shaken from the experience, but not thrown off his game. Why? Because he twists himself around on the wall and starts to /run along it/ and around the two, speeding off at a speed that immediately kicks up the wind around the two, sending debris and nearby rubbish flying in the wind funnel created in slow motion.

By the time Doctor Strange could potentially enact another spell on Professor Zoom, he's already down the block, and looking about to turn the corner.

If anything, the Flash seems to tone down his speed... this Speedster seems to have no qualms about making everyone elses day worse with his own.

Katherine has posed:
"If only I were my old self soon." Katherine states as she realizes her hands are burning, and she lets go of the pendant clapping her hands together to put out the singing burning sensation. Then she says, still smiling, "Ow." Turning her attention to Strange she mentions, "He was so quick to leave, that we did not get a chance to say hello goodbye, just goodbye hey." A bit of a chuckle escapes her as she shakes a bit with the laughter, and sighs out, wiping her eye that's tearing up with just her finger. "Sorry, it's a speed, breaking time, joke." With that Katherine will hand back the cloak, and follow Strange if he's going to bring her somewhere to remove the curse, or wait for him as he analyzes stuff but she'll be just a follower at that point.