Brief Title:
Characters:
Cloak, Elektra, and Nova
Scene Runner/Watcher:
IC Date:
12/03/12 17:38
Location:
SoHo and Tribeca - New York
Summary:
Cloak takes down a drug dealer and has to get some questions from Elektra and Nova
Social or Plot:
TS:
No
Log:
It's only about an hour after dark, so the streets of SoHo are still relatively busy. Holiday shoppers line the streets, passing the various galleries and pausing to gape in the windows. Up on a rooftop, Elektra makes her way slowly along the architecture. She's dressed for the darkness, wearing black leather. And she's identified someone down below that seems to occupy her attention.
Also hidden in the darkness by virtue of who he is and his powers, Cloak blends in with the shadows, watching from an alleyway. He too has turned his attention specifically to someone amongst the merry-makers shopping about the city. Merry is not his thing though, more murky. For now, as always, he silently watches. Perhaps the same person, perhaps someone different. From the alleyway, his dark eyes look at the very soul of his target and the hunger within his cloak that seeks to be fed.
Nova isn't hidden at all, he speeds over the streets of NYC in plain sight of anyone who should happen to be looking up. Unfortunately, his high speed of travel in addition to a habitual lack of alertness towards his own surroundings means he doesn't catch sight of either Cloak or Elektra yet.
Reaching the edge of the roof, Elektra -leaps- across the relatively narrow gap between buildings and lands on the next in the row. Landing with a tuck-and-roll, the assassin moves smoothly to the edge of the next roof and crouches down. Yes, there's -someone- down there who strongly interests her. A target? A contact? It's hard to say. She sprints to the far edge to get ahead of her quarry, then rapidly descends the fire escape in the alley. It just happens to be the alley where Cloak is hiding.
Consumed more by hunger than anyone else, Cloak hovers a bit. His eyes almost completely pupil-less as his cloak seems to come to life. His target is indeed a target. There is man, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit ringing a bell gathering donations for the Salvation Army, but upon closer inspection, one may notice he is also selling drugs to some rather suspicious looking shoppers.
As Elektra nears, she may notice the preternatural movement of his cloak as it reaches out to grab the Santa who is near enough to the alleyway to be snatched with relative ease without drawing too much attention.
Nova circles a few buildings. That flash of movement above the street - was that Spider-Man?? Nova tries to squelch his unheroic rush of excitement at the thought of meeting the much more famous hero. He's as much of a hero as Spidey, Richie tells himself. He almost convinces himself. But no, whatever it was, there's no sign of it now. Nova is about to give up when he suddenly remembers something Night Thrasher mentioned about alleys. Nova reaches into his helmet and triggers his thermal vision lenses, still missing Elektra somehow but noticing a large Santa-shaped blob of heat being pulled into the alley. "What the--"
Elektra lands on softly-padded boots, not blending in as well as Cloak but certainly discrete to normal eyes. For her part, she was watching one of the drug -runners- with the intent of him leading her to the dealer. So as Santa gets pulled into the alley, he's just hitting her radar already. And THAT is when Nova spots her, stepping out of the shadows and drawing a pair of blades with a soft *sching* of metal. One point stabs at the shadow that's tugging the Santa-dealer in, the other hand drawn back in preparation.
More consumed by his hunger than the others gathered. Santa’s screams suddenly and quickly become muffled as the prehensile cloak wraps around his mouth and his body. The body of the cloak opens revealing nothing but an oddly silent blackness. The Santa is pulled towards it as cloak’s eyes almost flash with a similar darkness. Again, he makes no move or pays no heed to Elektra or Nova. Shoppers continue their hustle and bustle, either purposely ignoring the alley or so consumed with the material spirit of the holidays.
Nova streaks down to the alleyway, slowing to a stop to hover just above the street in front of the alley, still bathed in lights from the city. Well, hover may be a bit of a stretch, he seems to bob up and down faintly in the air, as if it takes an active effort to keep himself still. Or maybe it's the intensity of the emotion Nova feels as he points a finger at Cloak. "You...you..."
"YOU ATE SANTA!!"
The assassin stabs again, to no effect, and Santa is finally pulled into the darkness. While she considers what to do, Nova's yell distracts her attention. "Be still." she hisses at him, both sai held up and ready while she watches. And takes a slow step back.
With Santa consumed, Cloak is nourished. He finally looks at those present. Nova he recognizes as a hero. Elektra, he does not. In a voice, deep and hardened, oddly contrasting the youthful face of the cloak wearer offers, “Santa Claus is not real!” The cloak bellows around Cloak, but makes no clear or threatening movement towards the two presently speaking to him.
Nova has finally noticed Elektra it seems, and notices that she's apparently not too happy with him for some reason. He tears his eyes away from her when Cloak talks though. "What...? Wait. I know...I mean, I know that's not the REAL Santa, but that's a person! You just ate a person." He peers at the cloak again. "Wait, where did he go? What happened to him?"
Elektra eases back to a ready stance, left sai up with the right still extended. Glancing over at Nova, she adds. "I agree. He was not Santa, and he was not the best person by any means. But his... removal... was not your perogative." Okay, like the assassin wasn't going to -kill- hime? Really? Perhaps not all at once... "What are you?" she asks the darkness.
“You speak as if you truly believe there is a man in a red suit who lives in the North Pole and travels the world in one night bringing children presents? You realize if he had flying reindeer and he traveled the planet in one night going to every house then The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of accelerating from a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds, would be subjected to centrifugal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa (which seems
ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob of pink goo.”
He shows Nova a look similar to the one Elektra gave him and then addresses the assassin though he tilts his head as he seems to look through her at her very essence and a smiles forms on his face as her soul reads not quite as evil as Santa’s, but tainted none the less. Cloak responds, “I am Cloak. The man was a drug dealer, killing his buyers with his product. So does he not deserve the fate that he provides with his wares?”
Nova's eyes get wider and wider as Cloak breaks down the math of how fast Santa must fly. "What? No, I...well...well no, even I can't fly that fast but...look man, this is getting crazy. I know that's not the real Santa, I know there's no such thing as Santa." Nova winces as somewhere nearby a little girl wails in anguish. "Uh. Anyway, whoever that guy was, you can't just go...removing him." Nova shoots a quick grateful glance at Elektra for having supplied the word. "Where DID he go anyway?"
Elektra's blades lower and she purses her lips at him, comfortable in both who and what she is. "I am aware of his crimes, yes. But now we will never know where he -bought- the drugs that he was selling. You severed but one strand of the web. Another will take his place, and the cycle will resume." With a soft whir-sching, she slips the blades away and looks from one to the other. "I am Elektra." Perhaps it means something to them, or perhaps not. "I will be watching."
She may not be shadow and she may not be formless, but Elektra has ninja training and experience. It only takes a glance away or a blink from either of them, and then the woman is simply... gone. Vanished. Or, to use the new word, removed. And then there were two.
Impressed with how she speaks and how she disappears, Cloak nods his head as he stares at Nova, “She is no innocent either. But she speaks like one perhaps changing her ways and she speaks true.” Suddenly the cloak opens up and Santa is literally spit out towards Nova. The man has lost some weight, is shivering, and looks a bit older. He is mumbling something incoherently and has an expression of pure unadulterated fear. “Nova, perhaps Elektra is right. Finishing him will not end the problem. . .so what should be done?” His tone is somewhat saracastic, somewhat hopeless, and somewhat curious as to how Nova will answer.
Nova stares in the direction he last saw Elektra leave. He flicks his helmet's lenses to thermal and then telescopic vision, then waves his own hand in front of his face to make sure the sensors are working properly, then finally shrugs. "Ah...well, if it's drug dealers you're after, I know just the person to help. Night Thrasher. He might not be much in the personality department, but he knows criminals." Nova pauses, thinks about that, and then hurries on, "Uh, because he fights crime. Not because he's a crook himself. Well, not technically." Nova stops talking before he makes things worse.
Nova also seems to be a lot more comfortable with Cloak now that he realizes the Santa who deals drugs and not toys wasn't killed...only scared to the point of traumatization. That's perfectly acceptable in Nova's book.
Listening to Nova, Cloak shakes his head and quirks an eyebrow, “Well, I don’t place nice with teams. Dagger and I are fine alone.” He pauses, “I am only vaguely familiar with you all. The New Warriors, is it? Not quite the Avengers, but doing more than most.” Cloak pauses, “Had I been made for a team, the New Warriors would have been one that I would serve with.”
Nova blinks. "Oh, really? Hey, that means a lot coming from...wait, what do you mean 'not quite the Avengers'? We're NOT the Avengers. The Avengers are all about the glory and the bigtime heroics. We fight for the little guy. We fight the crimes that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and...and the Defenders don't bother with." He started out as if he was reciting a familiar motto, but then towards the end Nova seemed to get a little less certain. Maybe he was trying to ad-lib it? "Anyway, I never said you had to join us. Not sure if we're open for new members anyway, our crash pad is getting pretty crowded as it is...uh, well what I mean is, we could just work together. You obviously have some skills and knowledge and you're willing to fight the good fight. We've got the manpower, the musclepower, and just the power." Nova flashes what he hopes is a winning smile. "What do you say?"
Oh that is quite a winning smile and then responds with his own smile, “No.” The voice booms and echoes in the alleyway. Cloak hmphs, “Dagger and I work alone. But at times, perhaps we could join forces. When we battle Dr. Doom or Mephisto, we can use assistance from the New Warriors. . .if you could handle it, that is.” The smile remains, almost antagonist tone. “But thank you for the offer.”
Nova flinches slightly at the booming 'no'. "Geez. You don't have to yell," he frowns briefly, though he seems more stung by the rejection even than angry, then shrugs. "If you say so. I'll tell the other Warriors I ran into you though, and about the naughty Santa here." He nods towards the dealer Cloak had terrorized earlier. Then he adds under his breath, "So they don't get freaked out like I did."
“We will be allies, Nova. I will inform Dagger as well.” Cloak’s cloak elongates as the drug dealer lies in an almost catatonic stupor only mumbling something incoherently. “Would you please dispose of this? Perhaps take him to the police?” WIth his cloak, he lifts the man into the air and tosses him at Nova.
Nova's eyes widen again and he shifts hurriedly, just managing to get his arms under the flying Santa in time to catch him. "Sure...I'll take care of it," he assures. Then he hesitates. "The police won't hold this guy without evidence, you know." He shifts the burden easily, as if it was a pillow and not a grown man. "I can probably talk them into keeping him for a while but, odds are he won't see any real jail time."
Shaking his head and sighing, his cloak flies out ripping Santa’s shirt. The padding used to make him fat is ripped apart and baggies of cocaine drop out, “It’s all there, Nova. That should put him away for a LONG time.” Cloak laughs a bit, but his laugh is dark and almost sinister-sounding.
Nova chuckles as well, but there's a hint of nervousness to his. "Ah...right. Got it." He starts to rise into the air, the crook still held easily. "Good luck with cleaning up this guy's operation, Cloak. I'll be seeing you around."
Not even saying good-bye, Cloak simply teleports away.
