Disclaimer: The recognizable characters belong to Marvel Comics. They are being used for enterteinment purposes only and NO money is being made off their use. The story, Jennifer, Travis, and the Minister of Mercy belong to me.
Prologue
The light played through the dull stained glass windows of the old church. It fell, like multi-colored rain, over the face of a young woman who couldn't have been much older than twenty. As the light danced over her eyelids, the woman stirred. Then, she woke.
Two cobolt blue eyes examined the shadows of the derelict church. She brushed a wiry hand through her pale blond hair as she sat up. "Cloak?" she called out in a hoarse whisper.
With the elegant grace of a former dance, she stepped off the wooden pew and took a step towards the darkness. "Cloak?" she called out, her voice stronger this time.
Out of the shadows stepped a man who looked years older than he should. A great cloak of black and blue flowed around him like an extension of his being. Two chocolate eyes, full of love and despair, peered at the woman who stood before him.
She smiled. "I thought you had left me, Cloak."
The man shook his head and held out his hand to her. "I would never leave you, Dagger. Never."
Dagger smiled again and took hold of his hand. The cloak opened allowing access to the murky shadow realm inside it. A small blast of cold ran through Dagger but she steadied her light glow and walked into the oblivion. Then the figure of Cloak disappeared in the folds of his own darkness.
These two people who you have just meet are mutants. Feared by the world because of their powers and hated because they are different, Cloak and Dagger protect the streets that created them. For once Tandy Bowen abd Tyrone Johnson were just two run-aways. That was before they were captured by a drug gang and injected with an experimental drug by a mad scientist. The drug killed the other teens in had been injected into but it triggered Tandy and Tyrone's latent mutant powers, turning them into Cloak and Dagger.
Now, as the Angel of Light and the Demon of Darkness, they fight crime and protect others kids from the horrors of the streets. Forever shunned by the people they protect, Cloak and Dagger will not stop until the world's children or safe or they, the angel and the demon, have died.
Part One
Nineteen-year-old run-away Jennifer Londly sat in the dark corner of her heroin hazed world. Her shaking, bone thin hand pulled at her matted, dull red hair. A pair of clouded green eyes stared off into nothingness and her body, thin from starvation and drugs, trembled in the cold city air.
Jennifer had always heard the rumors about the city of Starsburg. It was said that, a long time ago, it had been a land of artisans and exiled princes. The legend of Starsburg filled children's heads with fantasies of fairy folk and beautiful shinning castles. Her only mistake had been wanting to see this wonderful world that was only close but just out of reach. Jennifer ran away when she was sixteen.
Now, as the high crashed her down, her eyes opened up to reason and the sticky sweet lie of yesteryear was swept away. Starsburg was nothing like it's fairytale legend. It was full of pushers and junkies and whores who'd kill each other to do a man with five dollars in his wallet. The city wasn't heaven, it was hell.
As her shaking hand found the little bag of white powder a man walked into the alley. Jennifer stopped heating up her spoon. She'd heard talk about this man, heard the whispers that accompanied him. He was trouble.
He stopped in front of her huddled form, towering above her. His sharp icy blue eyes burned into her soul and he held a bible in one hand.
"You want somethin', mister?" she inquired smoothly and looked at the ground.
"I'm sure you know why I'm here, you whore," he spat.
Jennifer shook her head weakly. "Nuh uh. I don't do that not unless I really need the cash. Besides, I've heard things about you, mister."
The eyes bore into her. "What have you heard?"
She popped her gum and set the spoon in her hand down. "Bad things."
"What kind of things?" the man snarled and wrapped his hand around one of her thin wrists.
"I've seen you around. People who go with you, most of `em don't come back. Tina, Marie, and Tommy, they went wit' you and I ain't never seen them since." Jennifer's eyes started to clear of their haze and her thoughts became her own.
The man laughed and tightened his grip on her wrist. "They were bad little children."
"Mister, are you high?"
"No, but I am a tad bit horny. Being a priest has it's downfalls," he commented.
As pain shot through her body Jennifer pulled away from the hand that held her wrist tightly. "Man, what are you doin' to me?"
"You came here to see heaven, little girl. I am prepared to help you through the pearly gates. You should thank me," his voice was softer than before, full of some kind of twisted love.
"Jennifer!" someone cried and then the pain was gone.
She struggled to open her green eyes. When she did the man was gone and her good friend, Travis, was holding her in his arms.
"Travis?" she stuttered.
"Yeah, it's me," he replied and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "What happened, Jenny? Who was that man?"
"I don't know, Travis, but I don't think we're safe anymore."
He laughed a laugh sweet and pure. Travis wasn't a junkie and he wasn't a pusher. This sweet, hispanic guy ran a support center for junkies and AIDS victims and the like. Five years ago he and his lover, Pedro, had moved to Starsburg. Pedro died of AIDS a year ago and Travis started the support group. He was Jennifer's only friend in the city. The only thing she didn't like about he was the fact that he wasn't straight. "Sweet child, we've never been safe here," he whispered and hugged her tighter.
Jennifer nodded and pressed closer to him. "I know that, Travis, I jus' don't like to admit it. Listen...you got an empty bed at the home tonight? I don't want to sleep out here."
"I'm sure I can find you one, Jenny. Don't worry." With that Travis helped her up and they left the back alley street to the rats and the lone man with his bible.
Part Two
The man with icy blue eyes and longish black hair walked the alleys of Starsburg. Whenever he saw someone in pain or living in sin, he tried to help them. He was, after all, a minister. A minister of mercy.
Dagger's pale blue eyes stared out the window of the church. Starsburg. It was a city that everyone had heard the legends about. Once upon a time it had been the most beautiful city in all of Europe. Now it was a haven for drug users and murderers. She once again wondered how she had gotten herself dragged out of Hell's Kitchen to land here.
This church was derelict, a sign that no faith but the needle had survived this ruin. It was a pity because the church was like something out of Starsburg's legends. The stained glass windows were dull and dirty but the pictures were still awesome and the statues were glorious.
There was a soft rustling sound in the shadows and then Cloak stepped into the light of the church. He stood still for a moment, just watching Dagger. Everyone who saw her thought she was some kind of avenging angel. He knew better. He knew the girl behind the power. Inside Dagger wasn't an avenging angel, she was a young woman who had been hurt and was now trying to keep others from being hurt.
She didn't even turn when she heard footsteps. "H'lo, Cloak. Where'd you run off to earlier?"
Cloak seemed to glide over to her. The folds of the black and blue cloak covered everything they touched with a foul, deep shadow. When the shadow touched Dagger it melted into something closer to light. "I went out to talk to an old friend."
"Anyone I know?"
"No, Dagger."
She turned to him, her pale blond hair framing the lovely angelic face. "What's wrong Cloak?"
"Nothing's wrong, Dagger," he lied.
She watched him. Cloak was her friend, the best friend she had ever had. If this was a friend of his, it must have been one of his old friends. A friend from before he had met her.
"Why are we here, Ty?" she prodded trying to get past Cloak's elusiveness.
"I am not Tyrone Johnson at the moment, Dagger," he answered. "Tyrone is a weakling whose stuttering killed most of his best friends."
"Cloak, why are you bringing that up now? You haven't talked about that in years."
With a sigh he folded the cloak around him and sat down on one of the church pews. Dagger sat next to him, so close that he could smell her shampoo and feel the hear radiating off her. "One of my friends who I thought died called me last week, Dagger. His name is Travis Gonzales. Five years ago he moved out here and has started a home to take care of run aways and drug users."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?"
"It would be except that Travis told me that his charges have started disappearing. One of them, a nineteen-year-old run away named Jennifer, was attacked today by a man. The man apparently sucked most of the life from her. If he hadn't found her when he did, she probably would have died," Cloak finished and looked up into Dagger's pale blue eyes.
The Angel of Light stood up and paced around the church. "So that's why we came here? To get rid of this guy that's killing off junkies and run aways."
He just nodded and watched her through weary brown eyes. "Dagger?"
"Cloak!" She rushed to his side when she saw how pale he had gotten. "What's wrong, Cloak?"
"I think I've wasted my resources of light today, Dagger," he confided in her.
"You need a re-charge?"
Slowly he shook his head.
The Angel of Light stood before him and poured her healing light into her friend. He needed her to keep the hunger away. He needed her to stay sane. This was the way things worked. This was how they had always worked. He protected her and she filled him with light. That was the way it worked. She had never stopped to wonder what would happen if it changed.
The Dark met the Light and they became stronger for it. They became stronger. Across town, the minister of mercy saw the light in his mind and knew. He knew they had come. Now he had to prepare.
