Across National City, within a luxurious penthouse estate, Marcus Vale, now going by Michael Vance, was living peacefully.
With round the clock security, he lived a predictable life. Controlled environments, controlled interactions, all to further Roxxon's goal.
Currently, he was standing at the floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse, three districts above the restless city, sipping twelve-year scotch while news anchors replayed sanitized footage of the "chemical terror incidents."
He grabbed the remote and muted the TV with a faint smirk, walking to his wine cellar and pouring himself a glass of wine, taking a sip while looking out onto National City, thinking about the future.
However unbeknownst to him, the air soon began to be heavier.
The security rotation downstairs changed on schedule. There was a constant rotation of teams of security, all former private military, armed with advanced weaponry and paid extremely well to not ask questions and just do their job.
The biometric locks remained sealed. The windows were impact-resistant. The cameras streamed to a private server. Everything was secure, at least against normal assailants.
Several blocks away, Cloak and Dagger stood atop a darkened building.
Tandy's LVC-01 shimmered softly, pearlescent lines tracing the contours of her dancer's frame. The mask sealed seamlessly over the lower half of her face, polarized Lightforce lenses narrowing as she scanned the penthouse across the skyline.
"There's twelve guards," She said, "Six of them inside the house itself, two of them watching from the rooftop, and the remaining four are all guardian key points around the exterior,"
Tyrone's cloak shifted around him like living ink, 'Yep, also twenty four visible cameras, and definitely more hidden about,"
He extended one gloved hand. Darkness thickened around his fingers, "I'll take care of them,"
Tandy glanced at him.
"You good?"
He met her gaze confidently, "Yes, let's do this,"
They moved together quickly, and the first wave of guards didn't even see them.
Tyrone made sure not to injure the guards too much or give them the opportunity to call for help, knowing that might trigger extra alarms.
Instead, shadows swallowed the rooftop over-watchers quietly, depositing them gently into the DarkForce dimension where they would remain unconscious.
Then, the internal security feeds flickered once before dying. Tyrone had drained the building's external transmission lines in a single pulse.
Backup systems kicked in, and he drained those too, and at the same time, Tandy vaulted from balcony to balcony with effortless precision, Lightstep soles clinging silently to glass and stone. Her movements were fluid, ballet turned lethal efficiency.
Inside the penthouse, Marcus Vale felt the temperature drop. He turned from the window.
"Security?" he called calmly but didn't get a response.
He reached for his phone and at the same time, he shadows on the wall detached.
~CLANG!~
His drink slipped from his hand, shattering against marble. The lights flickered once, and then went out entirely, darkness swallowing the entire room.
"WHO'S THERE?" Marcus shouted, holding his hands up to bluff, his heart pounding so hard in his chest he felt he could explode.
When the lights returned, they weren't the mansion's. They were hers. Tandy's Light filled the space in a controlled glow, casting sharp white illumination over marble floors and modern art.
Marcus stood frozen in the center of his living room.
His security detail was gone. His panic rose even more, recognizing the duo, but he forced it down. He had contingency training for this.
He took multiple deep breaths and looked at the duo.
Cloak stood near the wall, shadows coiling like restrained violence. Dagger stood opposite him, radiant and precise.
"You don't know who you're interfering with," Marcus said, regaining composure, "You think you do, but you don't. This...this is a lot bigger than simple business, a-lot of very important people's interests are at stake,"
Tyrone stepped forward, "We know exactly who you are, Marcus."
The name hit him like a slap, his eyes wide as he realized they had investigated him deeply.
"My name is Michael Vance." He said trying to bluff.
Tandy tilted her head slightly.
"No," she said softly. "It isn't."
She flicked her fingers.
A holographic projection shimmered into existence midair, facial overlays aligning perfectly between his current face and archived Jaded Energy records.
Marcus' pulse spiked as he saw that.
"You changed your name," Tyrone continued, "Your digital footprint. Your history. But bone structure doesn't lie. Neither do the contracts you signed."
Marcus straightened slightly.
"You're trespassing."
Tyrone's shadows surged forward, and in the next blink, the penthouse vanished.
Marcus staggered as the world dissolved into endless black. He stood on a platform of shadow suspended in nothingness.
There were no walls, no exits or signals. Only him facing Cloak & Dagger.
His breath quickened despite himself, "What is this?"
"My special space, suitable for people like you," Tyrone replied quietly.
He waved one hand, and Marcus' smartwatch sparked and died. A faint whine escaped as something beneath his skin near his collarbone shorted out.
"You had a transmitter," Tyrone said. "You don't anymore."
Marcus' control slipped for the first time.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
Tandy stepped closer.
Her Light brightened, just enough to make his pupils shrink.
"We do," she said. "We've been cleaning up your mess for weeks."
She projected images around him. Blue-veined victims, various explosions and multiple collapsed buildings.
"They were volunteers," Marcus snapped reflexively, knowing they knew too much anyway,"They signed consent waivers—"
"They were desperate," Tandy shot back, voice sharpening, "You offered them miracles."
Marcus' jaw clenched.
"We offered opportunity, OPPORTUNITY TO SEE A BETTER WORLD," Marcus said, his eyes going a bit crazy as he stared at Tyrone and Tandy.
"You offered a death sentence," Tyrone said coldly.
Marcus took multiple deep breaths and straightened, regaining fragments of his composure, "You can't prove any of this. Let me go,"
Tyrone stepped closer as he heard that, the temperature in the DarkForce Dimension dropped even further.
"I don't need proof right now."
A subtle shift in the Darkforce caused gravity to tilt slightly and Marcus stumbled.
"You're manufacturing enhanced soldiers," Tyrone continued evenly, "Why?"
Marcus smirked faintly, "Didn't you hear what I said, to make a better world. If you think all of this is just about National City, or even America, think again,"
He said, smiling as he looked at the two of them, "You've seen what's coming," he said quietly.
"Fucking Meta-Humans like you show up every other week. Aliens like Superman are seen as Gods among Men. Superheroes run around doing whatever they want, where-ever they want,"
Marcus continued.
Tandy's eyes narrowed.
"So you're building an army?"
"We're building protection," Marcus said angrily.
"Against who?" Tyrone pressed.
Marcus laughed softly.
"People like you. Humanity needs a better future, where we don't need Meta-Human and Alien vigilantes recklessly doing whatever they want. We'll be the ones to lead Humanity to a new era," Marcus said.
The silence that followed was heavy. Tandy stepped closer, her voice low and lethal as she ignored that final statement, "Locations for their bases, now,"
Marcus shook his head instinctively.
"You don't understand," Marcus whispered, genuine fear creeping in now. "I'm not the top of this. I'm logistics. I move assets. I don't design strategy."
"Facility locations, if you want to live, you should speak, no-one will find your body here, I can promise you that, you'll just be another missing statistic," Tandy repeated.
Marcus squeezed his eyes shut as he heard that, and after a deep breath, he spoke, "All of the locations are mobile. Container labs rotated every 10 days,"
"Current one."
He swallowed.
"Dockside, Sector 9. Disguised as a refrigerated medical shipment hub."
Tyrone's eyes flicked briefly, committing it to memory.
"Security?"
"I don't fucking know, do you think if I was so influential I'd be needing to change my identity? I've told you all I know," He said angrily.
"So you're just a tool with no actual idea of who is pulling the strings? You talk a big talk for being so useless," Tyrone said, placing a hand on Marcus head and causing the man to collapse.
"He's just knocked out, I implanted a seed of fear in him, whenever he thinks of talking about us, he'll be overcome with it. We'll keep him alive and monitor for now, let's investigate this location he gave us first,"