11300/Milk Cartons: Psalms 139:14

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Milk Cartons: Psalms 139:14
Date of Scene: 05 April 2020
Location: St. Margaret's Church, Bushwick
Synopsis: Sam and Alexis hear gunshots and find a terrifying secret within the dark of Mutant Town
Cast of Characters: Dagger, Cannonball, Prismatic, Cloak
Tinyplot: Milk Cartons


Dagger has posed:
    ..The darkness and light are both alike .. I am fearfully and wonderfully made..

The old church is a staple in Mutant Town, even if its presence is rarely used on a Sunday morning. The back door has been kicked in and broken off the hinges, with the sound of sobbing penetrating through the darkness. There is five, large imposing bodies surrounding three smaller forms.

"Look at these fucking freaks. Especially the pink one. Madame is going to eat this up. Pretty sure mutie organs will go for a high price tag." The glow of the end of a burning cherry lights up the dark room, tucked between the lips of a shaved headed dark skinned man with a blue rag tied about his brow. His arms are covered in dark tattoos of various gang symbols

"Whatcha think th' one with the gills will go for? Couple grand?" Another voice is heard, sneering, amused.

"P... Please.. I want my mommy." A young voice is heard whimpering, followed by a loud crack of hand upon flesh as her body tumbles to the ground.

"Shut the fuck up! I told you. No more talking or I'll plug you right here."

From outside the church, the world goes by as normal. Cars head home from work. People walk up and down the sidewalk with her head down, eyes glued to their phones. At times, they can hear the pleas for help, the sounds of sobs, but no one glances their way.

After hours, this church belongs to the gang.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie is coming out of the club with Alexis, having closed up after a concert, they are the last two out. He locks the door, and looks over to Alexis. "They did a really good set tonight. Ah am really hoping one of the record guys was here tonight to hear them.

Prismatic has posed:
    Alexis Carr used to be a staple in Mutant Town. She'd play, volunteer, and make her way -- occasionally take on a fight to let someone else escape. She still came out -- when she could, and tonight it was date night, after doing a round of clean-up and stage management at Evolution.

    St. Margaret's was her home turf. She used to eat soup with other homeless teens in its basement, and would attend services on Sunday.

    And she pauses a moment, looking to Sam and whispers "Did you hear that?" she asks, turning and canting her head a moment. "I thought I heard yelling --"

Dagger has posed:
The end of the smoke blazes again, followed by the rich scent of clove in the air. A screen lights up in his hand as he taps along the smooth glass a few times, then raises it to his ear. "Yeah. Yeah. Got four of them. Two of 'em twins. One old lady and one one old guy." As the large, imposing man walks around the four mutants who are bound and tied on the floor, he bobs his head a few times.

"Yeah, yeah.. I hear you. Got no need for the old fucks. TJ." He says with a tilt of his head towards another lanky man with an AR in his hands. "We only need two."

There is a flash of the muzzle as the windows of the church flicker briefly, followed by the loud sound of cracking which echoes through the cold, dark church. The young girls scream loudly in fear, begging for help, begging for the Lord to save them.

Rich, thick blood seeps through the old wood floor boards, pooling in front of the alter before the tall statue of Mary, soaking her marbled feet.

"Okay, car is on the way." The leader says cooly as he gives a motion of his hand to another man who begins to drag the two bodies along the ground for the back. "Let's wrap this up and get paid."

Cloak has posed:
There's always a few dim lights in the church even after hours, the fitful glow of glass shrouded memorial candles or a runner light in stairwell and hall to prevent anyone there late from tripping over their own feet. Dim like faith these days, but still there to ward against the dark. Tonight, however, their vigil fails. The faint luminousness behind the stain glass shutters and then dies with nary a sound or an argument. Where once there was light, now there isn't. Something about the darkness is unwholesome. Even the light from the streets and nearby buildings don't seem to penetrate it, like a shroud was pulled over each and every window.

Inside the churches, the whimpers grow, and even the easy viciousness of the gang members falters.

"Yo! Who killed the lights?"

"Power go out?"

"I'll go check it o--- ..." One voice is lost to silence. In its place, a low growl begins.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie starts to say something and then there is the gunfire, and the other scream "That was a gunshot for sure." He will tell her, and turns towards the church. "Lets check this out sounds like someone needs help." He will offer his hands to her, ready to jet into the church, He comes around so he can come in the front door, hopefully not busting them to bad. As they start to get swallowed by the darkness "Thats not good." He says.

Prismatic has posed:
    "This is the one time I ever agree--" Alexis begins, and she holds tight to Sam as he takes off, coming up and ready to fight, her skin giving a slight shimmer before darkness falls.

    "Madre di Dio--" she whispers quietly, balling her fists a moment before she breathes out, the nave wreathed in darknes now, not even her prismatic skin seems to glow.

Dagger has posed:
There is a rustle in the church, like the sound of fabric whipping against the wind, even though there is barely a breeze inside this church. As the darkness grows thicker within the church, inch by inch creeping towards the gunmen, the temperature dramatically drops.

The two young girls are clinging to each other, sobbing, pleading for help as the gunman keeps his rifle pointed at them. "Yo, Dre, you good?" One of the gunmen calls out into the darkness as it seems that their voice was cut off.

Inch by inch, the darkness creeps closer, looking to swallow the room up. From deep in the back, there is a small, flickering glow, perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel?

"Dre...?" He calls out again, then lets out a loud noise of surprise as the front door is blown open by the entrance of Sam and Alexis. Three rifles are swiftly whipped forward towards them, with one kept at the heads of the girls.

"Fucking freaks! Get out of here. This doesn't concern you."

The sound of loud clicking and clacking can be heard as the hold their guns at the ready. From the thick darkness comes a woman's voice.

"Your souls are poisoned with hate. Fear. Greed. You are a stain upon these streets, and we are the *cure* this city needs. We stand before you, ready to judge you, and condemn you to the dark, for you deserve not an ounce of light."

Blonde. Blue eyed. Beautiful. Glowing like a spotlight. Dagger steps forward from the billows of darkness, a pair of glowing blades in her hands, dressed in skin tight white leotard with a sword cut out across the front to reveal pristine skin. Her eyes are devoid of any warmth her light may radiate.

"Prepare to be punished."

Cloak has posed:
The darkness behind the lambent Dagger is her polar opposite. Depthless, formless; like seeing the furthest edge of space and finding it empty. As the woman speaks, something else emerges from the dark. It's a man's face, radiating cold fury from black eyes and bared teeth.

"I would ask if you have any last words," Cloak says in a deep voice that may have been soothing were it not rumbling like an emerging volcano and coming from a man made of shadow. "But I don't care."

Whatever he was about to do is interrupted by the arrival of outsiders, and he looks past his counterpart and past victims and prey to Sam and Alexis. "Come to be the hunter, or save the hunted?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hovers there for a moment, not making a move yet. He is not worried about the guns pointed at him and Alexis. His eyes on the guy with his gun to the little girl's head. His eyes dart to the other two new arrivals. "Keep an eye on the goal." He will say trusting Alexis to know who he means. He raises his voice, and says "Let them go, and this will be easier on you." He hopes to intimidate them.

Prismatic has posed:
    "Don't care much for the gents who call us 'Freaks' and point guns at kids." Alexis answers, bracing herself a moment against Sam, her eyes darting about. If she could get between the girls and the gunmen, it'd be golden.

    Right now, she breathes out, and looks to the face in the darkness... something about looking into the void.

    She gives a little shudder, the small musician drawing her fingers into loose fists, the tang of blood in the air.

Dagger has posed:
As the gunmen hear the voices behind them, they whip around to stare at the pair of vigilantes within the cold, bleak of the endless night. One of them lets loose a barrage of bullets into Cloak, the rounds disappearing without even hitting the walls behind him. They just simply disappear into the cold.

There is a whip of Dagger's hand as she sends one blazing knife square into the man's chest, burying it deep as he gives a visible jolt, eyes rolling upwards as his body hits the ground with a thud. He is gibbering to himself, drool dripping past his lips as his pupils shrink. He stares up at the ceiling, trembling, as if he was staring at the might of the Lord himself.

"You will feast well tonight, Cloak, on their light. They are undeserving."

The man with his gun at the head of the children is shaking now with fear. His eyes are wide. "I.. I'll fucking shoot them! You stay back! STAY BACK!" He is terrified now, the scent of urine in the air as the two girls cling to each other.

Dre turns his rifle up at Sam and Alexis, squeezing the trigger as the fully automatic rounds peel through the dark church. "Out the front door!" He calls out to his friends. Obviously the back door is no longer a viable option. "Fuck the kids, run! Get outta here!"

As the men shoot and run, another gets swallowed up in the night, his screams cut off as he simply disappears.

Cloak has posed:
"In a world like this, every night is a feast." Cloak says, his words hanging in a strange grey somewhere between pleasure and disdain. There's no reaction from the dark man as the bullets impact. There's no sound, no wince, nothing to suggest an impact. There's only the faint flicker of shadow where his body should be, wisps of darkness disturbed like mist by their passing.

Sam and Alexis are regarded once more before his work begins. He moves fast. It's not the sharp lateral jolt of a speedster. He's just simply not in one place and then in another, no longer behind Dagger but looming over the fleeing man like a specter. The cloak he wears stretches out like a tidal wave and then crashes around the gangster. Soundless save the rustle of fabric and the muffled and cut off scream. No impact, no way two bodies could fit in a space only big enough for one. But the gangster is gone all the same.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie has seen portals before, and his team mate dropping people into it. His shield flares here and there where the bullets bounce off his field. He leans in to Alexis "He is going to start firing. try to keep him busy." He lets her go tot he side, as he kicks in full speed towards the girls. He is going to try to grab them so his field will protect them before the gun fires.

Prismatic has posed:
    That's bloody terrifying, but Alexis keeps her focus. Save the kids.

    She steps away from Sam, and as the guns rise up she tenses, and brings her arms in front of her face, the bullets striking her impervious skin, cutting through the fabric of her jacket as she makes her way towards the gunman with a beautiful chain of angry sounding curse words whispered musically into the air -- and she sweeps in, arching her heel up and then sharply down, looking to break the knee of the gunman firing at her, her skin turning a kill-ideascope of deadly reds in anger and pain.

Dagger has posed:
As Cloak moves through the church like a panther on the hunt, Dagger moves like a beautiful dancer through the church. She leaps and spins through the bullets, ducking and dodging. Every move she makes is swift, practiced, and well-timed. Another blade forms in her hand as she sends it soaring through the dark, striking the gunman in the back of the head as Alexis brings him down to his knee.

There is a loud 'glub' noise in his throat as his body stiffens, the gun dropping to the ground as he careens to one side and crumpling upon the ground. The blade of light gives a flicker, then disappears as the angel in white rushes past them. She is almost to the kids, but Cannonball reaches them first.

Rolling to the side to dodge the incoming mutant, she can hear the girls scream out loudly, panic and fear in their voices. She tracks the flying mutant in the air for a moment before she turns her eyes upon Alexis. Her cold. Blue. Eyes.

"Take care of them. Get them out of here. We will punish the rest."

As she speaks, the man on the ground is swallowed in the dark and she reaches out to take Alexis by the hand quickly. There is a comforting warmth to her touch, long enough for the dark to pass through them, so that she won't be swallowed by the capes of Cloak. Once the chill passes, she lets her go, then starts off for the back of the church, which is now empty, leaving behind only rifles on the ground.

"Cloak." She says simply, extinguishing her hands as the blades disappear. "Is your hunger satiated for now?"

Cloak has posed:
Cloak is crouched above where the man was downed. The man was alive, though shocked, but now he's just not there and lost to a rippling curtain of black. "I never am." The man growls though his voice is low. "Nor will I be, not until our work is done." Slowly he rises up to standing height and looks first to where Sam zipped by and then towards Alexis and Dagger.

"We'll be watching to make sure they stay safe." He neither raises nor lowers his voice, but the tone carries a deadly promise. He turns away from the women and moves past the statue, and the flowing ends of his cloak pass over the thickening red pool on the ground. In its wake, the blood itself is gone, though the darkening red stain in the wood remains.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie has the two girls in his arms "Ya'll are safe now girls, they can't hurt ya as long as Ah got you and we are flying. He does make a U-turn, trying to keep the damage he causes to the church to a minimum, and heads back out the door. He does not like leaving alexis there with those two and the thugs, but he has to get the kids free.

Prismatic has posed:
    Alexis was already moving towards the kids and Sam, giving a nod of acknowledgement to the blonde as she moves -- and skids to a stop, short, backtracking a step as Cloak approaches -- but Dagger's hand grasps hers. She brethes out in surprise, her shoulders relaxing, her fingers curling against the other woman's palm, bullet-hole clad jacket flapping behind her a moment as the chill works over them both.

    Sam has the kids. They're as safe as could be, now, and she regards Cloak and Dagger, and gives a small nod of her head. "He might not say it out loud," she replies quietly, "...but thank you. Scum like that deserve to be put down." she states, turning and looking to the defiled church.

Dagger has posed:
"Then let us return home, so that I may give you some of my light, and cool the fires that burn within me." Dagger says to Cloak as she brushes her blonde hair back away from her face to tuck it behind her ear. As her teammate is 'cleaning' up on his way to the back of the church, she turns her head to Alexis.

"This city is sick. Poison runs through her veins. Drugs. Human trafficking. Pain. We will not stop until this city is cured and rid of those who prey upon the innocent."

She is so beautiful, but her voice is so cold, opposite of the warmth that spread through her hands. "Take care of the children. We have been following the trail for weeks now. There are more of them out there, missing. If you /care/ at all... do something."

With that, the angel of light follows after Cloak, stepping into the folds as the darkness swallows them up, like a slow, crawling inky smoke, disappearing in a swirl.

The air lifts, as if a weight was removed, the chill disappearing and returning to warmth. There are no bullets. No bodies. No blood. It's as if nothing happened save the gunshot holes in the walls.

    ... Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. ..

Deuteronomy 32:35