11690/Milk Cartons: Enter the Spider-Man!

Milk Cartons: Enter the Spider-Man!
Date of Scene:	28 June 2020
Location:	Midtown, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Spidey and Widow meet Cloak and Dagger
Cast of Characters:	Dagger, Spider-Man, Cloak, Black Widow (Romanoff)
Tinyplot:	Milk Cartons

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Dagger has posed:
     ~Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.~ 1 Peter 3:9

The ink of darkness has befell the city, casting the world in neon lights and the sounds of traffic as those with a busy schedule are making their way home from a long day, or finalizing a meal they tucked away in their stomach. The sidewalks are starting to thin as the hour grows late, leaving behind a few stragglers that rush to their cars or loiter near alleys and bus-stops.

Upon the a rooftop, swallowed in shadow is the demon and the angel who roams Hell's Kitchen in search of a meal in the form of evil. Cloak and Dagger. Young vigilantes. They punish those who make this city sick with lines of poison and those who harm the innocent in the form of burning light and cold, cruel night. Tonight, the pair have been following a certain young dark skinned man who is wearing the colors of red and white. The 10G Boyz. Another gang trying to make a name for themselves by spreading heroin into the heart of the neighborhood.

They have been teleporting block to block, waiting for this moment within the folds of a dark cape, save for the flickering of light from within it. As the young man ducks into the alley next to them, he approaches a group of men, flashing a backpack.

"Yo, Diego. I got th' stuff m'man. Twenty bricks. Fucking /pure/."

With a snap of the fingers, Diego, the taller man wrapped in blue gang colors motions for one of the lankier henchmen to amble over to take the bag, rustling through it. After a few seconds, he gives a thumbs up as another bag full of cash is presented.

"Horace sends his thanks."

From above, the world grows colder, darker as the alley begins to fill with the thick ink of Cloak's powers, blocking out the light from the street. A woman's voice can be heard, white hot with anger.

"We have finally caught you in the act. You bring violence and poison to children. That will not stand. No more will the lives of the innocent will be addicted to your sins."

As the men pull revolvers and start to point in multiple directions, a flash of light stuns the alley as a pair of knives whip from the dark ink, burying themselves in Diego's chest. The scream he makes is horrific as he hits the ground, his body violently shaking as if he was hit by a thousand tasers.

"Burn for me." Dagger steps out of the billowing folds that rustle at the mouth of the alley, twirling another blade about in her hands. "Who's ready for some punishment?"

Spider-Man has posed:
    In the night against the city's skyline, Spider-Man is rarely seen. Barely a flicker of motion, a rush of a silhouette across the stars perhaps causing that illusionary twinkle. But it's when he alights upon a glowing illuminated sign that one can see him. Or when he's perched with the flicker of LCDs behind him on one of those gigantic monitors in Times Square that people will at times stop and point and look.
    Yet tonight, slicing across the night with those smooth easy and languid swings, he whooshes through the valley between buildings, leaps and twists in the air as he lets himself hurtle. Only firing another webline with a /thwip/ once gravity starts to reassert its dominance upon him. He travels so quickly, neighborhoods rush past, the people and the traffic below little more than multi-colored blurs.
    Yet at times he'll pause, landing with a sort thip-thap upon a ledge, balanced on the balls of his feet while crouched, hands upon the bricks beneath him. His head tilts to the side one way, then the other...
    And a distant observer would have no idea how he does what he does. Yet somehow... _somehow_ he finds the madness that happens in the city.
    Like some preternatural sense guides him as he leaps off that building and fires another webline. It brings him here, to this tableau, to the alleyway that suddenly flashes with that brilliant white light that flickers with each blast of those daggers striking home. Like a rapid-fire strobe flash, enough to make some of the thugs flicker in seeming slow motion.
    And in between the light flashes, in between the dark and the night, somehow the silhouette of Spider-Man appears upon the high lamplight near the mouth of that alley. And for now, he observes, with his head tilted to the side.

Cloak has posed:
The fire of Dagger burns the soul, but the anger of Cloak is infinitely more agonizing. Not with heat does his power burn, but with the freezing sear of nothingness, the absence of joy and hope, love and light. Anger is hot. Revenge is always cold.

As the alleyway is smothered in darkness and Dagger faces the men, to their rear their shadows cast by her light lengthen and warp. From them expands the shape of a man that is little more than a darkened face and piercing eyes from an abyssal hood.

"Will you repent in the light, or will you embrace the dark?" Growls Cloak with the sneering, hungry growl of a hunter who already knows his prey is done for but wants to hear their terrified pleas anyway.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
There are other beings that stalk this night. One who doesn't walk in the light or the darkness but somewhere in between. Her current target is a bit more colorful, enjoying brighter colors like the arachnids he models himself after.

Natasha has followed the swinging passage of Spider-Man. Her own Widow's lines allow her to use the same version, though she has found running rooftops to be effective as well. Just keeping an eye on him, making sure how things are being done. Hoping to keep a repeat of the other night from happening again.

She is on a rooftop across from the alleyway, watching the goings on in the darkness as best she can. She can't resort to nightvision thanks to the flashes of white light which make them overload and useless.

Her purpose: Observer. For now.

Dagger has posed:
"They are scum, Cloak. They do not deserve to bathe in the beauty that is my light. Only burn in it's fires. They prey upon children. CHILDREN!" Dagger's voice rises upwards as she squeezes her fist together, clutching ther blade. "Children die in the street from the poison they inject in their veins, manipulated by death dealers for cash. NO MORE! NO /MORE!/"

The three men watch Diego's body twithcing along the ground until he grows still, steam rising from his body as his eyes pulse with light. One of them jerks his revolver upwards, pointing it at the angel of light, his hands trembling as he screams back to her.

"Stay back you crazy bitch! I'll fucking do you! I'll kill you!"

There is the loud blast of the muzzle as a bullet soars across the alley, just to be devoured by the quick movements of Cloak as his darkness expands around the glowing woman. In a blink she is gone, then reappears behind them with a flare of light as her partner releases her back into battle. She blinds them with her light as she holds her hands upwards, causing them to stumble backwards, pawing at their eyes.

Pulling a hand back, a long blade of light forms between her fingers. "They've made their decision. Prepare to be punished by Cloak and Dagger!" The light blade glows in her hand, ready to throw it into the man who is crumpled over and clutching his face.

Spider-Man has posed:
    The only sound that might not be accountable to those below might well just be a faint whir that sounds as the silhouette above allows his eyelets to narrow, the mirrored lenses casting the image of what he is witnessing back toward those down below. Barely more than a hint of an after-image, Spider-Man tilts his head as he watches the rush and movement, the firearm barks yet for some reason it does not trigger his spider-sense as if there was never truly any real danger for the lithe woman and her partner.
    But there is for those who dare defy the duo.
    And for some reason or another. That just doesn't sit right with the wall-crawler.
    Dagger draws her hand back and abruptly there's a /thwip!/ from above as a wad of webbing is fired toward that hand, even as suddenly there's another figure there, dropping from on high and landing in a crouch, then rising to his not so entirely considerable full height.
    "Hey guys." His back is to the thugs, his attention more on the avatars of illumination. "I know you guys are probably new to this whole hero gig thing."
    He jerks a hand behind him as those wicked men still reel and waver, trying to wipe the glare from their eyes. "But once we subdue the bad guys, then we give them to the cops and leave it to the authorities to do that whole punishment gig."
    A beat.
    "Well unless you're Frank Castle. But that's a whole other can of worms."
    He pauses to look between the two. "Cool?"

Cloak has posed:
"No, you wouln't." Comes that bass tone growl of Cloak as he appears before them. The bullet pass into shadow where his body should be, where he then enrobes Dazzler before he teleports her out of harm's way. The hunter looks ready to descend back down to finish the job when his companion's hand is immobilized and the culprit then makes his presence known.

The look on Cloak's face is murderous. Wrathful. Starved. "There is no justice in your system. There is in *mine*."

The cloak that forms his namesake billows wide like the wings of a descending vulture heralding doom, and Cloak is turning right for Spiderman. Now there would be the very real sense of imminent danger as the shadowman's wrath turns on the one who would dare interfere with Dagger.

Dagger has posed:
Before she can strike, Dagger's hand gets coated in webbing, saving the man's life for the moment. Even if it may be brief. The light flares outwards, burning the web away with a sizzle before she glances over towards the webhead. "Spider-Man! Do not interfere! For our mission is a holy one and we will no longer allow these death dealers to roam free to harm children. The law will only put them back out on the streets and they will continue to hurt the innocent."

The way she speaks, there is true emotion in her voice. Sadness. Anger. There is rage bleeding in her eyes in the form of bright flickers of light. The three gunmen by now have turned to run down the alley, leaving behind Diego who is stunned and tripping from the stun job of her daggers. He's not dead. But he's in a world of pain. She stole his hopes away from him. Greedy sins of swimming in money at the expense of ruined lives.

"They're getting away!" She whips her body around, sending another light blade into the back of one man's leg, causing him to scream out in pain as he crashes into the wall, then hits the side of a dumpster. The other two gunmen by now have fled the alley and out into the street.

Spider-Man has posed:
    "C'mon." The man in the red and blue with those mirrored lenses for eyes tilts his head toward Cloak now, a hint of exasperation entering his voice as he flares his hands wide. "We don't have to do this." Though he does take a step back. Another. And indeed, there's that wild jangle of his spider-sense sounding the klaxon alarm in his mind that lets him know exactly how much danger he's in.
    "You want to bust some people doing dirty, that's great." But then he straightens up, "But you start torturing people and that's a step beyond, right? You don't want to be the jerkholes in this."
    Then his voice gets a little more stern, "And buddy." He points at Cloak then even as the cape billows, "You keep stepping to me and we will have very sharp words. I'm telling you."
    As he says that last, Spider-Man balances on the balls of his feet leaning forward a little, hands out to his sides. Focused, but perhaps still hoping a peaceful resolution can be had.
    Until Dagger blurs into action a luminescent blade slicing across the distance to imbed in the fleeing man's leg which causes one final word of complaint before Spider-Man breaks into action as well.
    "Dangit."
    Most would imagine that in a fight the combatants would rush toward each other, would try and take each other out as quickly as possible. The straightest line toward each other, yet Spider-Man instead leaps straight up into the air, caroming off of that low-hanging wrought iron bar he had been perched on and flipping into the air sharply at another angle. Twisting in mid-flight his right hand snaps out, a small flurry of several splatting globs of webbing trying to find their way to glue Dagger's feet to the floor or her leg to the wall, knowing she can burn herself free easily enough but time is of the essence.
    And in that same leap he is flipping backwards, seemingly slooooowly to his mind's eye but to the world all one seamless motion as his other web-shooter comes up...
    To try and send a glob straight at Cloak's face with a /splut./

Cloak has posed:
Much of Cloak's body looks to be nothing but shadow, but there must be some lingering substance to his face because the webbing sticks to something with enough resistance to elicit a roar of frustration and anger from the man. He lashes and jerks in a frenzy like throwing a blanket over a rabid dog.

Even if he can no longer see the Spiderman, there is someone he's keenly aware of. Dagger's light is a beacon even in blindness and he lurches towards the sense of her light. The gesture lacks his usual grace, but he seeks his partner to sweep her up in the darkness of his cloak and take them both into the space beyond and away from pesky arachnids and their tiring morals.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Pfft! Pfft!

The sound would be lost to the trio down in the alleyway but the results would be visible. The light dagger hits the leg of the man at the same time something else does. The last one who was getting away? He falls as though something struck him in the middle of the back.

In truth, it did. A non lethal round, a rubber bullet.

As Spidey and the duo confront each other, that dark figure swings over into the alley, landing by the fallen man and quickly cuffing him. Then she turns to the one with the light blade in his leg, seeing he has the same glazed look at the other one closer to the conflict.

She's dressed in her black bodysuit, no SHIELD emblem on the shoulder of this one. She doesn't interrupt the others, trusting in Spidey to be able to handle himself.

Dagger has posed:
As she gets webbed to the wall by her leg, Dagger nearly trips and falls forward. Showing off her natural agility and balance, her body gives a twist, much like a ballerina's would as she uses the flat of her other foot to land and balance her. Her hands blaze as they come together, pulling forward a long, curved sword of light that she gives a spin about, then slashes through the webbing as the stench of burning glue hits the nose. "Yech! Dammit, you shouldn't have --"

Her blue eyes track the two men who run hit the ground, followed by the sight of The Black Widow landing in the alley. Recognzied as one of the Avengers, Dagger's eyes widen, then glances over to the two dancing about on the roof. "Cloak! The Avengers are here! I will be your eyes!" He can feel her light like a moth to a flame, and with a flick of her hand, she sends a dagger of light upwards to tear through the web on his face to free his sight. He most likely will absorb the light into him as she can't hurt him.

As Cloak's cape opens up to descend upon her, her blue eyes turn upwards towards Spider-Man, a lost and beautiful angel who has a mix of emotion on her face. Rage. Anger. Sadness. There is a moment of vulnerability about her as she is swallowed by the dark and teleported out of the alley, leaving behind the injured gang bangers, heroin and cash.

Spider-Man has posed:
    There's no pressure from Spider-Man, no constant harassment, nor any attempt to interfere with their departure. Instead when Spidey lands in front of the fallen, hands up with two fingers ready upon the trigger of his web-shooters... he holds that posture as if ready to fire and fire again...
    But then the two figures rush together, there is that hint of sadness and rage not just from the angellic but from the demonic as well perhaps, enough that the young man known as Peter Parker can tell there is a story there. A story he intends to find out.
    But with Natasha there he straightens up and turns to her, looking over the fallen, the agonized man, the ones rendered unconscious. He takes a deep breath, holds it for a time...
    Then tells her, "I think they're gone, my spider-sense isn't going jingle-jangle-jingle anymore." A few steps carry him toward the one that was struck by Dagger's light blade and he crouches there. "Man. They seemed so young." None of the casual repartee that he's known for. Instead it's clear that the encounter with them weighs upon his thoughts.

Cloak has posed:
A few rooftops over, the shadows congeal like oil and form the figure of Cloak. Like a panther in a neon jungle, he glowers down from the height as a corner of his lip twitches and bares his teeth at the Avengers below. Under the warding wing of striped fabric is Dagger, to whom he murmurs sourly.

"Weeks of tracking. Now, they'll be released after squealing on the next up so they can move on to a new city and do the same thing, maybe even one day rising to the position they helped break. The police and the judges only care about the head of the snake, not the eggs it leaves behind."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
At his statement, Natasha looks at Spider-Man for very long moments before shaking her head. She touches a finger to the commlink in her ear. "Need EMS response to my location. Multiple subjects down. All alive but analysis will be needed for their status."

She pulls her finger away and walks from one body to the next, looking at them critically. Then she moves to the bag, gloved hands protecting the evidence from being damaged. "Seems they interrupted a drug deal. We'll get that dealt with as well, if we can get the evidence to stick with the vigilante appearance of that duo. Probably be able to get them in for a while."

She looks over at Spider-Man. "I didn't realize your Spider-Sense gave you Tex Ritter vibes. Interesting."

Dagger has posed:
As she steps out of the cold, dark recesses of the dark dimension, Dagger rubs at her shoulder a few times before she glances up at him. "They won't be punished. They most likely will make bail and be out by the morning. Back to hurting children and fleeing into the night like whispers on the wind. We needed Diego. He had information that we /needed/." There is a stress and panic in her voice as she paces back and forth along the top of the rooftop, squeezing her hands together as light bleeds through her knuckles.

As her voice cracks, she reaches up to knuckle a tear away from her blue eyes before she sinks down to her knees, leaning into the side of the large air conditon unit mounted on the roof. "Dammit." She hisses, then pounds the metal once with her fist with a clank.

"Do you think you can fetch him without them catching you?" She asks her partner, glancing up at him with her tear streaked eyes, her jaw setting. "We need him, Cloak. Maybe we can bargain with them. Maybe.. I.. I don't know.. "

Spider-Man has posed:
    "Yeah well," Spidey walks along and kneels down to check the vitals of each of the fallen, just in case. He knows Natasha is good, but still. "We could make a book with all the things you don't know about me."
    He straightens up and rests his hands on his hips, turning his head to the side one way, the other, not aware that Cloak and Dagger had only displaced perhaps several rooftops away. But at the least they intended no further malice towards them. Not now at least.
    Then he eyes Natasha sidelong and remembers who he's talking about so he adds, "I mean, it might be a short book. Two pages long or so. Alright maybe a pamphlet. Still."
    That said he plants a hand on the wall and starts to pull himself upwards, a few feet only to turn and balance himself against it with his feet flat there and supporting his weight. "You got this? Me and the cops still don't always see eye to eye..."
    Then a beat as he considers "Hey... were you following me?"

Cloak has posed:
"We do." Murmurs Cloak as he watches and judges where the two Avengers are in relation to their target. "Draw them with your light. When they come to investigate, we'll recover Diego and get out of here." At least, that's his plan. It's on the fly, but perhaps it may work. He doesn't move to leave - Dagger alone might be a suspicious sight - but he does turns to keep one eye on Dagger and one on the ground below.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Of course."

Simple. Direct. No playing games or lying about it. "Wanted to see what you do. How you do it. As you said, we don't have a full folder on you yet. Need to add some pages." A hint of a smirk but she doesn't try to move from her spot there amongst the fallen.

"What I've read about this pair, I'm am not surprised drugs are involved. They seem to have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner for the streets around here of late. SHIELD is keeping an eye and not interfering. Not sure why. That is above my level but I'm sure Fury has his reasons."

She glances back up at the figure high hanging off the side of the building like it is easy. "Seems it helped tonight. At least for these guys. You didn't need any. Well done."

Dagger has posed:
Giving a nod of her head to him, Dagger composes herself, then pushes herself up to her feet. Taking a deep breath, she focuses on the burning fire that rages within her gut. With a twist and turn of her heels and toes, she begins to dance, like a beautiful snowflake caught within the midst of a snowstorm.

Ballet. Her one true passion, combined with her powers of light, she can put on quite a show. Sparkling bolts of light explode about her as she moves, casting shadows this way and that, becoming a spiraling and twirling spotlight to draw the attention of the two heroes. She isn't shy or subtle in this display of power. A leap. A landing. A spin. Another leap. Each movement is deft and agile as she burns hotter and hotter.

Spider-Man has posed:
    "Mmm," Spider-Man doesn't seem entirely convinced and that sound is perhaps the epitome of non-committal. For now he balances there and part of his mask twists up. She doesn't know him well enough to realize that that means he's chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully, but the sentiment becomes clear through the rest of his body language. And the tone as he murmurs,
    "I dunno, Widow. I get the vibe if those two wanted to be more trouble they could be." He gestures with a nod, "You got this?" He crawls up a few more feet on the side of the wall until the flood light attached to the second story shines just over his shoulder.
    "I was going to swing by Queens and take a look in on some things, then try and get some sleep tonight."
    He crinkles his nose beneath the mask, "And no spying on me while I sleep, that would just be. Weird."
    That said he lifts an arm and there's a /thwip!/ as he fires a line toward a far corner, the line tightening in his grip and building that kinetic energy as he holds it...
    Only for him to espy that brightness, the luminescent dance that is visible those several roofs down the way high atop the building near. His head lifts, mirrored lenses catching the silhouette of the youthful girl dancing with such grace for a time he just looks on.
    Until he murmurs sidelong, "They're still here. I'll... go take a look."
    Then his grip upon the wall releases and suddenly that line snaps him forward, thrusting him into the air where he vaults across the distance. One loooong languid leap that has him flying, needing to snare a water tower with one other webline to close the distance and above Dagger... limned against the moonlight, Spider-Man's silhouette is there until he lands near on the edge of the building with a light thap.

Cloak has posed:
Tyrone Johnson does not dance, nor twirl, nor even offers a passive flutter. He watches and he waits. As the bright-eyed spider flies across the moon, the shadowman gives a low hunter's hiss before ducking his head and...

He's gone. Just like that. Or is he?

Because then he is a mass of shadow forming next to the Widow, his eyes gleaming and reflecting back the lights of the city with piercing intent. The hand that comes out from that striped fabric is a thing of horror in that its void given form. No flesh, no bone, not even the barest reflection; its darkness woven into the mockery of limb. But it does not reach for her. It reaches instead for the man on the ground contorted by the light of Dagger, to try and seize him and engulf him in the darkness of that cloak.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Don't do it."

The words are soft, but they are like a shout in that alleyway where darkness meets darkness. Natasha has a Glock in her right hand, held comfortably and aimed directly at the head of Cloak. "I am going to try to appeal to the man inside the shadow." Yet the gun doesn't lower.

"Leave him to me. I will handle this. If your powers do what I have been told, you know what I am. What I represent. And it isn't the Light like your companion. Nor is it your darkness. I am between but I will be certain justice is served. Why do you want him if it wasn't the drugs? My guess is information. That is something I'm a expert at getting."

Dagger has posed:
Despite the dancing, Tandy is ever vigilant. Soon as Cloak swirls out in a cloud of dark shadow, she spies the spandex clad hero leaping towards her. As he lands, she stops dancing, burning like a bright star. Her hair ripples in the heat she puts off as she produces a pair of daggers in her hand.

There is a twitch of her lips upwards as she looks up at him, watching him curiously. "Hello again, Spider-Man." She says softly to him, then takes a few steps backwards towards the edge of the rooftop. As her heels touch the back of the roof, she glances over and downwards to the dizzying height, then back towards him.

"I'm sorry."

Spider-Man has posed:
    There's a glance behind him, just a quick one given before he looks back toward her and that brilliance of light, the glowing aspect almost magical even with blades held in hands. His head cocks to the side and his visor widens a touch even as he sits up and then she'll hear his voice.
    "Yeah. I can kinda tell." For whatever reason.
    But then he says, "Nobody does this. Nobody gets into this... without a strong reason. And whatever yours is, whatever anger and sadness you're feeling. You need to hold onto it, feel it, but don't let it make you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life."
    He gains his feet slowly, then looks around. No tingle, no malice, no wild mayhem ensuing. Those eyelets slip back to the dancer and he says quietly. "Where is your friend?"

Cloak has posed:
The hand pauses, fingers furling and unfurling like talons.

"Who are you to promise anything?" Cloak responds to her. "You claim you know things about me, but don't know the most important thing - why we fight. Link by link, we destroy the chain until there is nothing left to hold the rest up." There's another low growl. Frustrated, agitated; but then Nat's faced moody snarly creatures plenty of times before.

"*Avengers*." He spits the name like it was poison. "So focused on evil with code names, you've forgotten the streets that they came from. Where are you all for the bruised girl under a streetlight? A child forced into crime to pay the debts of their parents? An old broken veteran and fellow soldier turned to drugs to fend off the winter cold? Can you not see them anymore from the heights of your towers? Go save the world. We'll save its humanity."

And he calls her bluff right then and there. Diego is in his sights and unless she pulls that trigger he'll take the man and be gone into darkness.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
She wasn't bluffing. But his speed was such that they were gone by the time she had enough pressure and the bullet slammed into the brick wall where he had been. The rubber bullet bounced off and hit the ground.

"Obviously, your powers were overrated," she mutters to herself as she holsters the weapon, frowning into the nothing of the alleyway.

She turns to stand near the other two, waiting to see if they will have another visitor for them or not.

Dagger has posed:
"You don't understand. They did this to us. They turned us into this. They kidnapped us. Two lonely runaways on the streets. They injected us with poison in our veins. Experimental heroin and left us to die. We woke up in a pile of bodies, all kids, young ones just like us. We woke up with these powers. Powers that will kill us eventually. I will burn up like a dying star and he will be swallowed into the shadows. We do this because we will never see another child hurt by drugs or those who sell them, ever again."

Tandy takes in a deep breath, then says, "He's right here. We'll meet again, Spider-Man. Hopefully on better terms. We'll drop our prey off at the doorsteps of the police station down the street. For you. He lives because of you."

Taking a step back, she topples backwards off the roof, falling swiftly as below Cloak appears, his cape opening in mid-air and catching her in his darkness. There is a rustle of fabric as he snaps it shut around them, disappearing in a swirl of shadow back to the Holy Ghost Church, where poor Diego will have a long trip through the dark dimension, screaming in shadow at his darkest sins and fears come to life before he will eventually cough up information on the 10G Boyz.

    ~You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk, while you have the light, before dakrness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.~ John 12:35