Cloak & Dagger – First Light

By: Darryl Ley

We open on a children’s ballet class with everyone getting ready. Young Tandy (Rachel Ryals) takes a little while longer to get ready when the teacher calls the class. They begin practice, but Young Tandy falls almost immediately and is chastised by the teacher. We see Young Tyrone (Maceo Smedley) walking down the street in a hoodie that is much too big for him.

Billy (Marcus Clae), Duane (Dalon J. Holland) and Rockwell (Deric Augustine) are discussing how to get a car stereo they installed back after the car owner refused to pay them for installation when Young Tyrone finds them standing near the car in question and they fill him in on why they are there. Billy asks Young Tyrone if that hoodie is wearing is his and Young Tyrone replies it was in my room causing the others to laugh. Young Tyrone wants to help, but his brother tells him to go home.

Young Tandy is left waiting alone after ballet class and calls her father to come pick her up, we learn her father’s name is Nathan Bowen and that he works in Research and Development. Young Tyrone is watching Bill his brother and friends plot how they are going to get the stereo back as we hear the sounds of the approaching storm. Billy is reticent to do anything illegal fearing the wrath of his father. He walks away and eventually his friends follow.

Young Tandy is practicing her dance as her father Nathan arrives. She gets in the car while we see Young Tyrone breaking into the car. Nathan jokes with his daughter on the drive home before answering a call from work. Young Tyrone is walking home when he sees spots a patrol car and hides. Billy finds him and asks why he is still out prompting Young Tyrone to give him the retrieved car stereo. Billy questions him on why he did it and eventually tells Young Tyrone that they will return the stereo.

As they go to return the stereo they are stopped by a patrol car and the two run away. While the two attempt to evade the police, Young Tandy and her father drive on a bridge with a view of a platform as they drive it begins to collapse. Tandy’s father is distracted by the platform collapse and doesn’t see an oncoming 18-wheeler, causing both vehicles to veer off the bridge and crash into the water. Young Tyrone and his brother are still running as they are at the docks being pursued by two armed police officers as they rain continues to fall.

Billy tells Young Tyrone to hide runs only to be stopped by the police officers. They ask where the other one is and Billy insists that he is innocent, in the background we see the same platform we saw in Young Tandy’s perspective, one officer is distracted by a sound, discharging his weapon when the platform explodes. He shoots Billy twice in the chest and falls into the water. Young Tyrone jumps in after his brother.

Young Tandy wakes up her father is unconscious, and the car is sinking. Young Tyrone is in the water searching for Billy and he finds him but he’s dead. The car is taking on water and Young Tandy sees some lights as the 18-wheeler falls hitting her car. Both Young Tandy and Young Tyrone are trapped in the water when suddenly there is an explosion of blue light from the platform which knocks them both unconscious briefly.

Young Tyrone wakes up underwater and stretches out to an expanding light. Meanwhile, in the car which is nearly filled with water, a descending inky darkness appears which Young Tandy reaches out to. The two of them reach out and somehow they take each other’s hands.

Tandy (Olivia Holt) enters a club and heads to the bar where she takes note of the VIP area and makes eyes at Rick (Mike Donovan). Tyrone (Aubrey Joseph) is in the locker room at half time in his school league basketball game. He complains about being fouled in the first, but is ignored by the coach. Tandy talks to Rick and gets invited to his uncle’s place. Tyrone gets fouled repeatedly and we see his parents Adina and Michael (Gloria Reuben & Miles Mussenden) watching as he continues to become more and more frustrated.

At Rick’s place he tries to have sex with Tandy only for her to turn him down. She reveals she’s there to rob him and that she has drugged him. Tandy lets Liam (Carl Lundstedt) in. As Tyrone’s anger boils over and he attacks his opponent, we see Tandy and Liam clearing out the valuables in the apartment. Finally, Tyrone is ejected from the game. Liam drops Tandy off at home, but we see her instead head off in a new direction. Tyrone is sent to bed after coming back from the game.

Tandy is living in an abandoned church and using stolen prescription drugs while we see Tyrone tune out his arguing parents by listening to music. As Tandy tries to sleep we see a flashback of Young Tandy sitting on the stairs witnessing the aftermath of her father’s death. Roxxon is clearing things from the house as Melissa (Andrea Roth) and friend Trip (Al Vicente) look on helplessly. It also appears that Roxxon have voided her father’s life insurance.

Tandy is waiting on Liam to get back and report on how much they made from the robbery. She is less than impressed with the money they made and thinks that Liam got ripped off. When Tandy states she needs more money, Liam reveals that he knows of a party in the woods.

At Tyrone’s school he talks to Evita (Noëlle Renée Bercy) who invites him to a party in the woods that night. She puts the coordinates to the party on his phone. Tandy heads to a rundown trailer before coming in and calling out to see if anyone is home. While she is there she finds a work schedule and takes a picture of it before raiding the fridge. She heads into the bathroom and unscrews the roof vent. We see that she has hidden a pink bag up there into which she puts the stolen pills and the money.

Tyrone arrives at the party and immediately bumps into Tandy who apologises for spilling drink on his varsity jacket. The two talk and Tandy eventually leave. Tyrone meets up with Evita, but when he goes to pay for her drink he discovers that Tandy robbed him and he gives chase. He chases her into a nearby cemetery where Tandy falls allowing Tyrone to catch up. When they touch an energy shockwave blows them both apart.

Tandy suddenly realizes who Tyrone is and asks him if he is that kid from the beach, which Tyrone then understands and responds, “After the storm?” Tandy tries to leave then, but Tyrone briefly stops her and tells her to stop running; however, we see that the contact seems to intensify. Tandy’s light is blinding Tyrone and seemingly causing her pain. When Tyrone recovers his sight Tandy is long gone.

Later that night Tandy is with Liam who is still confused about the earlier incident with Tyrone. She talks to Liam about the car crash as she thinks that she might have died that night and nearly tells him about what really happened, but her courage fails and she stays quiet. Liam challenges her on it and says that this is not the first time she’s almost told him something important.

Tyrone gets home and falls asleep only to wake up the next morning on the top of a strange building interestingly next to a Roxxon Corp sign. We flashback to Young Tyrone at the police station with his parents reporting the police shooting of his brother. The officer they speak to though swears that there is no officer in that precinct with a distinctive scar on his face. He also claims that Billy had drugs in his system when he was found. The final nail in the coffin is when Tyrone’s parents are shown video surveillance of him breaking into the car.

Back in the present Tyrone tries to find his way home but finds that he is outside of the house where the police officer with the scar lives. Tandy has replaced her bag in her hiding place when her mother comes back. We find out that her mother thinks that she’s living with Liam. Melissa is still trying to have their day in court as she notices Tandy has a cut on her hand. When she takes a look at it the two of them are transported into what appears to be a memory or perhaps Melissa’s subconscious, which sees her talking to her husband Nathan with the two of them at one of Tandy’s dance classes.

Tandy is confused as she breaks contact with her mother and asks what that was, but her mother seems to have no memory of it happening. Tyrone is trying to get back home and can’t get a ride from a taxi because he doesn’t have any money on him. When he gets home he begins to research the cop and finds a picture of him rather quickly. His mother interrupts coming into his room to ask why he wasn’t at school today and they end up talking about pressure. Tyrone feels that they are putting pressure on him because of the nature of his brother’s death. His mother admits the fear that she will lose him even if he never does anything wrong.

Tandy has decided to go to the ballet using the tickets from the robbery that they couldn’t sell in the end. She sneaks backstage and watches from the rafters. Tyrone decides to go to bed, but almost immediately finds himself in the trunk of a car. Rick tracks down Tandy to the ballet and he has brought two of his friends. They force her into an alleyway. We get a new flashback which shows the morning after the storm with Young Tandy and Young Tyrone on the beach asleep and holding hands we also see Tandy’s pink bag. Tandy wakes up feeling cold and takes Tyrone’s big hoodie and leaves with her bag.

Back in the present Tandy scratches Rick when he tries to kiss her and he forces her up against a wall and tells his friends to get lost. Tyrone is trying to figure a way out of the car when he finds a lug wrench. The cop is dirty and is looking to sell cocaine taken from evidence to a buyer. When he opens the trunk Tyrone attacks him by throwing the cocaine in his face and runs off. Back in the alleyway Tandy is trying unsuccessfully to fight Rick off. He is about to rape her when she says no and summons a dagger of light stabbing him in the gut. She stares at the bloody glowing dagger before it vanishes. The scarred cop is chasing Tyrone through an old warehouse. He hides but is found by the officer who grabs him and asks him who he is before he gets affected by Tyrone’s power.

We see the aftermath of Bill’s shooting with Tyrone seeing it all. Back in the present they both appear stunned from the vision. Tyrone runs into a dead end and the cop attempts to shoot him but misses and we see Tyrone teleport away.

Meanwhile, Tyrone is back in his room with his shadow power dissipating in the air around him. He also finds the bullet that was fired at him on the floor. In a flashback we see Young Tyrone waking up at the beach where he finds a ballet shoe hanging from a tree. Tandy is trying unsuccessfully to form a light dagger and we end on the perspective switching between Tyrone and Tandy until the end card comes up.