12234/Milk Cartons: Classic Misunderstanding

Milk Cartons: Classic Misunderstanding
Date of Scene:	24 September 2020
Location:	Holy Ghost Church, Clinton
Synopsis:	Cloak and Dagger run into Spiderman and the Blue Beetle. The Black Dragon sneaks off once more.
Cast of Characters:	Dagger, Cloak, Spider-Man, Blue Beetle (Kord), Hunori Seong
Tinyplot:	Milk Cartons

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Dagger has posed:
Hell's Kitchen is known as one of the most dangerous areas of New York City, where the sound of gunshots is most children's lullabys as they live well below the poverty line. This is where dreams come to die and there is no shortage of death. In the backdrop of this war torn neighborhood is the Holy Ghost Church, having gone dark years ago and only maintained infrequently by Father Francis Delgado. Over the last few months, little by little, like an ice picking tapping into the side of a glacier, some of the more infamous drug dealers have disappeared from these streets and rumors of a devil and angel have been popping up in the news.

It appears that those who prey and hunt upon the souls of the lost, are now being hunted in return. And tonight ..

Cloak and Dagger are starving.

"HELP! HELP ME!" The screams of a man can be heard from the alley as he stands trembling, two hands grasping the handle of a firearm as he points at the thick, inky black shadows in front of him. Nearby is the body of a young woman in a red dress, her underwear torn away and blood clotting upon her head. "Oh God! Oh Fffff-fuck!"

From the shadows a pair of blue eyes can be seen, glowing, burning with riteous anger and fury, soon followed by the shape of a woman with a cross cut across the white fabric of her costume.

"God can't hear you tonight, villain. We saw what you did to this young girl. We saw your greedy eyes roam along her body after you struck her with that brick. No. The Lord will not be your savior. Not tonight. Not ever. Tonight, you will be judged by Cloak and Dagger."

And from her hands, a blade of light forms as she curls her fingers around it.

The man's screams grow louder and more panicked as the darkness within the alley grows thicker.

Cloak has posed:
The angel in front of the man may be boiling in the same way dry ice does, but behind the man is a far colder malevolence. It's not the anger born of purpose and duty. The anger that bleeds away even the reflection of light in the alley has none of that reasoning. It is the fury born of need. The need of a hunter to see the eyes of his prey and know there is no escape. It is the need to crush, destroy, and consume.

It is Cloak's brand of justice.

"And we are not merciful."

The voice manifests before the man who materializes in a slow, congealing manner. Its as if the shadows reach out from the pavement and the walls and ooze into the shape of a man who is little more than a snarling face staring out from a cascade of darkness. "And we do not forgive."

Spider-Man has posed:
Sometimes, as a hero, you need grounding. Tonight is one of those nights. Stopping heists, robbery, theft, etc in the other districts are one thing, but Hell's Kitchen... that's another level. Spider-man is hopping rooftop-to-rooftop, swinging between buildings when he needs to. He's stopped a couple of what he assumes were about to be full on violent robberies, leaving the offender's hanging from a lightpost. Hopefully the police show up, but if not at least the victim got away.

New screams catch his attention now. These seem different. Not rage or violence, but fear. Work's never done, he decides and leaps into action. As the Darkness Duo make their... proclaimations, Spidey is just getting there, landing atop the nearby building and spider-crawling along its side. 'Not again' he thinks to himself. He flicks his fingers and a web fire's out, not hitting the two other vigilante's, but their intended victim. He tugs to pull the guy back and stick him to the wall just beneath him. "Whoa-whoa-whoa, Judge Dredds, You need to dial that darkness knob back down to like a two."

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
Hell's Kitchen /is/ a pretty grim place. Oh, not as grin as it /was/ back in, say the 80's and 90's. Parts of it /have/ been gentrified somewhat but that new veneer hides the dark, corrupt core that hasn't been completely excised by investment and development by certain parties and corporate concerns.

One of those corporate concerns is K.O.R.D. Industries. Already making plans to help revitalize the area near Mutant Town, the companies CEO doesn't see why he shouldn't try to do the same for the other less-fortunate burroughs. So thats why we find said CEO, Ted Kord, in Hell's Kitchen. Walking down the street it is clear that he isn't a local, but he doesn't give off the vibe of being a suave and sophisticated Billionaire as well. Dressed down (and weariung a few tones of blue and yellow tinted glasses, talking on a cellphone. "..Well you'll just have to see if you can get me an appointment with the Fisk Industries rep..." he says.. then falls silent as someone on the other end responds to him. "Well thats why you get paid the big bucks, Teri...."

Thats when he hears, over the din of the local backgrounbd noises, that call for help.. and he sees an alleyway begin to glow.

"Look, Teri.. I need to run. Something's come up." he says as he crosses the street, sneaking towards the opening for that alleyways. ".. What? No, of course I'm not doing anything stupid.." he says as he peeks around the corner and sees what is happening.. and frowns as the mismatched pair of Light and Dark seem to be staring down what LOOKS like a common local-type all threatening like. "This doesn't look good.." he mumbles.. then winces as someone askes him something over the phone. "I said this.. uhm.. shwarma doesn't look good.." he says quietly into the phone as he watches. "Yes, I'm getting something to eat... No I'm not lying. Yes, I'll have a diet coke.. Wait.. Teri, you're my /assistant/, not my Mom.. I don't think you can talk to me like that.. Oh crap , SPider-man?!?" he gapes as the arachnid swings overhead.. "No.. I /didn't/ say Spider-man I said.. uh.. Oh forget it!" he thumbs the phone off and ducks behind a dumpster.

Hunori Seong has posed:
Other heroes? They're still finding their way. Most who find their start through discovery rather than the tragic trauma that inspired so many other vigilanties started out with a more upbeat and optimistic approach. Or at least, that rang true enough for Hunni, and seemed normal enough in the books she'd read.

Dressed rather simply, dark jeans and a deep blue hoodie on her frame, the young woman was currently midway through the frozen drink she'd picked up from the nearby convenience store as she walked the street looking for...well, a way out. The korean youth was kinda lost, and she'd ended up in the wrong end of town.

Then again, as that scream cut the air and the newly empowered 'hero' turned on her heel to begin hastily running in the direction of its source she couldn't help but grin. Maybe it was the -right- place after all!

Dagger has posed:
The man trembling in the alleyway is wearing a sleeveless black leather jacket with a dragon insignia on the back. With numerous tattoos up and down his arms, he clearly shows the signs of one affiliated with a local gang. The teardrops beneath one eye shows he has taken a life or three in the past. And yet in this moment? He is acting like a terrified child. The glow of Dagger's blade lights up the alley, just to get swallowed up by Cloak's darkness from the other end.

"We know what else you took the other night. Those children. Tonight, you will scream the name of your employer to us if you wish to -- " As the man gets yanked across the alley by Spider Man, there is fury in the blue eyes of the blonde angel as she jerks her head upwards. "We told you Web Head to stay out of our business! You have no clue what you're dealing with here. This is bigger than you."

As the man fights against the webbing, his eyes widen. "Spider Man! Help me! They're gonna kill me man! Don't let them have me! Please!" He's sobbing now, the scent of urine reeking in the air. It's almost as if he knows what to expect when it comes to crossing their path.

Cloak has posed:
As their target is swept away with a thwip of webbing and a sassy comment, Cloak's growling voice crossing the boundary from still sounding human to sounding like the stalking animal his posture suggests.

"/You./" It's said with a bass low enough that a nearby brick has a chip rattled loose. The darkness knob is incapable of being turned back.

"You escaped me the last time you interfered." There's a glint of white teeth before Cloak disappears with the whisper of fabric and shifting shadow. He reappears in a moment on a fire escape on the same side of the building as Spider-Man. He's not in arm's reach, but he is unnervingly close in a very unnervingly short span of time. "Not this time."

Apparently Cloak is not a Spiderfan.

Spider-Man has posed:
As the guy speak, Spider-man rolls his eyes behind his mask. "You realize I'm pretty sure you're a bad guy, right, now hush." He looks to the other two. "Maybe if you told me what I'm dealing with, I would know. Then we'd both know. You guys seem to have a lot of beef with thugs, and normally that's great," he gives a double thumbs up at that, "Seriously, but you take it that step too far, and... I mean that's your next step. Makes you no better than who you're stopping." He inwardly cringes at the booming voice and the sudden re-appearance, but he manages to mostly not show it outward. "So how 'bout we put down all the murder implments before someone gets murdered."

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
Blue Beetle holds a precarious place in Heroedom. He began as a street level hero in Chicago before he was drafted for the short-lived and now defunct Justice League International and became headquartered in New York.  Known as a bombastic joker, sometimes called loser of sorts, and relegated to the low B-class or high-c-class heroes list he went from punching out crazed loons in clown makeup (No, the Bat does NOT have a monopoly on that) to fighting entities who ate stars... All without superpowers.

And then he dissapeared.

There have been one or two rumors that Blue Beetle has been seen over the past few months but no corroborative evidence. That's because Ted isn't sure The Blue Beetle /has/ returned. He still has some.. issues. Deep ones. And he isn't quite sure if he's serious about returning to the cowl or just fooling himself.

Squeezing behind the dumpster a bit more, Ted sighs and looks at the larger-than-average watch he wears. It looks pretty spiffy. Both digital AND analog and made of bands of blue tinted metal.  He stares at it a moment, then sighs. "Screw it." he murmurs twists the edge three times.. then slaps the face.

The watch breaks apart, like metallic and rubber pixels, unfolding up his arm and spreading across his chest.. down his other arm.. his torso.. his legs. The highly compressed meta-materials of this prototype 'travel' suit thickening as it arranges itself into a two-tone blue full body costume, complete with cowl. The yellow tinted glasses re configuring to become his goggle-like visor. the remainder of the transformation is the last of the metallic watch and his phone breaking down and reforming into a silver ray-gun looking pistol (with blue highlights)

The transformation complete, Ted (now Blue Beetle) takes a deep breath and jumps upwards, ladder jumping between the dumpster and the alley wall until he lands on top of the dumpster and stands there, hands on his hips.

"Good evening, Citizens!" he intones, offering EVERYONE a 1000 what grin. " I'm not here to /bug/ you but is there a problem, here?" he asks. Get it? Bug?

Dagger has posed:
"We are not superheroes who put spandex on and pose for pictures at the Daily Bugle." Dagger fires back at Spider Man with a low growl in her voice. She may have took a potshot at him with that. He's always front and center of the paper. "We are not Avengers. We are not the Justice League. We do not play by your rules and 'code' that gets you out of bed every morning." The blade in the woman's hand glows brighter and with a flick of her wrist, she sends it soaring through the dark alley, striking the man in the chest as he lets out a scream of agony. She burns the drugs out of his pores, she /rips/ his hopes out. But, he's not dead.

"Your system is not effective. The police are just as bad as those they pretend to bring in. They let rapists and murderers walk, all while /children/ are hunted by those who seek to poison their veins, or steal them for nightmares far worse. We speak for those who can't! We are the knife that will /cut/ the cancer out of these streets so that this city may live once more. This man here is --

That is when The Blue Beetle makes his way into the alley. She pauses for a moment as she stares at him, then gives a glance over towards Cloak. "We can't fight Spider Man and The Tick at the same time."

They are fairly D-List and don't know everyone yet. Don't take it personal.

Cloak has posed:
"If you would stop talking, maybe you would learn that's what we're stopping." Cloak snarls with the same disgusted tone as an old man prattling to a kid on his lawn. "What comfort are your jokes to her?" A hand points out of his namesake cloak like Christmas Future to Ebenezer's grave towards the woman down in the alley who's had quite enough of savage men and gray area 'heroes'.

He looks past Spider-Man towards the dagger-stricken man with a scowl, but he is distracted then by the clang on the dumpster. He slowly turns his cowled head to look at Blue Beetle with a look that could freeze over Hell itself and responds like he'd just sucked on a lemon, "There is now."

Spider-Man has posed:
"I'm not saying these guys are good, just saying you don't have to sink to their level." Spidey says, but then the knife hits the guy he's trying to save. He doesn't seem dead, but... "Gray area heroes? Maybe. But you're killing people. That's less hero and more villain," he notes, and was starting to quip again, but someone beat him to the punch. Another bug-themed, wise-cracking hero? Spidey really needs a copywrite attorney. "Normally, I'd complain about someone sorta stealing my thing, but assuming you're on the hero side of things, I may let it slide." He pauses, adding, "This time."

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
Ted Kord heys(!) loudly And frowns at the pair of superjuvinelle deliquents. "This /isn't/ spandex, Lightbulb! It's a propriatary metamaterial! Spandex is for chumps!" he says, then quickly looks at Spider-Man. "No offense. /Big/ Fan, Spidey! And pleae, don't bring lwyers into it.. he quickly tells the other bug-themed hero.. JUST as Dagger skewers the guy with a thrown dagger of light.

Beetle gapes as the man screams and goes down, and the strange pistol is whipped upwards and pointed at t6hem. "No! You didn't need to /do/ that!" he yells at them, Tandy in particular. "Spidey is right. This is villian-level crap! /You/ don't /get/ to /choose/ whether the law applies or not. I know the system ain't perfect but if you work /against/ it then it will work against /you/."

He waves the gun between Cloak and Dagger noiw, covering them, but then narrows his eyes. "Stand back, Budget-Phantom-of-the-Opera." he warns them, then looks again to Dagger. "And I am /not/ the Tick." he grunts, and Squeezes the trigger.

The BB Gun is an amazing and versatile peice of equiment. It has many functions and modes, but sometimes it's original purpose is Blue Beetle's most effective one. The gun /flashes/, radiating /almost/ cohesive and intense strobes of multi-spectral light. The flashes can EASILY /temporarily/ blind a person and even damage optical sensors, but the frequency at which the lights pulses, changing both in color and duration, also cause psychophysical effects that can range from disorientation to intense vertigo to nausea.

But the BB Gun is a /TRIPLE/ threat. Blindness, physical distress followed up by a /highly/ condensed blast of air. The synthetic setae on his boots hold him to the dumpster as the jet-blast from the gun HURLS down the alleyway like a freakin HURRICANE.. With enough force to knock an entire 5000+ pound Rhino head over heels.. if Rhino's wore heels, that is.

"HOLD ONTO YER PANTIES, BOYS AND GIRLS!"

Dagger has posed:
When one is made of light, and the other consumes it, will the Beetle's gun even be effective? Throwing her hands upwards to cover her eyes, Dagger's own light rushes through the alley, burning the shadows away. The light is warm, but with the intent to blind. As the gun's propelling effect slams into her, she goes flying backwards through the alley as if she was made of paper, striking the concrete wall of the building nearby with a sickening crack. As she hits the ground in a slump, the light cuts out.

"The light .. the light .." The man glued to the wall is mumbling to himself incoherently as drool falls past his lips and along his chin. He is slumped over with sunken eyes, trembling as if he was going through some type of shock. Along his left arm, one can see a white goop oozing from his pores, his veins thick and tight along the muscle of his bicep.

Cloak has posed:
Light is his sustenance like a big, dark, angry plant. The brilliance casts Cloak in stark relief. A faintly striped cowl. A dark skinned man who's little more than a face. And somewhere in the folds of that cloak, there is nothing. The light hits nothing, reflects off of nothing. Even as the fabric is cast wide open, there is absolutely nothingness. No man, only a void that consumes the light.

His roar of fury rips through the alley as the winds howl and sends Dagger flying. Prequel Vader yelling 'Nooo!' has nothing on the primal and guttural howl the shadowman gives. The blast all but folds him and his fabric back on himself until he's gone.

No, wait, he just teleported again. This time behind Blue Beetle, who'd get an unpleasantly close look at the animalistic, savage anger of Cloak who is descending on him with every intent to devour the do-gooder in whatever Nothingness that cape contains.

Spider-Man has posed:
And everything seems to happen at once. Some sort of super BB gun firing, Dagger going backwards, Darkness guy disappearing and even the captured thug having what we'll just call 'health issues' at the moment. Spidey has to do something. In this case, he just leaps from his perch. Mid-leap he fires a web to try and cushion Dagger's fall as he doesn't want her to die either. He doesn't keep the line taut, doesn't want to snap her neck, just slow momentum. The other hand fires a seperate web that wizzes past cloak and attaches to a trashcan. The trashcan becomes airborne with a light tug. He's pretty sure it won't do more than distract the raging Darkness, but it might buy his current partner enough time to get out of the way.

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
See, one doesn't have to be /made/ of light to appreciate it's qualities, both positive and negative. Beetle's goggles polarized the instant he pulled the trigger because he learned sthe hard way that he could accidently blind himself. (Boy was /that/ embarrasing). So Dagger's light doesn't blind Beetle. Hooray for Science!

And /boo/ for science because Oh physics, you fickle bit.. Witch! The BB-Gun was designed to channel /some/ air behind at a perpendicular angle to help offset the blast of air. Between that and his boots that stick to anything, Beetle is usually safe from being blown around, himself.

Alas, this is the 'travel' version of the gun, not the super solid primary version. It's all Tony Starks fault! HE saw how he made little gadgets become big ones and told himself 'Well if that jerk can do it, I can do it better!' So.. Yeah.. the stabelizing backwash angle is off... Also, Beetle may be sticking to the dumpster, but the dumpster /itself/ isn't anchored to anything.. And the entire thing is rolling on it's wheels in the direction /opposite/ to the one Beetle fired in as if someone strapped a jet engine to it (which they sorta did.)

Beetle flails as the dumpster rolls backwards. He had /no/ idea where Cloak went, since The guy was floating /behind/ him.. In the path of the rocket-propelled Dumpster. He lets out a loud 'EEP" and tries to jump off the dumpster but the boots are STLL STICKING to the lid. "Oh come on!" he cries and tries dissengaging the boots.. Damned prototypes! Then the webbing latches onto the dumpster and with a flick of SPidey's wrist the whole thing becomes AIRBORNE!

And thats when the boots synthetic setae disengage and he is flung in an arc up and OVER the consuming shadow before he can be swallowed.. and the dumpster itself heading straight for CLoak.

It's ALL SPIDEY'S FAULT!

Dagger has posed:
There is a low moan of pain from Dagger as she lays at the floor of the alley. Blood is creeping out from between her lips, her left arm hanging loosely from one side as she looks to push up to her feet. The world is spinning around in a dizzy manner as stars are popping behind her eyes. She can hear Cloak roaring in the background, though it is muted and in the color of red between her ears.

The babbling man who was struck by the dagger of light is staring at his arm with wide eyes. He is continuing to murmur to himself as he grips his arm, watching his veins bulge as heroin leaks out of his pores from the cleansing effect.

Cloak has posed:
Most people do not escape Cloak on a rampage. Even the super-gifted tend to find it a daunting task. But Beetle has a surprise ringer, and that's a flying metal trash receptacle. Just as Cloak is about to give Kord a very unwelcome hug, he's slammed into by the can. With the huge pulse of light, he's got a lot more substance than normal. Lucky for them.

The shadowman goes does with an unfavorable noise that could be called a bellow of rage, except the surprise gives it a bit of a goose honk edge. He's getting up in short order, but with probably sufficient time for his intended prey to get some distance ahead of him.

Spider-Man has posed:
Blinking at the turn of events, Spidey decides he -may- have put a little too much english on that one. What was intended as a brief distraction appears to have turned into a less brief knockdown. "Uh, yeah, I.... I mean to do that one," he quips, though is already going to check on Dagger. He's afraid his current helper in this may have used a bit too much of a whammy on her. He gives her a quick once-over, making sure there's not anything in critical condition, before he says "Hey, we're going to need to have a talk about all this," in an unusually serious tone, "Might've gotten off on the wrong foot here, but... any chance you can calm your scary, ghost boyfriend over there before he eats that other guy?"

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
WHEEEEEE.. The Cerulean Scarab flails for a moment as he is launched high off what is basically a rocket propelled dumpster. But while he may not be superhuman, Beeb is a highly trained gymnast and acrobat. Hell, he might even be on par with Batman in THAT regard at least. Reflexes and training kick in and the blue-clad hero twists in mid air, totally /unlike/ Spidey, with a flexibility that while not inhuman deficnately comes close to being preternatural. His feet plant against the alleyway's wall, knees flexing to absorb the impact, and with his free hand pressing against the brick he /slides/ down the rough surfaces since it is a little too rough for his /non-radioactive-spider/ grippy-stuff to solidly hold onto. Once he reaches literal street level he lands in a crouch and gawps at the chaos he /may/ have had a hand in making.

Catching sight of the white clad woman on the ground, unmoving (at first) and bleeding makes Beetle's eyes go extra wide.. face going pale. "Oh no.. no no no..." he whispers, each utteration getting higher and more panicky..

Blue Beetle doesn't see Cloak pulling himself back together behind him, unaware of just how lucky he's been already. Which could definately be a bad thing for Beeb. But he's more concerned with Sunshine Girl (and, yeah, the badguy junky she attacked)
Seeing her stir and start to get to her feet only brings the smallest modicum of relief to him. He runs towards Her and Spidey, whom is already helping her get steady. "OhgeezeohgeezeI'msosorrysorry.." he calls towards her and the arachnid, then cups his ear peice. "Bug! Medical Emergancy! PRONTO!"

And still not even THINKING about Cloak, He's that worried about the harm he might have caused..

Dagger has posed:
Breathing heavily, Dagger feels white hot pain surging through her body. The world is twisting this way and that. "Cloak!" She cries out loudly, her voice a trembling sob. "Cloak .. " There is a rush of light in her palm as she lobs it outwards through the dark alley, using it as a homing device to seek out her cloaked partner and feed him some energy.

When Spidey leaps down to check on her, a noise of anger wells up in her throat. She throws her hands up in front of her, delivering a 'stun' blast of light in front of her. "Get away from me! We told you to leave us alone!" She says with pain in her voice. "Go away!" She stumbles back and hits the wall, holding her hands up to try and ward them off instinctively, even while one is calling for help.

Cloak has posed:
Cloak is there.

He's rearing up behind the Beetle with hungry, murderous intent. It's like in Jurassic World where the Mosa rears up out of the water to chomp the Indominus, only it's a scary shadow guy and a smaller, less scary guy. It seems that fortune smiles on Ted Kord this evening, for Cloak then hears and sees Dagger as she's getting to her feet. Zeroing in on his partner, Cloak vanishes mid-motion just millimeters from Ted and reappears in front of Tandy.

He whips around to snarl like a cornered tiger at Spider-Man while he's wrapping up Dagger in the edge of his cloak in the same motion. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" His voice erupts in the alleyway with all of the violent promise of a madman, because there is no rational light behind those eyes of his. Only a predator protecting what is his.

Spider-Man has posed:
See, this is the problem with trying to help people, sometimes you get close enough where the supernatural, warning sense won't go off in time. Spider-man manages to leap back a bit but he does catch a bit of the stunning blast and drops into a roll. Enhanced dexterity and just generally being a bit tougher from both his powers and being punched like a whole lot keep him from being prone on the ground. He rolls into the standard Spider-man pose, crouched nearby, though one of the eye lenses has a bit of a crack running through it.

"Look, kid, I'm just trying to keep anyone from getting hurt... or dead. Like I said, I thought you guys were out for blood but you didn't kill that guy so I think I misread the--WHOA!" This time the buzzing Spider-sense does help him a bit, flipping back and ending up in that similar crouched position just on the side of a building. "Ok, Spookums, we're not trying to throw down. Well, not really, no one needs to get hurt here." He's using his super power of Spider-Voice. That's not really a power, more a hopefully calming tone. "Serious, if you're not killing folk, we might could help with your fight. We want to stop bad guys too. Just not permantly stop them. Like..I mean we'd like them in jail, not like ...dead permenant...you know what I mean." Smooooooth.

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
Blue Beetle EEPS as that lance of light /seems/ to flash towards him, and he twists while he runs.. the light bolt swerving past him towards it's actual target, Cloak.. eerily like one of Darkseid's Omega beams, really.

And he turns just in time to see that hungry billowing shadow about to eat him and... well... he doesn't SCREAM per se.. No.. thats not true.. He totally screams like a little girl...

And Cloak VANISHES.

Shaking, Beeb furatively glances around.. Until a flash of light behind him makes him turn back towards Dagger and he sees Cloak protecting his partner-in-crime, bellowing at Spidey and, presumably, himself as well.

He runs towards the grouping, still shivering, just as Spidey rolls back. He comes to a stop and holds both his hands out in front of him. "Calm down calm down.. And what Arcachno-said..." he tells them, then looks at the junky still curled up, though definately alive, and looks back at Every-Day-Is-Halloween and Light-Bright. "And I'm sososososo sorry.. I just.. I just assumed, you know, LASER BEAMS and /SUPER POWERS/ and being a bit more.. robust. "Look... I have some medical gear on the way and it should be here any mome*KERPLONK*"

And from high above them, a small-to-medium sized light-blue medical case with a darker blue cross on it bounces off Beebs head, sprawling him on his back, groaning.

Dagger has posed:
When she feels the familiar darkness of Cloak wrapping about her, Dagger steps into the folds of cold shadow. Feeling him wrappe dabout her gives her strength and courage as she summons her light to try and mend some of the pain away and numb herself. "Cloak." She murmurs to him between bloodied lips. "Take us home."

Injured or not, it appears that the fight is over. A classic superhero misunderstanding. She steps backwards into the shadows, feeling the darkness consume her as she wades into the dark dimension, snuffed out by her partner's body.

The man lets out another pained groan as the starts start to vanish from his eyes. Now that Dagger's powers have worn off, he gives a look around, then reaches for the gun in his belt as he slides it out from under his shirt. With a shaky aim, he holds it at the steady, then fires off a round towards Spiderman and Blue Beetle, being that their backs are turned.

Cloak has posed:
It's a standoff of raw nerved tension in the alleyway as superhero faces down superhero. Then there's the crack of sound, and for one lurching, infinitesimal, but eternal moment uncertainty rules. Then Cloak moves.

He's fast, so fast, fueled up on light and fury and instincts too keen and sharp to ever be human. One second Spider-Man and Blue Beetle are in an alley. There's the rushing sound of fabric, a whistle of air as something small whizzes by; then silence.

Oh the silence. There's no words for how loud silence can be. They can't even hear their own heart beat. But there in the distance, there is a heart. Soft but louder, and louder, advancing at a ungodly speed until it is thunder. They can hear screams then, see flashes of nightmares. Their own nightmares. Horrible memories dredged up like someone overturned the sea and every bit as bone warpingly cold as the Abyssal Deep.

Then they're above the alley on top of the nearby building and the world is normal again. A shadow vanishes in front of them as Cloak and Dagger disappear, leaving the heroes to digest just what happened. And possibly rejoice that they're not the ones being digested.

Spider-Man has posed:
One moment trying to ease the situation, next moment facing down all his nightmares. Was that the Devil he saw in one vision? Probably nothing. He just doubles over a bit, breathing hard as the two vanish. "I think I'm going to throw up... in this mask." He fortunatly does not, but it takes a few omments before he eases himself back onto his feet. "The heck was that," he says, a bit wobbly still. "They're gone now, I guess." He frowns a bit behind the mask, but its somehow apparent. He takes a few moments to realize where they are. "Ok, gizmo-bug," he tells the other insect-based hero, "Thanks for the assist, but you really got to work on your lethal versus non-lethal stuff." He pauses, "Also I'm pretty sure that ghost guy was going to eat you." He again pauses, "Ah, thanks though. Not sure how that would've gone down otherwise."

Blue Beetle (Kord) has posed:
Well Isn't it lucky that Beeb is spawled on his back? The sharp report of the gun brings him to his senses, quickly, and he rolls over on his stomach yet remaining prone on the ground. The BB Gun is aimed at the perp, the air-blast turned OFF this time, and he is about to fire off a debilitating light blast...

But Then he is floating in an all encompassing darkness.

He doesn't have any idea of what spidey sees, but that doesn't matter. Because Beeb is focused on what /he/ is seeing. There should be dozens of little nightmares, fed by his insecurities and the dumb shit he has pulld in his life but.. there isn't. There are no guilt trips over killed relatives and friends. There are no Doomsday's punching him. There are no loves horribly lost.

There is nothing.

Darkness.

Not Cloak's darkness but something even deeper. Something emptier.

Except for /the voice/.

>> You're Dead, Ted. <<

>> BWA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAA!!! <<

And then after an infinte milisecond, the world returns and Beeb /IS/ retching over the side of the building, his entire body shuddering.. He looks over his shoulder at Spidey, almost all colour left from his face... "What....?" he asks, confused, but then his brain finally catches up and he groans, pushing himself up. "I can tell you how it would have went.." he says hoarsely. Froim the darkness above a line desecnds, a T-Bar at it's end, He grasps the cable, sets a foot on the bar and stares at Spider-Man.

"/You/ would have stopped them. Not messed everything up." he says.. and with a tug of the line he is pulled up into the night sky.

Spider-Man has posed:
Clearly Blue Beetle hasn't been around Spidey before. As he starts to make his exit, BB could probably hear him chuckle, "I assure you, I would've found a way to mess it up real good." At that point the cracked lense of Spidey's costume tumbles out and shatters at his feet. "Well, I guess that's a sign to call it a night. Just one thing to handle." He leaps off the building and into the darkness. A few moments later there's the sound of webbing, a cry of fear and suddenly our gang member is hanging upside down from a lightpost by the nearest police station.