11424/Milk Cartons: Runaways

Milk Cartons: Runaways
Date of Scene:	03 May 2020
Location:	St. Margaret's Church, Bushwick
Synopsis:	Kurt visits Cloak and Dagger to talk.
Cast of Characters:	Dagger, Nightcrawler, Cloak
Tinyplot:	Milk Cartons

---

Dagger has posed:
The news was a buzz of activity after the firefight at Pier 17 and the factory once known as Candy Life. The police had their work cut out for them in regards to a couple of dead bodies and multiple gang members injured. Those that survived Cloak's ride through the dark dimension was left screaming, terrified, howling about angels of light and demons of the night. Luckily, due to the lights being shattered, the X-Men were not fingered and this came down to a rival gang fight.

Tucked away in the old church is Tandy Bowen, dressed in her white leotard costume with the sword cut out through the front as well as a military green jacket with various patches on it. She hasn't been the same since that night and it shows with how she's curled up in one of the pews, hugging her knees to her chest. She spins a blade of light about in her fingers as it casts shadows about the pitch black room, lighting her blue eyes up times.

Next to her is a radio that is playing some uptempo music, the kind that is designed to move your body to, to let loose energy and steam and have a good time. But a good time is anything but that is written across her face. She's a trainwreck of emotions at the moment.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    There is the sound of air displacing, the smell of sulver, and the tap of a tail against one of the pews of the church. Iridescent eyes atch the occasional flash of light from streetlamps and passing cars outside, and Kurt Wagner -- The mutant known best as Nightcrawler -- draws to an uneasy stand. He looks up, looking for a cross in this all-faiths-served Church, and crosses himself quitly, treading on what should be sacred ground.

    "Hallo? Is there anyone within?" he calls out, "I am a friend."

Cloak has posed:
Unlike his counterpart, Cloak is usually sullen. It's just his natural seeming state. That night though, after coming back from seemingly being dead, Cloak moved like a man on fire. He didn't even linger to make sure the kids were okay, he just bolted and hasn't been spotted since. He's there in the church, sitting at the base of the alter with his back against the time-stained wood. He's a lump of shadow, one knee up and his arm outstretched as he contemplates his own intangible, blackened, misted hand.

At the voice and appearance of the demon-like mutant, the man raises his chin and narrows his eyes. "Are you?" He drawls, low and dour, but it sounds hypothetical. "I take it you know them."

Dagger has posed:
The voice causes Tandy's head to jerk upwards and her blade burns brighter in her palm, sending an aura of light towards Kurt to see him better. Scrambling to her feet, she takes a few steps backwards to create some space. "Who are you?" She asks, her voice a bit shaky as she stares openly at the blue furred man with the pointed ears and bright yellow eyes.

There is a quick, defensive scan around to ensure they are alone before they pass back towards the fuzzy elf. "Were you told to come here and talk to us?" He looks like a mutant, but he could be something worse.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "'Them' is a very big group of people to know!" the blue mutant states, his tail giving a little sway behind him, ready to teleport away, but he holds up his hands, his fingers splayed out, to show he is unarmed, and he gives an uneasy smile, before blinking in the sudden light. His visage is plain to see now, the blue of his fur, the way he lifts his hands to guard his eyes from the sudden brightness.

    "I have come to see how you two were faring." he admits, "My name is Kurt Wagner, I am a friend of Sam and Alexis." he then lowers his hands a moment, his tail curling behind him as he gives a bow.

    "And you must be Cloak and Dagger, the pleasure is mine."

Cloak has posed:
Tyrone Johnson doesn't look surprised, though the jury looks out on if he's satisfied with the answer or maybe ate something bad. Is he even capable of smiling? He shifts his arm from his knee and stands up with his namesake cloak shifting and settling around him.

"We're fine." He states tersely, "So long as the children were secured and are doing well, then the mission was a success."

Dagger has posed:
"Hello.. Yes, we are Cloak and Dagger." Tandy says without giving away their real names. Perhaps they have abandoned them so long ago. "I am waiting to hear back from Psylocke to see how the children are, but .. when we teleported out, they looked safe. Just.. scared."

There is sadness in her voice as she settles back down, dulling the glow of her blade in her hand, then slips it away all together. Instead, she just lightly glows in a pulsing, gold aura. "Are Sam and Alexis okay? I know he was injured during the attack."

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "All the children -- including the two -- will be fine. No worse for wear." Kurt states, drawing down to a comfortable crouch, casual as they speak. He gives a pleasant smile to both Tyrone and Tandy, and he looks up "Ah... as for the recovery of Mister Guthrie, it may be ome time before his ego recovers." he states wryly, and he rocks a moment.

    "The children were brought to a hospital, and are being seen by social workers as tey try to source their parents, if not their parents then they will pass into protective services, likely not public." he explains, gaging the two he's contending with.

Cloak has posed:
"Good." Cloak says with a slow, singular nod of his head. "Don't let the system take them if their parents are out of the picture, which... may be likely, given who we're dealing with." He says in a firm but quiet voice as he begins a slow pacing along the face of the long, low alter. "It's one more way they'll end up on the street. They need someone to watch over them. But it sounds like you have a plan."

Dagger has posed:
Nodding her head in agreement, Dagger looks relieved. "Good. Now we just need to extract some information from our captive, to figure out where they are taking the kids and who their employee really is." She says as she wrinkles her nose, giving a glance towards Cloak. The prisoner is inside his darkness, most likely going mad. She will have to use her light to bring him around, sadly. Such a precious waste.

"So, you are.. an X-Man then as well?" She says as she turns her blue gaze upon him. "Do you have a codename as well?"

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "Ah, my reputation does not preceed me, for once!" Kurt gives a laugh, and brings his hand to his chest. "I am known by the title I had with the circus I grew up in -- The Amazing Nightcrawler! Acrobat, and handsome man of mystery!" he introduces himself again, his tail swaying a moment as if he were considering whether to stand and be formal, or stay crouched and casual.

    "And to assauge any concern -- I was an acrobat, not one of the... ah... sideshow attractions, as I have been asked."

Cloak has posed:
"Nightcrawler, hm? Thought those were only for fishing." Says Cloak as he walks over towards Dagger and takes a seat next to her, apparently comfortable enough with the blue, spade-tailed man. "We have only just recently met a few of the X-Men, we don't follow their entire roster. Thought at the rate things are going, I suspect we'll come to know more."

Dagger has posed:
"You are named after a worm?" Tandy says as she furrows her brows curiously at him. As he ticks off his adjectives, she gives him a smile. "The handsome man of mystery, huh?" She says as her eyes glance over towards his tail, then back up to his glowing eyes. ".. I'm Tandy and this is Tyrone. I was speaking with Warpath.. err.. James.. and he mentioned that perhaps Cloak and I can attend your school one day and meet um.. your Professor. Learn more about our powers. We are not mutants but he said it shouldn't matter. Basic principles still apply." She says as she rubs her hands together gently.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "We do not call worms Nightcrawlers in Germany." Kurt replies wryly, and gives a toothy grin to Tyrone and Tandy, and he reaches first for Tandy's hand, as if to shake it as he speaks. "It is fine, I know most of the codenames of the others. Though somtimes the students choose the /oddest/ assortment..." he trails off.

    Yes. He is in fact thinking of Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

Cloak has posed:
Tyrone Johnson turns his head slowly and squints at Tandy. It's just a little squint, but it's definitely a squint. "You didn't tell me he made that kind of offer." He doesn't sound terribly excited by that venture, but he doesn't push the topic at present. "Names are a mixed bag sometimes, but, they don't need to mean much save to the person who's using it. Actions mean more than names, anyway."

Dagger has posed:
Taking his hand, Tandy shakes it, examining the fact he only has three fingers instead of five. She offers him a brief smile before she gives a glance to Cloak. "I was pretty sure you would not be thrilled by the idea and I wanted to get to know them better before I extended that level of trust." She says as she leans back into the pew. "But now that we fought alongside the X-Men, I feel more comfortable.. letting some of my guard down." She tucks a few strands of blonde hair back behind her ear.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    And because he had to introduce himself as a man of mystery and charm, Nightcrawler just very lightly brushes a kiss to the back of Tandy's hand, and reaches to shake Tyrone's hand as well, looking betwen the two.

    "Understandable, trust must be hard to come by when you are so close to one another." Kurt replies good naturedly.

Cloak has posed:
"Maybe so. We'll see." It's all Cloak offers as he turns from Tandy and then up towards Kurt. There's a low huff of a noise and a side eye at the hand-smooch, but he takes Kurt's offered hand. The touch of Cloak's hand is unsettling. There's the impression of a hand, like it was made out of condensed vapor but still had strength. It's also icy cold, like the stories of people encountering ghosts. "Dagger is capable of protecting herself. However, we have not encountered many who had our best interests in mind."

Dagger has posed:
Blushing slightly at the kiss to the back of her hand, Dagger gives him a shy smile before she settles in next to Cloak once more. "I can take care of myself." She agrees with her partner. "But for the most part, we rely on each other to watch each other's backs. We've only had each other for years now. Bound together by fate and our powers which will consume us if we are alone." She glances down at her glowing hand. "I will burn up in my light, and Cloak will succumb to his darkness, devouring all that he will see. It is a terrible fate for either of us."

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Kurt stays crouched, comfortable ashe regards the two close-knit fighters. "A curious relationship. Neither complete or safe without the other." he weighs his words carefully, before scratching at his chin. Ugh. He needed to trim that down before he got too goatee-ee.

    "Light and Darkness dancing together, both poetic -- and tragic." he gives a wan smile.

Cloak has posed:
"No, fate seems to have had a plan for us." Cloak remarks as he folds his phantom arms over his chest. "Two people from different places, brought together in Hell, then sent back as the two survivors out of many. So we devoted ourselves to saving others, and keep them from the same horrors that we endured. We were given a second chance to do better than we did before and the power to accomplish it, but no power comes without a cost."

Dagger has posed:
Nodding her head, Tandy says, "Our mission is to punish those who harm children and look to poison them with drugs .. or sometimes worse. We are the cure for the cancer in which this city screams in pain at night." She says as she glances off to the side, giving her shoulder a bit of a rub as it works underneath the military jacket she wears. She appears to be favoring it, sore. "I have a bruise the size of Maine under here." She says with a furrow of her brow.

"How did you get into the church? I believe we have all the entrances boarded up, including the lower windows. Did you crawl through one of them at the top?" She says as she glances skywards, searching for any broken windows or panes.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "If there is one thing that I do understand --" Kurt replies, an he looks at one of his hands a moment, "Is that power comes with a cost... and sometimes, not even one we pay on our own." he trails off a moment, breathing out in a soft sigh, but he draws his brows up at Tandy's question, looking between the both of them. a moment and then, with the smell of sulfur, and the rush of air sweeping into where he had been crouching -- Nightcrawler is gone!

    And a half-breath later, with the same whiff of sulfurious air and the BAMF of air exiting sudenly where he exists, he returns, albeit this time behind the two, crouched, balanced on the back of a pew, one toe to either side of the back as he gives a brilliant, fanged smile, and produces from his hands a folded paper bag with familiar golden arches.

    "I had made a stop on the way here. I did not know who I would find within. McNugget?"

Cloak has posed:
"Teleporting." Cloak says with a note of familiarity and understanding. "It seems like that ability comes in several flavors." As to the offer of nuggets, the hooded man shakes his head. "I don't need to eat or drink. It was an unsettling discovery, but on the bright side it saves money." Oh look, the sour puss can actually joke. "What do you see, when you move to another place? Between here and there, that is."

Dagger has posed:
Jumping at the flash of his powers, Tandy waves her hand in the air to try and ward away the scent of sulphur. "Pew." She huffs out, nose scrunched up. "Your powers come with a price as much as ours do." She says, then raises her brow upwards. ".. I have to eat. You got us McNuggets?" She asks hopefully, feeling her stomach rumble. Being that they are homeless runaways living in a church, they have to make-do as best they can without the aid of cash.

"You seem to have really good control over them too. What else can you do?" She asks as she glances down towards his tail again curiously, then back to his ears.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "Aah, how very convenient! Though sad, it means you cannot partake in chocolate!" Kurt laments quietly to Tyrone, but friendly-like, appreciating the joke.

    "Ah, yes. McNuggets, fries, hamburgers... I did not know if there was preference." he offers, and he sits on the back of the pew, giving a reverent look upwards as if in apology, and hands over the goods to Tandy.

    "Ah, I stil very well to walls. I tumble well. Can see well in the dark, but I'm afraid the pointed ears are for show... ze tail, however?"

    The tail sweeps behind him, and then settles. "Very useful for fencing."

Cloak has posed:
"It's an interesting skill set." Cloak says towards Kurt as he briefly looks down to his own wrapped form. "I am able to teleport. Mine without the smell or sound, but I must past through a dimension that is hostile to all save myself and Tandy, or those under her protection. I seem to be somewhat made of the same stuff I am not... whole. I am shadow. Like this, I cannot be harmed physically. Not that I have discovered."

Dagger has posed:
Opening the bag hungrily, Dagger digs out a burger and unwraps it. She sighs happily at the sight of it. "Oh, Cloak. Real food." She says, then takes a bite, giving a lick of her lips to ward any ketchup away. "I can generate daggers of light that are used to stun and paralyze people. I can also use my light to blind, create shields, and when I touch people, see their hopes and dreams. My light also feeds Cloak so that he won't go hungry, or else he will grow mad and devour anyone into his dark dimension. It's pretty scary."

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "Aaah. I see.. well. I... do not stay long enough to look." Kurt replies, slightly uneasily, "But that does explain the chill of your handshake, Tyrone." He motion casually, with a small smile as he nods his head. "The smell of brimstone accompanies me whenever I teleport. It is most unfortunate."

    Kurt draws one leg up, leaning back on his other foot as he rests his arms on his knee, no need to spill all of his secrets in one night, after all.

    "So, you see their hopes and dreams? Even at a light touch?" Kurt inquires, his eyebrows rising up, an he gives a soft hum a moment.

    "And your teleporting ability explains the... individuals who end up in the police's care then, hmm."

Cloak has posed:
Tyrone Johnson gives his head a faint tip to one side in a gesture of acknowledgement. "Some may call them lucky, but I do not. More a mercy to let them stay where they are and die in a nightmare quickly, than to live in one until your body and mind fails. Most are broken by what they see in the darkness." And Cloak doesn't sound sad about that in the last. He speaks of it like he was discussing the weather.

Dagger has posed:
"I have to focus on it, but yes. It's how I know who to judge. If they deserve mercy or not." Dagger says as she rubs the back of her neck. "Sometimes I see sorrow, pain..most of the time I see greed. They only care to line their pockets with poisoned money, than let a child have a happy life." She gives a shake of her head. "Some of them believe to be misunderstood. Rapists. Murderers. They convince themselves that they are good people deep inside, they just make mistakes. My light brings out their truth, then Cloak punishes them."

Nightcrawler has posed:
    "Ah, on that we may have a disagreement of philosophy, my friend" Kurt replies to Tyrone, and he gives a slight frown, a downtick of his lips in slight disapproval. He glances between the two a moment, and appears to be in thought, his fingers curling about his knee.

    "... but that may be a discussion better suited for another time. No need to interupt a meeting among new friends with philosphy, yes?" he gives a slight smile, his tail curling about behind him a moment.