Search Party

[The Imfamous AKA]

Aretha moves quickly and quietly as she drifts between the buildings. She is not as silent as her companion, who mvoes eerily silently. She quickly leads the tiny search party along the missing theif's usual territory, slipping from warehouse to warehouse.

[Forsaken]

Tawny scans their surroundings with bright, alert eyes. Her thick cloak is pulled tightly around her, but it does not disguise her jaunty step. She is way too excited to be out here. However, the soft rubber composing the soles of her shoes are forgiving and she has learned the art of silence as well as someone of her demeanor ever can, so she too manages the necessary degree of silence. If the occasional muffled scuff of a shoe against the snow-dusted pavement can be forgiven.

This early on in the search, her careful scrutiny is flawless even if her silence is not, and she tells herself that if there is something to be found she will find it.

[Rojo]

"No...no..." he rifled through the dust bin some more, looking for something like a starving hound for a piece of meat. His eyes were manic and his creepily eccentric grin was somewhat dulled. His brow was furrowed in a frown of puzzlement and mild disappointment.
Dr. Strange sighed and pulled his upper torso out of the bin, bits of rubbish falling off him like water off a duck. He ruffled his hand through his hair and a rotting banana skin and a piece of cardboard fell out. He seemed to pause for a moment in deep thought. Then he picked up the bin by the handles and turned it upside down.
Waste poured out everywhere and pooled around his feet. Strange poked his head inside and then pulled it out. He shook the bin a few more times and those annoying little sticky bits that always stick to the bottom fell out. The self-proclaimed doctor picked up a large stick that was lying next to the bin and began to sift through the pile of rubbish with it.
"Come ON, Arnold..." he murmers "it has to be be be be be be here s-s-somewhereeee..." his left eye twitched and he suddenly started swinging the stick around like a sword, swatting at invisible attackers and making ridiculous "HAI!" noises. Then, suddenly, in the middle of one of these swings, he went back to sifting through the contents of the bin. This transition was so fast you could have missed it by blinking. Dr. Strange crouched down in order to overturn an old melon rind. He sighed again. Still no luck...

[Forsaken]

Dr. Strange was just the kind of figure that a blind man wouldn't miss, let alone a girl who was always up for adventure. Hearing the ruffling sounds the crazed man was making as he dug through the garbage, she zeroed in on him, drifting close and then leaning against the wall nearest the garbage can while she observed him. Her mouth curled into an amused smile and her eyes glittered cheerfully as she watched him. Not exactly the kind of fellow I would want to catch me off guard on a night like this, but there's no way he's responsible for Kite and Rena's disappearance- That train of thought ended rather abruptly when the peculiar man began to lunge with his stick at an invisible opponent. She stepped lightly back, barely smothering a surprised and delighted laugh, and waited until he stopped. Which he did very suddenly.

She crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly away from the wall even as the rest of her thin form leaned in, her feet crossing as her arms had. The pose was easy and reckless, but with her brightly inquisitive, fearless expression it became downright impish. She grinned at him, and said in a teasing, light-hearted tone, "Bravo, my friend! Skip, here" she raises a hand to scratch the rat behind it's ears as it climbed through the folds of her clothing to sit on her shoulder "was once a very adept swords-rat, and she admires your style. How about a lesson?"

Said in any other way, the words would have been mocking. But there was never any malevolence to be seen in Tawny, and she chose her words simply for the sake of fun.

((*smiles* Tawny seems to have ADD.))

[The Imfamous AKA]

Ghost rolls his eyes, glancing ever silently at Aretha. She raises one hand in a faint gesture to him before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Thank you, Tawny, for antagonizing the natives..." she murmurs under her breathe.

Ghost places his hand on her shoulder and she shrugs. "Perhaps he'll take it well. One never knows with Dr. Strange..." she continues in the same muted mutter.

[Rojo]

Strange started to throw the refuse into the air in a hope to find whatever he was looking for. "Nonononono NO!" His voice became quite loud and frustrated. He beat the ground with his fists. Then a voice came and he froze mid-beat. A rusty tin can bounced off his head. Slowly, the deranged man turned his head 175 degrees, not managing the full 180. His eyes were wide and mad, looking like two pools of blood on a frosty evening. Most people's mouths curl when they smile or grin, but Dr. Strange's mouth's transition was much more slow and deliberate, letting his lips take their sweet time in forming into an unnerving grin that made one's skin crawl.
Slowly, his body turned to match the direction of his head, twisting on the spot like a mechanical construct, moving like it had only just realised that the head had turned and was trying to surreptitiously sneak over without the head noticing.
"Lessons are onlyyy taught by those whooooee are self obss....essed enough to thiiiiiiink they are ma-ah-ah-ahsters of their craft-t-t-t." His speech came in little juttering stops, extended vowels and random pauses, like a child learning to speak. On Meth.
Strange moved over, his every alternate step a little spring, so it looked as if he had a pogo stick for a leg and happened to have a limp. The mad marvel sniffed the night air and nodded thoroughly for a while, then hit himself in the face twice before shaking his head like a wet dog.
"Smell thaaaaat?" He asked "Sentinelllsh! We best be carefulll...."

[Forsaken]

A strange pause of sorts crept over Tawny when the crazed man looked her way. She suddenly seemed still in a way she rarely was while awake, as though all of the buzzing energies beneath the surface had come to a complete halt.

Or were suddenly united, joined together by a point of interest great enough to demand the focus of every flitting thought. Those eyes, she thought, stunned. I've never seen a human with eyes like that, before.

His jolting movements inspired an instinctual fear in her, but even that couldn't perturb her. The chilled jolts that raced up and down her spine were just another form of excitement. An adrenaline rush that she associated with everything fun. She was fascinated almost to the point of finding herself mesmerized.

"Too bad," She murmured in answer to his first statement, and was about to follow with 'I would have loved a good jest,' when his behavior abruptly changed again. His next words snapped her out of her unthinking fascination. "Sentinellish?" She repeated, wondering what his use of the term meant. It sounded as though he feared the Sentinels, which would mean that his agenda didn't match up with hers and she'd have to watch herself. But only those who liked the Sentinels called them by that name. Had he picked it up from the rebels? Whose side was he on?

She straightened, drifting away from the wall. She looked around her, searching for her back-up. Seeing that they weren't so far away, she turned back to the peculiar stranger. "We'll be careful. Then, we'll be safe." She assented, nodding with patronizing sobriety. Then, in a very serious whisper, she said "Have you seen anyone tonight who wasn't careful? Who was captured and taken away?"

[Rojo]

((Sorry Aka I didn't mean to upset the order but Dr Strange is just TOO MUCH FUN! >.< Forgive this poor soul?))

Strange watches the girl's reaction, deriving some sort of twisted humour from it. He listens to her words, tapping his foot like some dog or a certain annoying blue hedgehog. He nods a few times, murmers "Mm-hmm" then suddenly stands on his tiptoes and looks around, looking like a meerkat. His eyes go wide and then his eyelids snap together like the closed case of a lawyer, bringing his body in low and crouching like a tribal man, on his haunches. He looked around, then stood to a height similar to Tawny's.

"Welllllll..." he says, leaving the word hang like an ominous hook in a butcher's back room "there waaaaaaaas the girly-girl..." a grin worked it's way onto Doctor Strange's face at this point, the pupils of his eyes inflating like adrug-user's to the point where they looked cartoonishly large. He sniffed the air like a dog and licked his lips "she SCREAMED!" he said the word how it was, screaming the word with a high pitch before crouching down on his haunches and scuttling around like a crab. He returned to Tawny's side and looked up at her, not standing this time "she screeeeeeeeeaaaAAAAAmed like a mouse caught in a-- TRAP!" he snapped the word, clapping his hands as if to mime a mouse being caught in a trap "not to scare your little friend of course. I admire his nose," he nodded overenthusiastically, so much to the point where his neck started to make clicking noises. He suddenly stopped nodding, completely, it wasn't a stop and then there was an aftershake, when the head has to steady itself. His head just stopped, almost mechanically, just like clockwork.

"Then there was the b-b-booooooy. He begged faaaaaw-AH," by this he meant the word 'four' but had twisted it so that it ended with his mouth in a disctinct oval shape which suddenly snapped shut, sounding like a fruit peddlar at a marketplace "meeeer-caaay!" Strange gave the word like a football anouncer yelling 'goal.' He even put his arms in the air, straight up, hands outstretched. He slowly lowered his arms and started rubbing his nose, alternating between hands as he stroked his own nose in a peculiar fashion.

"And then, of course, are the ones you want me to tell you about," he said, in a completely normal voice that was so unpeculiar that it was frightening at the sudden change from insanity to normality. Of course, he was saying all this while still crouched down, which somewhat ruined the effect. "You know, the man and the girl? The one's your looking for?" He looked up at Tawny, his eyes having lost their manic look and his grin gone.

Suddenly he sprang up like a Jack-in-the-box and screeched at the top of his voice,
"POP GOES THE WEASEL!" He paused, staring a particuliarily muddy patch of ground "of course I have no idea what a weasel is but it probably has a nozzle." Dr Strange cocked his head and stared at Tawny, his eyes back in full flare and his grin a-cock on his face.
"You are aware that if you called The Avengers I'm sure they'd find your friends in HEART-beat," his speech was crackled like an old broken-down radio, unable to decide on pitch or volume "but then aaaaaaagaaaaaain...they're awfully...." he stopped mid-sentence, holding it for around twelve seconds "rotten for not letting the BEAst back in...though his ba-ba-ba-badge helped him g-uh-g-uh get into a few p-uhlaces." He blinked a few times.

"BUT ANYWAY!" He gesticulated wildly into the air with a finger, spinning around 360 degrees and stopping and striking a pose as if caught in a spotlight "I suppose you wa-la-nt to hear about those two rebels wot gawt capucharred, eh gov'nor?"

[Forsaken]

((Good news, Rojo! Aka gave us permission to continue on our own for a while. She'll jump in with Ghost and Aretha once the perfect opportunity presents itself.))

The young rebel listens carefully as the mad man began his account of the captures he had witnessed. She hang heavily on his every word, ready to translate any bit of nonsense or scrap of riddle into information that may help them find their missing comrades. It was up to her to find out, after all! She was great with any brand of crazy because, for some reason, she could relate. The intensity and perpetually shifting nature of madness simply made sense to her. Maybe it was just an angsty teen thing, but she felt an affinity for anything unstable and uncertain.

So she absorbed his every word as though it were of the utmost importance. Her focus however, had the side effect of making her...twitchy. When he screamed the word scream she ducked back, dipping partway into a crouch before straightening again. Her eyes were wide and uneasy as Skip skittered nervously behind her neck and to her other shoulder. That girl...could she be Serene? And that boy he spoke of next (this time, only her eyes flinched when he clapped his hands together like the trap he spoke of. Skip ducked deeper into Tawny's clothing and did not emerge immediately) surely that wouldn't be Kite? After all, Kite was too old to fall under the heading of boy...unless everything male fell under the heading of boy in the crazed stranger's mind. Still, she knew Kite. He would never beg for mercy!

Tawny chewed her lip anxiously, but the man soon relieved those initial fears by implying that those individuals were not the ones she was looking for. She looked down at her informant curiously, feeling herself relax as he seemed to return to sanity. Hmm, she hadn't realized she'd been so tense-

A surprised squeak escapes her throat (resulting from the loud yelp she tried to strangle) as Dr. Strange jumps up and screeches that nonsensical phrase. These outbursts of his, as fascinating as they were, had now put her so far on edge that she was in danger of plummeting down the other side. She takes a step back- instinctively driving toward space even though her conscious mind refused to recognize the need- but reclaims the step immediately when his monologue takes yet another turn. Who were The Avengers, and how could they find Kite and Rena? The rest of that statement, about beasts and badges, she couldn't make sense of at all, but...

Ah, here was her opening! He was offering to tell her about their missing rebels! "Yes! Please!" She says excitedly, "Tell me about them, if you can! And who are these Avengers that might be able to find them?" Holding her breath, she waiting for him to tell her what they needed to hear.

[Rojo]

Tawny's involved reactions to Dr Strange's exposition and ranting only serves as fuel for his strange insanity and he hops around like a small excited mammal, but stops at her last sentence.
"Don't know the AAAAAAAA-vengers, she says!" He cackles madly, throwing his head back and laughing, the moonlight reflecting off those red eyes, making them look like gleaming rubies, which one feared if they stared into for too long, they too would be consumed by that maddening mirth.
The laughter stopped suddenly and the eyes snapped back to Aretha, the left one twitching like the screen of a TV with bad reception. He looked deadly serious, that warped and often-mad face devoid of any semblance of something that might imitate emotion.
In two bounds, he loped up to her, his eyes wide in the darkness, filled with excitement. His mouth twisted into an even larger-than-usual grin.
"EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES!" he exploded, his mouth wide, tongue waving from side to side, an animal trapped inside a pink prison, trying to escape its cell.
Dr Strange stood slightly to her left, stiff as a board, staring off into the distance with an expression of that of a soldier standing to attention.
"IRON MAN-- THE GOLDEN AVENGER," he shouted the first words as if they were a title or an important statement "HE LIVES!" He struck a pose, one arm outstretched in front of him, facing towards him "HE WALKS!" The other arm followed suit, facing its partner "HE CON-QUEEEEEEEEEERS!" Strange yelled the last statement at the top of hi voice, bringing his hands together in a single clap, a look of plucky-determination on his face, almost childlike. He turned to face Tawny, his face calculative as he tried to recall facts, his voice suddenly quick as the words all slurred together with his speed,
"A man made of gold and red metal, who uses his great intelligence and powers of technology to build great wonders tp help mankind-- his skin of iron allows him to fly and shoot 'repulsor blasts'," from the sound of it he knew not what 'repulsor blasts' were but clearly thought highly of them "from his hands to dispatch the foes of America!" He paused "THAT'S the country where they live!"
He paused, considering whether this was an accurate description of one of his many idols. He decided it wasn't, but there was not time to spare! This poor girl did not know that her life, her freedom, her liberty was being defended by EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES!

Dr Strange assumed another pose, this time off to Tawny's right, only this time he faced her, his expression still set. He glowered into this distance, past her.
"THOR, THUNDER GOD OF MIDGARD," he pronounced Midgard perfectly, which is strange considering he had no point of reference. For some reason, Strange thought it important to say the rest of the little description in a low, deep and what he probably thought to be a god-like voice.
"Born in MIDGARD, beyond the realm of MORTALS, in the realm of the GODS, Thor ODINSON, son of ODIN, GOD OF GODS, was the THUNDER GOD. BUT THOR WAS NOT HAPPY LIVING IN MIDGARD!" He rose both hands as if holding an invisible hammer "AND HE TOOK HIS GREAT HAMMER MJOLNIR," yet another perfect pronunciation "AND HE LEFT MIDGARD, TURNING HIS EYES TO EARTH, SEEKING TO HELP MORTALS WHO LIVED THERE, TAKING HIS GREAT PRESCENCE DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL TO SERVE AND PROTECT THEM AS A HERO!" Strange brought down the invisible hammer with great force, jumping cartoonishly as it struck the ground, even making the sound effect of a great 'SLAM!' as it hit the ground.

At this point he seemed to go into a small frenzy, circling the girl twice, jumping over the dust bin and throwing the discarded rubbish into the air, making loud whooping noises and even a small half-handstand which left him suddenly crouched in front of Tawny, staring at her knees with a sort of solemn, melancholy expression on his face. Slowly, he stood.
"Captain America," he almost said with a sigh "The First Avenger."
He looked into Tawny's eyes and now his own had become shining pools of reverence, as if he were speaking of some lost prophet or god-like figure, despite in his last spiel he had apparently in fact been talking about an actual god.
"A valiant man. . .he fought a long time ago in a war. . .a great war," he sounded almost normal now, if it were not for the scarily 'we-are-not-worthy' whisper "he was not a man of great proportions, he was the best any man could be. . .just a man, nothing less or more," there were tears shining in Dr Strange's eyes "he fought for freedom and served millions in his duty to his one and only love: his country. Truly. . .a man we haven't seen the likes of which in far too long."
He placed a single hand on his chest, clenched into a fist as he raised his head to look at the sky, those tears still shining as he stared with stoic and brave-facedness into the night, as if challenging the entire world to dare tell him anything he had just said was misplaced.
After a while, he sighed and allowed his hand to fall limply to his side, wiping his eyes with the back of it like a grubby child.

It appeared all thoughts of the more important question Tawny had asked had been obliterated by his delirious, hero-worshipping rant.

[Forsaken]

Tawny realized one thing as Dr. Strange paced, circled, and ranted; she had no idea who these Avengers were, but she was positive that they didn't exist in this world any longer. It was disappointing. She had hoped that one of them could help her save the missing rebels.

Oh well. Dr. Strange was here, and he not only seemed to know what had happened to Kite and Serene, but he worshiped heroic figures to such an extent that there was a fair chance he might try to do what the heroes he had just listed would have in this same scenario. He might help them save the missing rebels. With this in mind, she moves closer to Dr. Strange and puts a hand on his arm, trying to get his attention. She earnestly meets his crazed red eyes with her rich, soft ones. "What about the people who were kidnapped tonight? Is there anyone who will save them?" She didn't know if it was safe to reach out to the madman in such a fashion, but it was the only way she could think of to try and get through to him. And maybe she could get him to stop shouting, this way. All of that noise was making even her nervous. And that was really saying something.

[Rojo]

Through the great murky depths of his fractured mind, something in Tawny's words and the her touch resonated with something within the mad little man, as if she had struck a chord within him. He looked up at her, left eye twitching, mouth in a half-smirk that never went away and he gripped her arm back, as they had locked arms and he stood, his eyes on level with hers, his back straight and his eyes held high.
"We are NO-ble PEOPLE. . ." he nodded furiously, his brow set, once again in comparison to a child's "because if WE-he-he-he DO NAAAT answe. . . .rrrra the CALL to ARMS. . ." he leaned in very close, every tiny detail of his face obvious to Tawny, his pupils expanding to absorb more light. His nostrils seemed to flare out of time with his breathing, which was more than a little unnerving and quite possibly impossible for any normal person. Dr Strange's voice lowered to a whisper "then who will?"

He gripped Tawny's arm tightly, his eyes flickering from side-to-side, now more like the stereotypical mad person, looking over his shoulder and mumbling.
"Two people, oh yes oh yes. . ." he nodded again, making a small whiny noise "but the ANIMALS came," here he made imitations of a dog, barking under his breathe and his best imitation of a Monkey from what comic books had taught him "took the man. . .the MAN in BLACK. . .l-l-l-like Night THRAS-HER!" He grinned, shaking his head like a dog with a pillow or favourite toy before continuing "and the girl. . ." he looked sad "the poor, sweet little girl. . ."
He turned away from Tawny, looking angry. He stsmped over to the dust bin, picking up his large stick and began to beat the bin as if in a fit of rage.
"STUPID FILTHY ANIMALS AND THEIR. . ." he gave it an all-mighty whack, putting a large dent in the metal casing "HANDS!" He began nodding to himself, holding the stick in both hands.
"Tiny little hANDIEs they've got, yes Ar-thur?" He turned back to Tawny, his face rife with despair.
"Got to HELP them, got to SAVE them-- GOT TO BE HEROES!"

Doctor Strange jumped into the air and waved the stick over Tawny's head, stumbling backwards from the suprising height of his jump. He took Tawny's arm again, as if he now thought this to be some sort of friendly gesture between the two of them and looked her in the eye, his left one twitching more than usual.
"G-got to SAVE them!"

[Forsaken]

Now this was getting them somewhere! Tawny's expression ignites with excitement as she watches the madman in his pacing. He was beginning to speak her language.

Okay, so bum-rushing the dumpster was a bit much, but they were definitely on the right track! When Dr. Strange returns to her and grasps her arm as she had earlier grasped his, she reaches out to him with the other and does the same, so that they were once again locked in what was about to become a strange greeting ritual between the two if this pattern continued. "Yes! Exactly!" She exclaims excitedly, smiling brilliantly at their mad redeemer. "We have to be the heroes, now! There isn't anyone else who can be!" Okay, so there were definitely others, but there was no such thing as having too much help. And Tawny was unscrupulous in her phrasing. She said whatever she thought would have the desired effect.

"But we have to find that boy and girl if we're going to save them." She tightens her hold on Dr. Strange, pulls him closer as she stares deeply into his eyes, searching for understanding. "Do you know where they are, Mad Redeemer?" She asks, adjusting her earlier thought into a heroic name for him. She thought he'd like that.

[Rojo]

Tawny's words were like coal to the fire of a steam train; they fueled the 'Mad Redeemer's deep comic-rooted sense of justice and goodwill only further and his eyes widened even further, almost to the point of being cartoonish, if it were not for the rather unnerving veins which snaked in around the edges.
Her words appealed to him and he did a sort of owl-like motion where he bristled his torso as if indignant, but he seemed to agree, taking her arm in both his for a moment.
No other heroes.
Just the two of them.
Against an army of many.
It was a scenario that had been done do death as far as his favourite inked-paper-based medium was concerned, but it was done to death for a reason; it worked. Dr Strange had many a-time been sat in awe at his dimly-lit table in his thrown-together-shack, eyes scanning the same image over and over of two singular heroes against many, insurmountable-seeming villains. Of course, there would be more rebels to help, but Dr Strange didn't know to know that right now.
And as if the heroic imagery wasn't enough, she had to go and give him his own superhero name.

Oh dear.

At this, he seemed to go a little. . .peculiar. He started to shake at first, like someone suffering from serious drug withdrawl. Then he. . .exploded.
Springing four feet into the air and landing on his hands, rolling over forward and hopping the dust bin, Dr Strange picked up Arthur and began to swing him back and forth in front of his face in wide sweeps, jaw jutting out as he had seen many of his heroes do. He had a name. A title that people would remember, that one day he might be recorded in the great holy scriptures of 'Marvel' and meet the Creators, 'Lee and Kirby' two of the more well-known gods in Dr Strange's rather insane pantheon, among the Hall of Heroes, where he had assured himself all the heroes had gone a long time ago, as despite his many searches, he had found neither head nor tail of any of them.
Now it was his turn, as the Mad Redeemer, to take his place among his idols, to make with daring-do and dashing rescues. There were villains to fight, peace to keep and worlds to save!
He turned to face Tawny, looking at her with reverence. She had shown him the way-- a sign from the Creators it was his time to shine, to be a Hero. He pointed Arthur at her.
"AND WHERE WOULD A HERO BE WITHOUT HIS SIDEKICK. . ." he began in a high-and-mighty-voice, jaw and brow set in a manner of which Captain America would be proud. He narrowed his eyes, studying her appearance, finally resting his eyes on her tattoo ". . .StarSight," he paused, his gaze resting on Skip, squinting as he tried to examine her in detail "and your FAITHful comp-pan-panion, WHITESCAR!" He struck a pose, pointing at the two of them with his large stick.

"And tooooooGETHER we shall ReScUe the DARK SHADOW MAN and SWEET INNOCENCE from that Daaaark place. . .the river into HELL. . .N-N-NO PLACE L-LIKE IT," he turned to the dark and ominous bulge of the Cavyrn and thought of the place beneath it, where the people Tawny sought were now held. He looked at her with grave eyes, his mouth slightly open and whispered,
"We ALL. . .FALL. . .down."

[Forsaken]

((How have I taken two weeks to reply to this?!! I seriously need to be tasered. Dr. Strange deserves better than that.))

Tawny beamed delightedly at Dr. Strange, aka Mad Redeemer, and pulls Skip from her hood so that she can lift her faithful companion high into the air and meet her tiny black-button eyes. "So much for Tawny and Skip, my little friend! From now on we'll be Starsight and Whitescar!" She laughs, a bright, girlish sound, and shifts Whitescar onto the flat of her palm so that the rat can scurry down her arm and back into her hood in a tan blur of racing limbs.

Her warm gaze returns to the hero of this time and place. So she would be a side kick! She could live with that. After all, she operated best in the sidelines. Her tactics revolved around propaganda and vandalism, making her most useful as part of the support behind any team. She was here to spread a message, to tell the story that would change the world as those around her made change the reality. She nods her head to herself in satisfaction, absolutely convinced of her role in the grand scheme of things and eternally confident as a result.

His last words and grave expression caused her to pause for the briefest of moments, but as always she had a response to this as well. "We might have to go underground to get there, but we won't fall. We'll roll into that dungeon like storm!" She smiles at him. "We can do it, can't we, Mad Redeemer? If you can get us in there, I just know we'll find a way to get my friends out of there."