7401/Retaliation: New York Business Meetings

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Retaliation: New York Business Meetings
Date of Scene: 04 May 2019
Location: New York City
Synopsis: The Shadow and Spawn try to meet with the contact... only for the meeting to turn into a chase which ends up nearly killing their prey.
Cast of Characters: Lex Luthor, Shadow, Spawn




Lex Luthor has posed:
The Dursa Building in Hell's Kitchen. Daredevils playground. Why the contact on the other end of the phone chose this place is a bit vague at first glance. An abandoned office/apartment complex registered to a dummy corporation by the name of Nagator Enterprises used to own this building... but a cursory glance at the legal paperwork makes it clear that it was registered... but never really used. It gives all the impression of having been created solely to own this complex, and the paper trail will take a while to unravel, if The Shadow was so inclined.

For the most part, it's fairly abandoned, and the Shadow Network doesn't have much in the way of intelligence around it; Julia does note that the building was paid for in cash anonoymously... so whoever bought the building personally did not want to be known, with the name on the property cloaked under a land trust.

For someone like The Shadow, it all pointed to her prey having some sort of advantage here she probably doesn't know about.

Four hours of surveillance beforehand? Shows it to be an entirely abandoned building... with a couple squatters on the first floor. They're obvious junkies with somewhat dirty clothing.

The entire visual is a condemned building that the owner has left to rot.

Shadow has posed:
    Unraveling the paper trail will take more time than is left before the arranged meeting, and better left to some of the Shadow's agents in the first place. For now, the Shadow enters the building.

    As someone who makes something of a habit of concealing herself in the shadows of people's assumptions and the blind spots created by what's obvious, the Shadow tends to be disinclined to take things at face value, and the squatters are unwittingly subject to a closer scrutiny before she passes by like a brief, fitful bad dream on her way to the fifth floor...

Lex Luthor has posed:
The squatters give all the impression of being there because no one cares about this building, and let The Shadow go to the fifth floor without hassle, though she gets a couple curious glances on the way up.

The stairwell is much the same as the hallways coming in; cold, decrepit, broken down. Rats flit here and there, having made nests out of the walls, and probably feeding off the leftovers from the squatters...

Then The Shadow comes to the fifth floor, and everything changes. Suddenly, the fifth floor entry is clean, presentable. It's like night and day in terms of maintenance.

It's also very locked.

Spawn has posed:
    From the corner of the fourth floor, a shape descends that initially appears to be part of the wallpaper, or a part of the building. Soon, however, the coloring changes to that dark red that pulls back to reveal the familiar shape of the figure Shadow saw some time ago. Here in the dark of the building, his glowing green eyes were especially easy to notice and his demeanor was just as antagonistic as it was. Stepping behind her, he said as greeting:

    "Been waiting a while."

    How warm and friendly of him.

Shadow has posed:
    Well now, that's interesting. One wonders why the squatters on the ground floor never took a look up here.

    The Shadow sets that question aside for now while she kneels by the lock, pulling a set of slightly less than legal thin metal tools from a coat pocket and getting to work. The nice thing about a well-maintained lock is that they tend to be easier to pick because there's no rust or debris that might cause false feedback...

    As Spawn emerges from the darkness the Shadow barely bats an eye. "Mr. Spawn. Good evening. Interesting office, wouldn't you agree? Significantly more upscale than would be expected from the outside..."

Lex Luthor has posed:
The lock is easy to pick. It's well maintained, and there's no debris. *click* It opens up into a fifth floor with white walls and grey carpeting... with white LED lighting fixtures in the ceiling.

The way is clear.

Spawn has posed:
    The door opens, and Spawn makes his way into the structure. His cape wrapped around him, it rustled loudly even as the edges seemed to move of their own accord.

    "You say 'interesting', I say 'conspicuous'. They're certainly not cooking meth or playing the usual street games in a place like this."

Shadow has posed:
    "Which raises the question of what games they /are/ playing up here," the Shadow concurs, rising to their feet as the lock clicks open and looking around for security measures with an experienced eye. "As well as the question of why none of the downstairs neighbors ever felt like trying their luck here..."

Lex Luthor has posed:
Meanwhile, in Metropolis...

His underlings had been handling the business in Hell's Kitchen for quite some time now. It wasn't his own turf, and the business with Shredder and the Sentinels had made Luthor keep a low profile for this entire affair. The murder had gone off without a hitch until one of the New York vigilantes had gotten involved.

The phone call yesterday had been checked though... and the call from the freelancer was suspected to be less than forthcoming on details. So, a guard detail had been tasked with watching the building for the upcoming meeting, with a surveillance satellite on standby if something had shown up...

And indeed, it had.

Once they were sure the newcomer was out of sight and hearing, one of the 'squatters' had gone over to a table with a cover over it, and made a call on the smartphone, "Unknown presence spotted going to stairwell, please advise." Sounded over Luthors office as he went about other business.

The fifth floor was well kept, and the ceiling lights illuminated the corridor Spawn went through easily.

The Shadow? She easily spots the 'discrete' camera down the hallway, on both ends.

Someone is watching them.

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow ponders. "Two cameras, covering all possible angles. Well paid mercenaries keeping an eye on things on location - and probably being paid extra to smell that bad. Someone certainly spared almost no expense setting this up as discreetly as possible..."

    They turn to regard Spawn, blue eyes crinkling with sardonic amusement. "Shall we? We have an invitation, after all..."

Spawn has posed:
    Spawn looked around at the devices up in the corners of the room, and for the first time his cape unfurled to spread behind him like a pair of red leathery wings. From around his waist and torso two chains unwrapped and shot out like striking cobras at the cameras, trying to do as much damage as possible to the devices before those chains returned to coiling around the Hellspawn's body. That same Hellspawn looked down at the shape in hat and trenchcoat, speaking even as he held out his right hand.

    "You take point and I'll cover you. We lost any element of surprise, so we need to just hit 'em fast and hit 'em hard."

    Some of his old training coming back, and now that his cape was open, Shadow would be able to see the brown leather shoulder holster that was worn, and the Desert Eagle that was sat there waiting.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"You've done your job. Meet with your contact and consider the contract finished." Lex ordered of the sentries in the first floor of the building, and they cleared out post-haste.

"Harmony, bring up the cameras in a holomap." Lex stood up, Mercy and Hope to each side moving with him as he moved out into the center of his office for a close up look at what was going on in the building.

Or he was about to, when the cameras in the corridor gave him a glimpse of the Hellspawn just before the video feed cut out. "that's very familiar..."

This was turning into a massively complicated situation for what was supposed to be a clean hit. "Mercy, tell the meeting contact she's got incoming and to leave, then get me a satellite feed for the building."

In the corridor, Spawn and The Shadow are easily able to destroy the cameras.

5c awaits, with another locked door being their only barrier.

Shadow has posed:
    Ah, subtlety. The Shadow takes a brief moment in silent lament of its passing, then continues ahead, fading from view until only the shadows cast by the lighting show their location. They take a moment to regard the locked door, then turn to look at Spawn. "I suspect your method of unlocking a door will take much less time than mine."

Spawn has posed:
    The Shadow made her quip, and the figure looked down at her while four of his chains snaked forward to slip under and around the frame, slowly pulling taut as they did so.

    "I'd prefer using c4 or a grenade to do this. Sadly, I don't have access to luxuries like those."

    A moment later, if there were no interruptions, the chains would pull and most likely warp the door until it exploded or imploded, until his chains were just pulling pieces of it away almost in disgust.

    "But still, we make due."

Lex Luthor has posed:
Mercy made the call just as Spawn was getting up to the door. "Leave, now. Your escape route is prepared." Mercy spoke over the phone to the woman in the apartment.

The blonde woman in her casual black pants suit had been the middle of the room, patiently going over a list on her tablet, when the call came in... and the chains appeared.

By the time the door was about to be exploded into splinters, the sounds of another door in the room could be heard opening and closing with a slam both times.

Seems they have a runner. By the time Spawn is inside the apartment, it's empty... but both of them will be able to see the white door to the far right side of the living room. Far enough away to give whoever it was bit of time to go wherever, at least.

In Luthors office, the satellite was just getting online, and the image of the building and the blocks around it were immediately visible. "Harmony, thermal imaging." Lex commands of the AI as he watches the event unfold from afar.

Shadow has posed:
"... Blast," the Shadow mutters, casing the room quickly before heading in pursuit. "Given the expenses gone through so far, there is probably a getaway vehicle waiting for them..."

Spawn has posed:
    Immediately upon entering the room, the former agent and current superpowered corpse lunged toward the new door in a violent shoulder check, followed by a kick from that oversized right boot of his, both given with that superior strength of his. Assuming that didn't open this new door, he turned toward the vigilante beside him.

    "There's still time to intercept them, if we can get back out on the street quick enough. Did you see any windows on this floor?"

Lex Luthor has posed:
The white door breaks without any issues, and shows yet another apartment... now complete with more wood splinters. Spawn is easily able to spot the tail end of yet /another/ door being slammed shut on the opposite wall. It seems probable this entire floor was built with interconnectivity in mind. Both Spawn and The Shadow can see no windows on this floor. Yet.

Lex was watching the incident unfold... and with only one thermal signature on a building holomap brought up by Harmony, Lex gently stroked his chin in thought. "Harmony, call up the drones from the local branch. Something odd is going on, and I want alternate visual feeds." Bringing up his hands, he starts to zoom in on the building proper... looking at everything around the 3rd and 5th floors as well as the 4th with the cameras visuals, "We have new enhanced metahumans, with impressive abilities of concealment." Lex concludes.

Shadow has posed:
    "None so far," the Shadow replies, following closely behind Spawn but content to let the supernaturally strong entity handle the task of opening doors and triggering potential traps for now...

Spawn has posed:
    "We're being funneled."

    It was an offhanded comment, but as he put his massive right gauntlet through this latest door, and ripped it apart at the hinges, he was getting increasingly annoyed with the baboushka doll of endless doors that they were going through, like one hardboiled egg within another. Idly, his left hand freed the Deagle from its holster, the monster of a pistol being cocked, loaded and readied for whatever was in this new room.

    "And it is pissing me off."

Shadow has posed:
    "Obviously. Escape route and trap, all in one convenient package. I suppose our quarry is counting on their employer being unwilling to spring the latter until they've used the former..."

Lex Luthor has posed:
SLAM. SLAM. SLAM. SLAM. Splinters rain as Spawn keeps going through each apartment in turn.

Then, there's a red button in the sixth apartment on the wall that the blonde hits as she's running through the next door... and it turns bright red.

*BOOM* The sounds of explosions can be heard from above them as suddenly the ceiling starts to collapse, raining down debris and actual /rocks/ as the escape route is suddenly buried in actual rubble.

As the woman continues through the door, she starts to sprint down the side stairwell, heading for the first floor

Meanwhile, Lex was watching event with a keen eye as he waited for the drones to make their way over to the Dursa building.

Spawn has posed:
    As it turned out, Spawn had built up so much forward momentum, that he was right where the X marks the spot, at least metaphorically speaking. He looked up suddenly as it all started raining down all around him. All he saw was his cape wrapping around him suddenly as his form was seemingly crushed underneath this most unusual trap, managing to cry out before the crash,

    "THEY PUT ROCKS-?!"

    For moments after the impact, there was silence, before one of the rocks was lifted and tossed aside, as the figure stood warily. His cape seemed to have vanished, although there was now much more red wrapped around his usual costume, which now looked more padded and armored than previously before. Even still there was glowing green goop across some of the rocks and trailing down his left arm and midsection. When he next spoke he was a bit more ragged and rugged sounding, clearly he'd taken a beating.

    "Where the hell did they get boulders in New York?"

Shadow has posed:
    And that's /why/ the Shadow had let Spawn take point. Between the head start and the fact that they'd been expecting an ambush of some sort they appear to have managed to stay clear of the majority of the rockfall. "No expenses spared, apparently." they quip. "Are you good to continue? Or would you prefer going through the wall?"

Lex Luthor has posed:
Watching the explosion from the 6th floor, Lex nods slightly. "We're going to need to have the building condoned off to avoid questions. Mercy, make a call to the Shredder and tell him we need to talk." Lex sighed as the drones went into position. One went to the north, and the other south as they added their own visual feeds to the holomap Lex was watching.

The blonde was at the third floor by this point, and Lex manipulated the holomap to look at the door near the stairwell exit; The getaway vehicle was in place. He was already mentally timing how long it would take for the pursuers to come, for a good indication of speed... and durability.

Spawn has posed:
    As he stood there, his wounds were closing and that goop was already traveling back upward, to rejoin the body it had tried to escape moments before. The figure just snarled as he continued rushing toward the trail of the woman.

    "I'm fine. But whoever we're chasing, they're about to get whipped from here to Yonkers."

    When he got to the stairwell, and turned back to the vigilante.

    "You're the detective here. Did they go up? Or down?"

Shadow has posed:
    "Down," the Shadow replies, vaulting the rubble without so much as slowing down, then grabbing hold of the stair railing and flinging themselves across, brace their feet briefly against the far fall, then pushing off to drop onto the railing one floor below, and repeating the process in a /barely/ controlled but extremely rapid descent. "Speed is of the essence in an escape route and descending stairs is quicker than ascending."

Lex Luthor has posed:
Down she goes, and the blonde is on the first floor. Already she's beelining it right for the entryway, and her thermal signature along with the driver can be seen on the holomap. "Harmony, reposition drones for angles on the getaway. I want to see what we're dealing with."

The Shadow and Spawn are both far from normal, so can get down the stairwell far quicker. By the time they're at the first floor, they can hear the engine starting to rev up outside.

Spawn has posed:
    Spawn's already decided what he's going to do when he sees their target. By the time he's leapt out into the outside, a glowing green energy can be seen in his right hand. His eyes glow even brighter alongside what he's manipulating in his hand, to the point where any video or recording of this is going to be seeing the color green and nothing else for at least one fraction of a second. Moments later a ball of Necroplasm is thrown out and is aiming for the front of the woman's car. If contact is made, then the stuff is going to be eating through the metal, eating through the engine, through the tires and wheel axis. And if the woman doesn't move her feet or legs in time, she's going to be in for a rude surprise.

    Meanwhile, hit or miss, Spawn can feel himself growing weaker as a result, but he doesn't give any indication that he's not as strong or fast. Instead, his improved 'armor' melts away and becomes a cape again, wrapping around him as he just stands there menacingly. This also allows the Shadow to act if they want.

Shadow has posed:
    The drones register one person leaving the stairwell in pursuit - but two shadows being cast. The second shadow moves across the road from where Spawn is flaring, setting up for a crossfire should one be needed...

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Interesting..." Lex watches the green ball of... whatever hit the van, "Mercy, contact the local authorities. Let's see if we can get this car impounded somewhere we have access." Lex orders as he watches.

The ball of necroplasma burns right through the engine as the car speeds off... and through the tires, and everything else. There's a sudden loud *SCREECH* as the car starts to tumble as it's center of gravity is majorly disrupted. End over end it goes to the end of the street, until it slams into the side of a corner amidst screaming civilians trying to get out of the way.

*BOOM* There's another loud explosion as the car explodes, even upside down.

Well. Spawn stopped the car.

Spawn has posed:
    Amidst the fire and flames, Spawn is stepping quickly, ripping open the car door and reaching into the vehicle to pull the figure out, even as he looks over at The Shadow.

    "If you've got questions for this one, you'd best ready them now."

    Not even a single comment about the overkill he just performed. What a jerk.

Shadow has posed:
    "Any questions will have to wait for after the hospital," the Shadow replies drily. "Assuming, of course, that whoever ordered her here will give her the chance to do so..."

    Fortunately, the Shadow has agents in many places. And when someone arranges for the woman to be transfered... The Shadow will Know...

Lex Luthor has posed:
The explosion and resulting mess was less interesting than the Hellspawn with the acid blobs, and the drones around the building were recording Spawn from both angles. The Shadow, of course, is not noticed. Lex may one day develop technology designed to reveal her... but she is safe. For now.

"This is getting out of hand. It's time to look into this matter in person." Lex notes to himself, "Mercy, have the Limo brought around to the front and inform our branch in New York I'll be coming for an inspection."

As he starts to head for the express elevator, "and have the warsuit truck sent ahead."