17834/Ducking Into The Wrong Church

Ducking Into The Wrong Church
Date of Scene:	02 May 2024
Location:	Holy Ghost Church
Synopsis:	Havok ducks into a church and stumbles upon Cloak & Dagger. They have words.
Cast of Characters:	Alex Summers, Tyrone Johnson, Tandy Bowen

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Alex Summers has posed:
It became heated outside. The engagement started two blocks north and descended as Havok chased the villain through the streets and alleyways. Anyone who caught a glimpse of the villain described her as a woman with short purple hair, about 6' tall, and wearing a silver jumpsuit that appeared to be metal in certain places. There was a distinct noise during the conflict, the FOOOOOM noise that resonated through the streets when Havok blasted at her. But never hitting her, she was too spry. Or maybe he wasn't trying to hit her. None the less, she escaped into an open manhole and he was not about to pursue her. Instead, he heard the cops coming with their loud sirens and he chose to avoid them as well. Turning a corner, he saw a run-down church that he figured would be great to cut through to avoid any unwanted conversations. So, he shouldered the door, pushing his way in. Turned, and forced the door closed. Then only pausing facing the door a few seconds while listening to anyone drawing close or sirens to pass. He hears nothing that would raise alarm for himself.

<<and he's about to turn around to make his way through the church in the next round>>

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Tyrone, Cloak-less and solid at the moment, was on his hands and knees with a stinky can of wood stain and a collection of rage. As per Father L's request, he was polishing up the pews, putting theirs - and God's - best foot forward. He was also Captain Oblivious as he had a pair of old-style wired headphones on his head and was grooving to Chuck D, et al.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy was similarly occupied, although in the balcony and without tunes. The sound of the door being shouldered open was vaguely alarming, but not without precedent. Holy Ghost generally kept the front door unlocked to welcome parishioners or those who needed a quiet place to reckon with their God, but when the heat and humidity were up it tended to stick. Still, it was worth some sort of investigating, and Tandy didn't want to get surprised on the stairs.

A tiny dagger formed between her fingers, and she sent it hurtling towards Ty to get his attention.

Alex Summers has posed:
Havok breathes a sigh of relief and then turns from the door to look around the church. Currently, the man is wearing his black and gold super suit. Black body suit, reinforced, padded, with pockets and a gold belt with an X on it and gold gauntlets to accentuate his blasts. His face is uncovered and his blonde hair sporting a 90s muss. His blue eyes peer around the church and take note of the white dagger flying through from above to below. He traces and sees that it tags the target without harm. Surely he didn't walk from one firefight into another. He steps forward out from the entry way to get a better look upward toward the source of the thrown light. As he does, Havok calls out in a hushed, but carried voice - because it's a church, "Excuse me... hope I'm not intruding." That's when the smell of the stain hits him and he touches his face with his left hand, cupping his mouth and nose for a brief moment of inhaling before removing it with an expression of not liking the smell.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty was singing along to the Public Enemy, telling anyone close enough to hear him to bring the noize, when Tandy's light-dagger him. It felt so _good_, like a cold drink on a hot day alongside a plate of your Mama's best dish. He sat up, leaving his rags and stain on the ground to go see what had crawled up Tandy's ass. Oh.
    That would explain it. White man in a funky suit steppin' into the Lord's house. Ty opened his mouth to greet the stranger, but nothing but a strangled wheeze came out. Damned stutter!

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"Help is given to those who need the protection of the Lord's embrace," Tandy recites. She's heard some variation of the phrase often enough that it has become one of her default greetings when she is in this place. She leans forward at the edge of the railing carefully, wiggling the fingers of one hand in greeting. "I'm Tandy, he's Ty, and you... have much smaller teeth than the last time we encountered someone in so much black." She disappears from sight, leaving the polish and cloth on the floor, and heads towards the stairs leading into the nave proper.

Alex Summers has posed:
Havok glances to the guy who tries to talk, sees he seems unharmed from the light dagger and then looks up to the girl who recites a welcome. There's a rush of air out of his nose and he smiles with a chin-up greeting. There's a gentle shake of his head denying the description as he translates it to something vampiric. "Sorry.. didn't mean to intrude. I'm just cutting through... didn't realize this place was actually occupied or - operational." He glances around as he notes, "I'm Alex by the way. Not a vampire or whatever, just a Mutant."

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty was, as the kids say, pressing X to doubt. Out of nowhere, a blue-and-black striped cloak settled around his shoulders and his body disappeared into a cloud of boiling black fog. "With peace in your heart, welcome to the Lord's house." he said smoothly this time, no sign of the stutter. "Don't start none, won't be none." he added with a glance to the upstars. He couldn't see Tandy but he had no doubt she was on her way. And if needs be this white boy was gonna take a ride to where the sun never shone. He'd make a nice lunch, but then felt bad about contemplating homicide in a church. So instead he just gave the interloper a stern (he hoped!) look and started to float in his general direction, passing through impediments like pews like they weren't there.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
It took a few minutes, but soon enough Tandy was down the stairs and stopping behind Alex with a laugh at Ty's intimidating spectre act. "Mutant, huh? It doesn't seem like you've brought any violence inside with you, so really. Be welcome, take a breather. Holy Ghost isn't as fancy as the bigger churches in the parish, but Father Lantom does his called duty to the entire community, not just the socially acceptable parts of it." She shrugged, stepping to the side so she was in line of sight. "In return for the help he's given us, we do some of the work that needs doing as we have the time and skills. You happened to pick the right or wrong day to barge in, depending on your perspective."

Alex Summers has posed:
The cloak of Cloak is a surprise. A bit more than Havok expected. When the cloak seems to shroud, absorb and contain the man, Havok's head turns slightly, tilts even to get a better look. Both of his arms spread a little, elbows bent, forearms just above horizontal and hands up/palms forward in the universal 'i mean no harm' pose. Though the floating approach causes concern to grace Havok's face, a step is taken backward. If Tandy happens to be close, he may bump her unaware. He turns to her voice not having realized she took stairs down since he was completely distracted by Cloak; and takes another step to the side, putting distance between her as well. Glancing between the two, Havok intones glancing from her over to Cloak, "I reckon so... I mean, my timing hasn't ever been good. And I'm sure not looking for a fight with - whatever is going on with Ty and the super cape thing."

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty let the Darkforce evaporate into this universe, returning to his solid normal form. The cloak, however, stayed on. "Sorry." he said, managing to sput the word out around his impediment. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-been a rough time l-l-l-lately." he managed to spit out.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy's grin is full of mischief. "Oh, Cloak? It eats people!" Her voice is cheerful, in contrast with the actual conflicted thoughts she's had about the necessity of that ability. "Sometimes they just regret their life's choices instead, and then they don't get eaten. But seriously guy, calm down unless you're planning on doing something that will get you eaten." She walks past Alex to carefully sit on a nearby pew, making sure she can still see both of them. "We aren't entirely unfriendly, just careful about this particular space."

Alex Summers has posed:
Having some visceral relief that Cloak is no longer Cloaked and is Ty, Havok becomes less anxious or concerned that he was about to be lunch.

He watches Tandy move and reposition herself; he does the same. His arms drop and they remain at his side. "Totally get it. I'd probably have acted way more aggressively if someone broke into our place. There would have been a lot more shooting, blasting, zapping, and zotting." He grins at his remark and clever use of words describing the powers he's associated with. He continues, "Anyway, yeah. Totally not hostile on my part. I'm just avoiding cops who would want to ask lots of questions that I don't really want to answer. Nothing criminal..." he realizes he needs to clarify, "I was actually trying to catch a criminal."

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty's exppression softened when Ales mentioned that he was ducking the po-po. He muttered something that might have been "ACAB" but he kept it real low. He looked over at Tandy, a bad habit he'd developed since they'd started working together. Rather than try to get his words out, he'd look at Tandy and let her do the talking. This particular look meant something like "Criminal?" Then he returned his gaze to Alex. Sure, white man was talkin' and actin' peaceful but that didn't cut a whole lot of ice with him.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy's answering eyebrow was almost a shrug. "They do like to badger with questions," she agreed, voice crisping up into the mid-Atlantic accent she'd been raised with. "Where is your permit to superhero? What are your plans for covering this damage? How did the criminal manage to slip away?"

She shook her head. "Next thing you know they're asking where the criminal went and where you're meeting up like you work together or something."

Alex Summers has posed:
There's so much recognition and agreement in Havok's eyes and expression as Tandy goes along the checklist of cop questions. There's even a slight nod-along to each point and he says, "One hundred percent. They 'detain' you giving the villain a head start on covering their tracks and clearly escaping.". Then he addresses the assumed query of Ty's, "Her name is Arclight. Phillipa Sontag. She's a Marauder. I caught sight of her a few blocks up. She wasn't doing anything untoward, but she, and her group are always up to something. So I approached, and she bolted."

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
"They treat you like you're black." Ty said, managing to get the entire sentence out. Marauders - both he and Tandy knew some Morlocks, knew their history. Good people, even if their leadership and some of their upper echelon were more than a little batshit. "Heard of M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-Marauders." he said, forcing the words past his impediment. "Bad motherfuckers."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"Nice thing about being a little more low-key sometimes, eh Ty?" Tandy grinned at him, but didn't mention the instant transportation. "Not a hundred percent, of course, but it can be easier to blend in with the crowd when your gear doesn't stick out." She eyed Alex's suit. "So is that regular leather, or fancy rich people shit? Not that leather isn't, but regular leather's not stopping a bullet or knife, either."

She stood, jerking her head towards the front of the sanctuary. "You wanna see the rest of the joint? It's not a big place, but it works for the people it serves."

Alex Summers has posed:
There's a nod of affirmation with what Ty states about the Marauders being bad mother fuckers. He even gives a brief, "yeah. they suck." but then is distracted by Tandy's query. Havok looks down at his super suit and then back to Tandy, "Lower is standard issue durable black BDU. Upper is unstable molecules. I blast plasma.. and it tends to ruin clothing. I had a shirt over my top when I first ran into Arclight. In the scuffle, I burnt it off. The top lets my power go through it without doing damage to the material. It offers some protection against physical damage. Knives can go through it. But low caliber bullets are slowed, sometimes stopped by it, depending on the weave that the wearer desires." Then he's offered a tour and says, "That'd be great." while looking around at the area.. "Love old churches."

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty managed to just look annoyed at the kind of resources Alex was throwing around. He didn't know what an unstable molecule was, but he was pretty sure you couldn't poke your nose into a sporting goods store and pick some up. He moved back to where he was staining the pews to keep on keepin' on. Let Tandy escort the stranger around, he didn't want to give Father L more excuses to look at him with that disappointed look. Man, he hated that look. So he'd better keep on keepin' on.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy let out a whistle of appreciation. "Yeah, definitely don't want to see that inside here. It's too important of a place for me, personally." Her brow furrowed as Ty opted to go back to polishing, but she kept a polite smile on her face. "Obviously we're in the main room of the church," she continued as she gestured to the sides, walking slowly enough to play tour guide. "Limited stained glass, because it's very expensive to fix properly." The usual trappings of a Catholic church are in place, although quite plain. She diverts towards the right transept, and more important towards the back exit. "The transepts don't have the best view, but this side is close to the hall exit, so often the people sitting over here have children that are young enough to still need some entertaining." As she said that, she pushed the side door open and held it for Alex to walk through.

Alex Summers has posed:
Walking through, he's quite interested in the stained glass and the other fine crafted features. But he's also following Tandy's agenda and appreciates her initiative and direction. "This place is spectacular. Thank you for showing me." Then he looks back in the direction of Ty and gives a nod if eye contact is met, then looks to Tandy. "And thanks for the cut through." He'll smile, then turn and exit stage left through the door and out into the wilds of the city.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty kept an eye on Tandy and Alex until they departed out the back then got back to his chores. He also found the headphones that had fallen through his head when he shifted and put them back on his head. Yep. Bringing the noize. He nudged the volume up and got back to his choring.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"Of course," Tandy replied. "This leads out to to a little alley that'll dump you the next block over. There's a few alcoves and dumpsters you can hide behind, should it be needed. Otherwise feel free to knock. The main door is usually unlocked."

Alex Summers has posed:
He hears her suggestions and offer as he moves through the alleyway and beyond ear shot. Havok is gone, off to find a way back to his home up in Westchester; where the fancy rich white folks live.