5304/Down by the Warehouse

Down by the Warehouse
Date of Scene:	05 September 2018
Location:	Manhattan, New York City
Synopsis:	Zoom engages in a confrontation with Shredder in an attempt to gain more allies.
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Professor Zoom

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Shredder has posed:
    Late evening at the East Warehouse in Manhattan. The grass that is overgrown in the parking lot gives it the deception of being empty, but occasionally there can be seen a teenage youth enter or exit. There's a guard as well, a massive mutant snapping turtle stands outside the non-descript entrance. He looks like a pretty strong deterrent for trespassers, standing almost 8 feet tall with a spiked back.

Professor Zoom has posed:
He'd been watching the warehouse for hours from the buildings, now. With several drones covering the four sides of the warehouse, Professor Zoom had a pretty good idea of the comings and goings... which made it clear there was some sort of activity going on inside. Superspeed was far from subtle though. Nothing for it, he had to get closer.

Red lightning lights up the night as Professor Zoom runs from the building opposite the 'back' of the warehouse and up the wall, taking a drone with him. Coming up to one of the boarded windows on the top floor and grabs onto a loose brick to stay in place... he phases an arm through with a spider-drone in it, allowing it to drop to the floor, before tapping the ocular interface on and using a remote operation glove to start taking a look around.

Time to find out how loyal the Purple Dragons really were.... or if there were traps already in place.

Shredder has posed:
    The drone inside finds what essentially looks like a storage room, various electronic equipment is here, locked by a rather heavy looking door The equipment is fairly advanced for such a rough looking location, they seem to be devices such as EMPs, trackers, and even weapons.

Professor Zoom has posed:
"Ha. Got you." Professor Zooms distorted voice mutters a moment before he phases his way into the storage room proper. Once his body is clear through the window, he checks the inventory of the room at superspeed, red lightning causing minor thermal damage to the floor as he goes, and a red lightning trail fills the room.

Once he's disabled or otherwise rendered all of the equipment useless, he phases his head through the door, checking his surroundings. Industrial strength reinforced steel doors do take a few seconds to vibrate through, but it's definitely possible.

Anyone looking in his direction when he does so will see a blurred face in a yellow suit and red, glowing eyes.

Shredder has posed:
    As Zoom passes through the door, he finds a much more...benign atmosphere. The smell of sweat and soured carpets fills the air on the quiet hallway, with several doors along it. It looks like a cheap apartment. A few community bathrooms are in the center of the hall, and it looks like a dorm floor.

    An elevator is on one end of the hall, with emergency stairs next to it.

Professor Zoom has posed:
Pulling back through the door, Professor Zoom grabs the spider-drone and hides it, before he phases through the heavy door and superspeeds his way through the floor. Scouting each room in turn in a split second.

Shredder has posed:
    They are exactly what might be expected, college and teenage youths are in some of the rooms, some are empty. Cheap furniture, not made for much else than sleeping. Of course, with teenagers, some of them are using the rooms more recreationally.
    "What was that?" One girl yells out, having only seen a flash of red light. "Was that an electric shock?" Other than that, most didn't seem to see what actually happened.

Professor Zoom has posed:
He stops back at the heavy industrial door after the three seconds it took to scout the floor. Professor Zoom stands there for a moment, calculating possibilities. "Cover, or manpower?" He muses aloud to himself, before he zooms down the warehouse, one floor at a time.

He's being careful not to create wind funnels effects with his speed, so he's slower than usual... but still more than fast enough to barely be registered by normal human reflexes. Hopefully he finds something interesting enough to stop and examine.

Shredder has posed:
    The next floor down is where the most information seems to lie so far. There are two rooms off of a hall that is horizontal to the elevator and stairs. The first is a movie theater, it seems to be a room of entertainment, and it goes behind where the elevator is, showing that the elevator is in the center of the building. It's silent at this hour, but that's not surprising.
    The second is a dojo, which also is quiet. mats, training dummies, a few sparring rings, weights, everything someone could want to practice their craft of combat, or to pump iron. The equipment is good, hardly the low scale arrangments found for the housing, and the room is impeccably maintained, though there is a degree of poverty in the atmosphere, bare stone pillars are present, and where there is no mat, it is hard concrete flooring. It isn't a room designed to aesthetically please, but to be functional and simple.

Shredder has posed:
    The first floor of the warehouse seems to be where the most people are. There are a couple of teens lounging around, enetertainment, food, booze. Basketball, video games. Even at 4am, there are a couple of teens lounging around, though it's mostly quiet. A few are passed out on bean bags or couches, a couple of them are talking a the bar, and undeniably there are a few hard core late night gamers that are still fragging people on various video games on large screens.

    The stairs, however, don't go all the way down to the basement. There is a separate door which seems to go down from there, a rather advanced electromagnetic lock on the door, another industrial type of door. It's clear that the general population of the locale is not welcome here.

Professor Zoom has posed:
Once it becomes clear the first floor is the populated one, Professor Zoom stops in front of the basement door, breathes, and phases through the door into the basement. He stops just inside to take a look around.

Shredder has posed:
    The stairwell down to the basement is simple and solid, but the last floor decidedly seems different from the rest of them. Most noteworthy is that it is full of ninjas. The open practice area has several groups of ninjas, some moving, some receiving debriefings, and some who are receiving instruction. The most noteworthy of them, is of course, wearing bladed armor, sitting on a throne at one end of the room, overseeing the operations. Next to him stands a woman dressed in traditional japanese garb on one side, and a short young japanese girl, who can't be older than twenty, ready with two short blades on her back.

    Before the throne, a step lower, are three men and a woman, who seem to be answering to the throne.

    The attention given by the Shredder is almost immediate as someone unknown enters the large floor. The masked warlord does not stand up, but his shift in attention causes the others near the thone to do likewise.

    "Anata no masuta ni go chui kudasai!" the young ninja at his side calls out. Heed your master. Immediately, the room freezes, and looks to the Shredder, and then follow their gaze toward the door, and the room falls silent.

Professor Zoom has posed:
"Gideon, translation." Professor Zoom asks under his breath, his helmet transceiver bounces the request through dozens of proxies, before hitting a future-tech based firewall... making tracing it almost impossible normally. "Heed your master, Professor." Gideon answers over the link.

The distorted visage of Professor Zoom starts to walk down the stairs, his red glowing eyes taking in everything quickly. Keeping his reflexes tuned to react instantly to any attacks, the man in the yellow suit doesn't seem to have any fear as he goes. Red lightning arcs across his form as he actively channels Speed Force energy to keep his aura active... turning any projectiles thrown at him to ash.

There's a slight malevolent laugh as he goes, "fond of hiding in plain sight?" Professor Zoom states, slight amusement in his tone.

Shredder has posed:
    A suspicious stare from the Shredder is the return. "More than I am fond of unrequested intrusions," he answers. "You are the one Hun spoke about, I presume," he says with no indication of appreciating the humor. "You are bold to come directly here. What makes you think it in your best interest?"

Professor Zoom has posed:
"I somehow doubt you'd be interested in an audience outside of your own terms." The man in the yellow suit replies, his walk taking him near one of the ninja groups, studying them. "None of you have a chance against me if I really wanted to attack you." His words come with a total confidence.

"Your mutagens. Your training. None of it compares to the power the Speed Force provides." Eventually, he stops right in the middle of one of the groups of ninjas, standing still, "Hun was a fool, but a fool who wanted to live. He was lucky I only tossed him into the ocean, instead of off the roof."

Shredder has posed:
    "Is that true?" Shredder asks, seemingly unconcerned. "You clearly have little understanding of who is in this room. Mutants, magicians, and most notably, me."

    "So before you are forced to recognize your error, tell me why I should not kill you for your tresspass." He still doesn't stand, casually poised in his throne, contrasting to a room full of ready warriors. The only other casual appearing person is the woman to his right in the traditional garb.

Professor Zoom has posed:
"Try it. It'll be amusing." Professor Zoom replies, still standing. "I might even get some good exercise out of it."

Shredder has posed:
    Shredder raises a hand, and lets it fall forward. The ninjas move at once, the mass of them charging toward Eobard, weapons of various forms present. Komos, sais, kurisagama, ninjato, nunchaku. There isn't a ninja weapon not represented in preference between the lot of them.

Professor Zoom has posed:
He just... stands there. As they fall on him, there's even a smirk to his face. "It's been a while since I've had this much exercise."

There's a red trail of lightning as he starts to run. Around, and around. Faster. Faster. The edges of the room are lighting up with red lightning as he simply runs around.

Then, one of the ninjas gets kicked so hard as Professor Zoom sends him flying across the room his bones would likely shatter on impact if he is normal.

Then, he simply rams another into a wall nearby, starting to visibly superspeed pummel the ninja into the wall with full superspeed kinetic help... shattering each bone in his body one at a time at superspeed. If it were any slower, it'd be torture. As it is, red lightning arcs over his arms as the ninja is pummeled.

Then, he superspeeds across the floor to the other side of the room in a split second. Two ninja's down in the span of five seconds. "I can do this all day." The distorted voice of Professor Zoom taunts, the red lightning arcing over his entire form now as the Negative Speed Force is drawn on more heavily.

Shredder has posed:
    The response of the ninjas is...well, predictable perhaps, several pull smoke pellets, throwing them to the ground. They explode into a smoky haze, making visibility low. The chain of a kurisagama sweeps around the floor, trying to capture the speedster by the legs in a well practice move by one of the ninjas, while the others scatter, finding hiding places for a more indirect approach. Ceiling rafters, under the stage, behind sparring equipment, wherever they can engage from a secrecy rather than be delivered such quick punishment.

Professor Zoom has posed:
As Professor Zoom watches the misdirection tactics, he actually gives an amused laugh, "Oh, you think that'll help you?" His arms come up... and suddenly a powerful vortex of wind pummels the room, venting all the smoke to the other side of the room. Sure, the other side of the room is densely packed with dissipating fog... but the room is clear again. The man in the yellow suit brings his arms back down. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to catch me."

Then, when the chain tries to capture his legs, he actually /allows/ it... only to grab a hold of the chain. A split second passes as Professor Zoom senses the chain through the Negative Speed Force... acquiring it's vibrational frequency, before he vibrates his body to phase right through the chain.

Shredder has posed:
    Shredder holds his hand up, and those ninjas who are not hidden can be seen to stop, and the blade covered figure stands up. He unclasps his cape, and tosses it to the ground beside him before leaping off the stage and down near Zoom, focusing his ki. "Let you see if you can strike the master, then, would-be hero, and know why your journey down here was unwise. Of course, he has no intention of dodging the strike, rather he hopes to deceive the speedster into a self-inflicted injury.

Professor Zoom has posed:
"That's cute, you think I'm some kind of hero." Professor Zoom replies. Then, he zooms over to one of the ninjas, and tosses /him/ against Shredder in under a second. Then, he's back in front of the Shredder before the body has traveled the distance, "you can call me Professor Zoom. Others call me a Reverse-Flash."

Shredder has posed:
    When the ninja comes flying at him, Shredder catches the poor fellow, redirecting his flight so that he flies over the ninja master's head, vaulting him upward. The agile martial artist, true to his training, lands on his feet due to the help and redirection, though undoubtedly surprised at being used as a projectile.

    "And then what do you think you are...Professor," Shredder asks. "You came here for a purpose, what is it? Your speed is impressive, I will grant you. If you are no hero, what is it that you want? To ally? Seek out resources? Purchase services?"

Professor Zoom has posed:
The man in the yellow suit watches the display of training for a moment. Then, suddenly, Professor Zoom starts to zip around the room... and begins to fling every single stray piece of light equipment and debris in the Shredders direction. A rapid machine gun of improvised ammo starts to 'fire' at the Shredder from all directions. He's clearly testing Shredders limits.

Shredder has posed:
    The Shredder narrows his eyes. "You try my patience," he answers, tucking between the flung objects, and then catches a pair of nunchaku from the air, and with a casual grace he uses them to start striking and deflecting the weapons and other objects that come toward him, combinded with the shoulder guards and shin armor, utilizing all that he wears. He studies the movements more of the objects flying at him and their positions in the room than he does the streak of lightning, and then makes a dives toward one fallen ninjato, striking out toward the location in an attempt to predict where Zoom will be.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    Few people have the reflexes necessary to try and predict where Professor Zoom will go. Still, Shredder is at the upper end of where a human can go without becoming a metahuman. The attempt to strike him would have worked if Zoom didn't have far faster reflexes of his own. He simply changes his path when Shredder tries to strike out at him, and runs right around to his back... striking out with his own punch to the back of Shredders knees in apparent retaliation.... the kinetic force from his superspeed being moderated so he 'only' dislocates them.

He's seen nothing suggesting there's any sort of superpowered armor involved... but the Speedster doesn't seem to enjoy a straight brawl.

Shredder has posed:
    TThe punch lands, and the resistance is far stronger than might be expected, the knee not giving as much as one would expect from such a strike. Instead of resist it, Shredder collapses with the blow, leg folding to collapse around the punch and hold the fist if possible, while his opposite elbow comes around in an attempt to snag a connection across Eobard's ribs.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    The pained grunt coming from Professor Zoom has a hint of surprise to the tone. He wasn't expecting an attempt at trapping his hand at the pit of the knee. With his reflexes, the attempt fails... but the lack of any damage has Professor Zoom head to the opposite side of the room in a streak of lightning... and stand there. Red lightning sparks and arcs across his body idly as he stares at Shredder from that position with those red glowing eyes. "That's an interesting trick you have there."

His hand -the one that struck the back of the knee- comes up... the blurring on it has stopped, and Shredder can see the middle finger broken in a couple places. He put a lot of kinetic force into the blow. He can also see that the hand has a lot more of that red lightning arching around it... as if whatever power he's using is being actively channeled through it at a much faster rate than the rest of him, "I can see why they respect you. Is that magic?" The man in the yellow suit asks, as if he wasn't here as a hostile entity.

Shredder has posed:
    "I am the Immortal Dragon Warrior," Shredder says, raising back to a standing position after the maneuver. "It takes more than speed to defeat me." He studies Zoom, his explanation having failed to answer whether he is using magic. "You ask me questions, but you have come to my home and not yet answered mine. You wish to test me further?" he asks, one brow raising.

    "You have earned a broken finger, which is a far better state than most who challenge me receive." He paces to one side. "What is it you want?"

Professor Zoom has posed:
    "It'll heal in an hour." Professor Zoom states dismissively, "I didn't expect you to have your own variant of a force field." The distorted voice has a bit of humor to it as he speaks, before he brings the hand down to his side, "I originally came here for information." He finally answers, "the archive doesn't have much detail on you, but I can see why other contenders in your circles would have a problem challenging you now. Now though..." He pauses for a moment, "now, we might have something to offer each other. What is it /you/ want?"

Shredder has posed:
    "A vague question earns only a vague answer," Shredder says. "I will see this world in order as it properly should be. This world faces the possibility of threats far beyond itself, and yet world leaders bicker like helpless children on a playground." He cocks his head to one side. "What is it that you would have to help with that, man of speed?" Some might make quips or clever remarks, but not this man. He has a rather serious tone about him, something that seems to be embedded.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    "I'm the fastest man alive. You can call me Professor Zoom. Others call me a Reverse-Flash." Professor Zoom drops the distortion on his body. Except for the face. That's still blurred, and those red, glowing eyes stay. Shredder can easily see the yellow suit. The reversed lightning bolt symbol, the red instead of orange. It's an obvious intentional mockery and mirror of the Flash, "the source for my speed is a form of the Speed Force no one else uses. I can go as fast as I like, and have the reflexes to fluidly control it. I can imagine quite a few ways that could be useful for anyone."

There's a moment of pause, before he continues, "For myself... I want to go home... but I can't. So, I need to find allies. I need to build power."