11978/Milk Cartons: Exodus 21:24

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Milk Cartons: Exodus 21:24
Date of Scene: 11 August 2020
Location: Clinton (Hell's Kitchen), Manhattan
Synopsis: WILD PACK ATTACKS! Cloak and Dagger get a surprise visitor.
Cast of Characters: Dagger, Cloak, Silver Sable, Black Cat, Ivory
Tinyplot: Milk Cartons


Dagger has posed:
    "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe"

It has been a few weeks since Cloak and Dagger teamed up with the X-Men to take down another local gang that was employed by a mysterious figurehead responsible for kidnapping mutant children and selling them to an unknown buyer in Singapore. With the children safe and sound and the gang members behind bars, it has been rather quiet as of late. All the leads has been lost on their end, while the X-Men continue to interrogate their new prisoner, Jingfei, a General who was overseeing the last operation.

The city tonight is still warm and humid, lazy and slow for a Tuesday. Even then, Hell's Kitchen is still one of the most dangerous places in New York City. The shadows creep along the neon signed streets, searching for fun to be hand in the form of sex, drugs and loud music. Fire can be seen flickering from the tops of metal garbage cans from those who dwell on the streets, lost within the cracks of this city and forgotten and ignored by society.

Tucked away within the rundown district of Hell's Kitchen is The Holy Ghost Church. The santuary to the two vigilantes, Cloak and Dagger. The angel of light and the demon of the dark. Two against the world in a holy quest to rid the streets of heroin and those who seek to poison the people and continue to hold them down by the throat of addiction. Tandy Bowen is currently sitting in one of the pews with a magazine in her hands, flipping through a few pages of an old, tattered bible as she gives a visible frown upon her face. She's dressed in jeans and a basic t-shirt with a leather jacket over her person. They've worked hard through the week and tonight, the two are in need of a day off.

"Ty. Maybe we should get out of here tonight and get a pizza or something." Her voice echos through the old church as the only light within is coming off her body in a natural glow so that she can read the pages.

Cloak has posed:
His counterpoint may be able to relax, but if anyone has seem similar behavior in Cloak they have yet to speak of it. The tall man is a void within the shadows of the small overhang which once housed a humble choir. He's watching out the cracks of one smog-dark stained glass window, silently observing the streets outside. Until now, there's only been the occasional whisper quiet rustle of fabric that moves even without a breeze.

"If you want. I can follow with you." Comes his response, a low reverb through the empty church. "Things seem quiet tonight out there, at least on the surface."

Silver Sable has posed:
Outside the Holy Ghost church, a quartet of Wild Pack mercs are gathering. Silver has specifically picked them for this mission. She told them it was vitally important they do this part of things. They are looking the part, too...body armor, pistols, shotguns, and they have orders to go in and kill Cloak and Dagger. Silver Sable's set this up from her side of things nicely. Silver herself is overseeing things with a main Wild Pack team. She's an ice queen and demands perfection from her troops.

Truthfully, Silver's sending those four mercs...hopefully, to their deaths. She caught on to them compromising the contract and selling the Wild Pack out. Killing them herself would be too easy...and Silver can write it off as a tragic accident, they weren't prepared or good enough. They barely made the cut as is, and were selling their souls and secrets for big money.

So now. they die in because they aren't good enough. The four mercs storm the church talking, no, boasting about the contract. One the four running to their execution enter, Silver and her team wait outside then follow a few moments later. Unlike the four mercs, who are walking to their deaths...Silver and her team are armed with actual weapons.

Oh yeah, about that. The four, Zulu Squad, may look the part, but there is nothing they can do. They are being sacrificeded. Those guns? Deactivated. The armor? It's about as good as paper mache. Silver's done this deliberately to send a message.

and she's kept the real things for the rest of the Wild Pack, too.

Black Cat has posed:
Black Cat usually concerns herself with more... selfish... pursuits. Okay, so more than 'usually'. Cat burglars do what cat burglars do, after all. But when it comes to kidnapping kids and selling them into slavery, that's worth more than a distraction. She keeps her ear to the ground and has a lot of connections, after all. So finding out that there's a pair of hero-types helping kids... This is something that deserves a follow-up.

The church is easy enough to find, of course, and for someone of Felicia's skill it's also easy enough to break into. It's not technically 'breaking and entering' if you don't break anything, right? In through the bell tower and down the stairs, even. Tandy and Ty are debating pizza when the black-clad burglar just casually steps into the church through the tower door.

"Hi there. We haven't met, but I thought I should mention that there's a group of armed mercenaries outside. I figure you've got about a minute before they storm the doors. Maybe two."

Ivory has posed:
    Why does Ivory go to Hell's Kitchen? Actually, they're not sure what exactly. They had been out clubbing over at a different part of the town and now were on their way back, and the feet somehow ended up bringing her through Hell's Kitchen, passing along the Holy Ghost Church. Which, usually would lie silent at this time, but today? Today mercs show up with screeching tires, almost running over the white haired designer, then jump out and start to storm the church, again, almost running over the owner of White Persian Cat.

Flailing, they end on the floor, staring after the people in their body armor that first almost offed them with the car. "Hey! learn how to drive!" they scream after them as she gets up, searching for their cellphone to try to call someone because... oh god, those were assault rifles! Even if they might miss a crucial part to fire, that was much too like the Punisher...

Dagger has posed:
"You don't have to just follow me, Ty. You can actually hang out with me also." There is the sound of sadness in Tandy's voice as she understands his situation. It's a lonely one. When she hears Felicia's voice, she jolts out of her the pew quickly, her hands flaring up with a pair of glowing knives in her hands as she stares at the masked vigilante. "Wait .. what?"

Glancing over towards the doors of the church, she starts back peddling towards where Cloak is positoned. "Shit. Wish we could have all met under different circumstances. Cloak, get ready!"

Cloak has posed:
Having been street watching, Cloak saw the van nearly plow over Ivory. But before he can really start reacting, Felicia suddenly charges in. He whips around with a growl more befitting of an angry bear as opposed to a man, but as soon as he's heard what she has to stay the man disappears in a rush of fabric and shadow. He reappears on the floor below next to Tandy, and his response is a snarl that promises violence. "Always."

He steps forward in front of Dagger, ready and waiting facing the door with the full expanse of the emptiness beneath the cloak displayed like the open maw of a waiting dragon set to devour the knight coming into his lair.

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver couldn't really care what happens to Zulu Squad. They were only brought along because this is their execution, and Silver doesn't want to waste the energy to do it herself. She's no time for being lied to, being double crossed and sold out. Zulu Squad were excited for this and bragging to the actual Wild Pack about this. Maybe the fact Silver doesn't refer to them as Wild Pack should have clued them in...but they were too excited to get a high paying job to notice. They assumed she'dd bring them into the main Pack eventually and this was just a probationary thing.

Kind of. If they hadn't sold out...it'd have happened. If they'd have not coasted through the recruiting process and relied on big name recommendations...so they got put on Zulu Squad.

Meantime, Silver and Alpha squad head in too trailing Zulu Squad by a good few minutes. Enough time to 'stumble' on Zulu Squad if they are dead. It's almost not fair.

Zulu Squad charge in all excited to get in on the action, as outside Silver and company spot Ivory. "Are you okay?" Silver asks. She's timing this one to the nanosecond, and looks to Ivory again with a raised brow. "Do you need me to call you an ambulance or give you a ride to hospital or anything?"

See, this is killing two birds with one stone. One, It gets Silver to talk to Ivory as a cover for why she's not in there. Two, it kils time. Three, it gives her a plan on how to escape should things go sour. Alright, three birds, one stone.

Meantime...Zulu Squad are anything but sneaky and literally run right into Cloak. Weapons raise...

ClickThere's nothing. No gunshots. Nothing. Triggers are pulled again, Nothing happens. They are lambs to the slaughter...and all the time they are bragging about oh, we're going to get paid, we're going to kill Cloak and Dagger and kill somebody who has been killing innocent kids, that sort of chatter. They've fully bought into it.

Black Cat has posed:
Having delivered her courtesy warning, Black Cat figures that the best place to be for the upcoming assault is... somewhere else. Cloak does his thing and she flashes him a smile, giving a little wave as she points her other hand towards the rafters. A grapple fires, and then she reels herself upward. Giving a little hip-swing partway along, she lands on another rafter and shakes her line loose.

Gazing down into the church, she watches as Zulu Squad surges in with guns... well, with guns <clicking>. That's interesting. And soon to be unfortunate. For a moment, Felicia wonders if it's her, but then again she's pretty sure that HER bad luck had nothing to do with it. This time.

Ivory has posed:
Ivory turns as Silver Sable asks something to her, the phone in hand. "I'm ok, but I'm calling the pol...." that's whan they spot that Alfa squad isn't armed anything less than the other one. Oh F. "I... I metter get going..." they mutter, speeding up to get to the other side of the vehicle Zulu had used.

    "Whoever's in there, there're more out here!"

Dagger has posed:
As Cloak pulls the shadows around him to fill the church, there is a blaze of light behind him. Dagger burns with anger and fury at the idea of her home being invaded by gunmen. The blades in her hands glow brighter and grow a few inches longer as she grits her teeth.

"You /dare/ attack us in our home, our church and sanctuary!?"

When the guns seemingly jam, she steps out from behind her partner, letting the blades of light fly at neck breaking speeds across the room. She looks to cripple the front line as she moves like trained dancer, leaping from pew to pew. The young girl is gone, leaving behind an angel of vengeance. Each sting of her dagger will shock the very soul once it hits. The type of pain that makes you go numb and stiff.

"Who are you?! Why are you attacking us?"

Cloak has posed:
Arrogance always makes fear that much sweeter, like that sprinkle of sea salt on top of a caramel.

There's no warning from Cloak when they come through the door. No hesitation. He erupts into motion, surging down the aisle towards the strike team with a monstrous bellow and the fury of a man who's sanctuary is now no longer safe. For the few who may have already fallen by the time he reaches, they are spared a few moments of horror. Cloak focuses on those standing, looking to sweep them up in the reach of that striped fabric and draw them in to the dark.

Black Cat has posed:
Black Cat gazes down from her perch in the rafters, watching as shadows fill the church. Crouching, she balances lightly on the balls of her feet as Dagger launches at the would-be attackers. Cloak surges forward a moment later, and from the strike team's reactions Felicia definitely made a good choice.

Ivory has posed:
Ivory perching behind the car outside, Ivory has a chance to work on trying to actully place the call to the police, to try to request someone to help against... uh... terrorists armed with large caliber automati rifles? Yea... "Hello?! I'm in Hell's Hitchen, and tere's some guys with machine guns or something! They just stormed a church! no, I can not hear shooting... not sure..."

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver watches Ivory and shakes her head. "You don't want to get involved in this" Silver warns. "You call the police, and you'll be in a lot of red tape and trouble. I need to get in there to defuse what's going on. I'm on diplomatic business from Symkaria"

True. She /is/ a diplomat, but..but...she's hoping to appeal to common sense, to the get the fuck out of the way side of things...then Ivory /actually/ calls 911. Great...

Once Silver and company enter the church, she's taking her time, working with the Wild Pack as one team to slowly, methodically, go through things and finally she reaches Cloak and Dagger. Too late for Zulu Team. They just didn't get there in time, sadly. That's how Silver's reporting it anyhow.

"Something didn't seem right with Silver. These two don't seem like the mass murderers the contract made them out to be?

Cautiously Silver steps forward once. Twice...and...she looks to Cloak and Dagger. "You're not who I expected. The contract stated mass murderers and people who do unspeakable evil. You're..." she pauses, "Normal? We were told there were to mass murderers doing unspeakable evil in here"

Dagger has posed:
With the four bodies on the ground in more or less a catatonic state, Dagger is still looking furious as the next group comes in. She pulls up her fists once more, blades peeking out between her knuckles as she stares at them with intensity in her eyes. "We only kill those who poison and harm children. Who are you?"

She keeps herself close to Cloak, half-way in and out of him as the inky void of shadows pulls at her delicious light. She knows it will only take a moment for her to duck inside and for them to teleport out if need be. She looks to be on edge, bouncing on her feet a bit as the glow of her powers ripples about her.

Cloak has posed:
"MURDERERS?!" Booms Cloak, the sheer fury bleeding off the ragged edges of the shouted word. "We take those who would harm us or the innocent. You, who break into our home with guns and accusations... you have no right to use those accusations against us."

With a jerk of the edge of his cloak, one of the devoured men is spit out of the darkness where his body should be and rolls to a stop at the feet of Silver Sable. He's shaking, eyes bugged out almost to the point of falling out, seeing but unseeing as he forms words and screams that only come out as strangled whispers.

"Get. Out." He bristles with his teeth bared. "Before you lay like him at the feet of whoever sent you."

Black Cat has posed:
Black Cat watches the proceedings down in the church below, quiet and motionless. At least until the accusations and the name-calling starts. Taking a couple of slow, casual steps along the rafter she does a front-flip off and lands lightly on her feet a good distance below. Knees flex deeply, the burglar turning as she rises.

"Mass murders doing unspeakable evil? Seriously, Silver?" For the mercenary is known by reputation, if nothing else. "I mean, that's -rich- coming from you. I really think you've gone knocking on the wrong door, don't you?"

Ivory has posed:
    "Don't you dare..." Ivory hisses towards Silver, using the car as cover while the sablinova enters the church. "Y..yes officer, that woman caimed that this would be Symka...symkarian business or souch..." Which might turn it all into a diplomatic problem, not red tape for Ivory. Because honestly? They could manage to dodge it. But the screams from the church make them duck deeper behind the car as they try to keep the police updated - who might not even come.

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver listens. "Then...you're not who we are after?" she asks simply, looking like she wants to kill whoever set this up. "We were hired to kill a Cloak and a Dagger, we were told they were murderers, and needed to die...but you are in the target building and nothing like murderers" Silver says then whips her gaze around to Fel's voice. "What are you doing here, Felicia, looking to steal a cross or maybe the communion takings?" she asks. yes. Low blow but Silver is not happy with this contract at all. She's been double crossed or lied to, twice today. Unlike, say, Zulu squad, she can't 'send' the guy who set the contract up and is dangling many many millions of dollars over their heads...she can't very well kill him.
Though, she's a practical ice queen and does what's needed. "We were promised tens of millions of dollars, and that is a lie? I intend to collect that money one way or another, without hurting either of you" she says and then turns her gaze back to where Black Cat's voice is coming from.

"You" she says and lets the word hang in the air. "Are in a church. Are we all on the same side? I want to deal with the man who set up the contract" she begins slowly, words dripping with tightly controlled anger.

Dagger has posed:
"We are Cloak and Dagger, but we are not murderers. We only hurt those who kidnap children and force herion into the veins of the sick and addicted. Rarely we kill, but we only do when it is the worst of cases, and that is only after we've seen the fear and torture reflected in the eyes of young children."

Dagger is anything but gentle in the tone of her voice. She is writhing in rage.

"Who sent you after us?" She asks as her blue eyes narrow with sparkes of light flickering at the corners.

Black Cat has posed:
Felicia. Ouch! Ah well, masks can't hide EVERYTHING, and it's a thinner veil than she'd like to admit. "Me?" Black Cat replies with faux innocence. "I'm just a concerned citizen who was *clearly* in the wrong place at the wrong time. A victim of circumstance."

A 'victim' who just happens to be dressed like a notorious cat burglar and arrived 2 minutes ahead of the posse with a warning.

Felicia laughs, then. "Tens of millions of dollars? For *these* two? Oh honey, you better cash that advance check fast, before it bounces. And maybe read the fine print on the contract. Let me know if you need help with the reading part."

Then Dagger admits to who she is, and Felicia rolls her eyes. Why can't people just stick to a good mistaken identity alibi? She runs with it. "But yeah, who DID send you after these two?"

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver pulls out a tablet and pulls up the contract. "This is the contract in question. Take a good look at it. The Madam signed it and wired the money over already. Guess what, it's real money" she calls over...more for Felicia's benefit and to get that jab in. "I don't want to have collateral damage, and we're both on the same team as of saying this, correct? We both have a common enemy, this Madam, who wanted you two dead" Silver continues, holding the tablet at an angle so it's easier to read if anyone wants to. it's not SSIofficial company tablet or anything like that, it's just a copy of the contract on a cheap tablet. It's a sort of cheap and cheerful one a mom would get for their kids for a long car ride sort.

Silver narrows her eyes on the screen. "The Madam..." she begins, looking from the tablet, to Cloak and then Dagger

Dagger has posed:
There is a visible frown upon Dagger's face as the light knives fade away from he rhands. "We don't have a common enemy. You're a hired killer. There is no same team here. If you aren't going to kill us, then leave. I am sure the police will be on their way." And they won't be sticking around, that's for sure. She stares down at the men on the ground, her brow furrows. "They didn't even shoot at us. The guns didn't work. We didn't cause that."

She tilts her head upwards toward Felicia for a moment in the high ground, then back towards Silver Sable. She looks to be on edge as adrenaline is still surging in her veins.

"If you have any honor in you, tell them that you were successful and killed us. Enjoy your blood money."

Ivory has posed:
    Ivory on the other hand is held in line, the operator trying to get more info, but them not seeing anything means... well, not much to give. The chance for a police cruiser to turn up might rise, but this was still Hell's Kitchen so it might take an hour. or Two. And the police would not even need to show up at all, thanks to Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005).

Cloak has posed:
"Same /team/?" Cloak says with disgusted incredulity. The word that he then addressed Silver Sable with is scathingly offensive. "You break into MY house, on order and payroll of my enemy, then have the audacity to say we're on the same team?"

The man boils with fury as he advances, looking like he has every intention of getting directly in Sable's face unless stopped. "You don't want /damage/? You got five seconds to get out, or there isn't going to be enough of you or your team for anyone to even realize that you existed."

"Five."

Silver Sable has posed:
Silver takes the hint...and leaves the tablet. "Move it" Silver calls. "Leave Zulu Team" she adds and all but sprints for the door. Okay. So the contract's a bust, but...but...she's still alive. That's a good outcome in her book. SSI is still operating and she, herself, hasn't been thrown out of the States.

She'll take it. Even if it's not exactly the ideal outcome. Oh she's got the money. She'll just work things her way, and, she may need to reach out and see if any other mercenaries have had contact with this Madam..

Dagger has posed:
There is a visible frown upon Dagger's face as she watches The Wild Pack head out. Reaching over, she picks up the tablet and clutches it to her chest as she feels the folds of fabric from Cloak wrap about her. The church goes thick and dark for a moment before the two disappear in a swirl of shadow.

"Thank you!" Is Dagger's voice calling out from the shadows to Felicia, thanking her for the head's up earlier. From here, the church is deahtly silent and quiet, leaving behind four bodies of the Zulu team who will wake with headaches and nightmares.