Born in the city of New York, Tandy Bowen was always surrounded by the city life and grew very comfortable in it. Her father, Nathan Bowen, was a well known Anti-Mutant Lawyer who made his money framing mutants for crimes committed by the Mafia while her mother was a simple model who seemed to enjoy her liquor more than she should've. The pair of parents often showered Tandy with money being able to afford anything she might've wanted but never seemed to afford the time to actually raise their child. Instead they left her under the care of a nanny named Martha North, a half African/half Korean-American single mother with a son two years younger than Tandy named Lincoln North. From the start Lincoln and Tandy were fast friends, while Lincoln filled the lack of company in Tandy's life she provided opportunities for Lincoln to experience the rich side of life as well as becoming something of a romantic interest to the younger boy although the feelings were never reciprocated. When Tandy was about fifteen and Lincoln was thirteen they went on a vacation accompanied by Lincoln's mother to the Jersey shore, an event which would redirect the path of everyone's life involved. Late one night during the trip, they were walking from the boardwalk to their hotel and found themselves in one of the less kind areas of the shore where a group of men decided Tandy peaked their interest. They swarmed on the trio and instantly stabbed Martha North fourteen times in front of her own son, whether Lincoln held the powers before this moment or not is unsure but in that instant his body seemed to simply change, allowing him access for the first time to the darkforce dimension. Almost instantly the men's minds were overcome by the darkness he could expose them to and left each one of them nothing more than catatonic shells of their former selves. Being revealed as a mutant, Tandy's father instantly removed all contact with the orphan child and for a while the pair of friends didn't hear from one another.

After a few years Tandy came to discover she had powers as well, but went through great lengths to hide it from her bigot of a father which went well for a while until her father got a new case involving Lincoln. He was accused of using his powers to kill a variety of police officers who were all found shot to death, cameras near the location spotted Lincoln sleeping in a nearby park. The officers murdered that night were all known for being involved in a recent campaign to hinder the Mafia's activity but it seemed without much to defend himself with and up against Tandy's powerful father Lincoln had little to do but sit back and wait for the corrupted justice system to rip him a new one. However Tandy had other plans, she decided to not only reveal her own mutant status but also revealed Nathan's connections to the police. Forced to turn her own father in to save her friend, Tandy was labeled a traitor by her anti-Mutant family and placed on a target list by the Mafia having removed their most powerful Lawyer but luckily being able to prove her father's corruption lead to the investigators discovering Lincoln had been set up. Now an orphan herself, Tandy managed to obtain a decent share of her father's fantastic wealth which she uses to help fund her and Lincoln's lifestyle today, which is described as nomadic at best.

Dark clouds amassed above a wooded area drenching it with a full on downpour while a lonely wooden bridge sits connecting one side of the forest to another, with a thick stream separating the two. Below this bridge two figures sit across from one another with a small fire in the center, illuminating the area and fighting off the chilling moist air. Once again, Cloak & Dagger find themselves without a place to rest and are forced to seek shelter under the leaky wooden structure. "So, just curious when you proposed the idea of forming a superhero team is this what you envisioned?" Cloak asked his partner who sat holding a metal rod she found and occasionally making jabs at the fire. "Okay I admit, I didn't foresee us spending nights outside camping. This doesn't seem very 'heroic' but where are heroes supposed to live?" she shot back, her remark holding quite an edge to it making Cloak almost flinch from how harsh the words felt. They sat in silence, staring at the pitiful before them which hardly gave off enough heat for the pair. Cloak was right though, the last few weeks since they decided to begin being actual heroes had gone terrible. They hadn't made any real strides in their teamwork and in terms of recognition they were nobodies but at the same time its not like everyday someone was pulling off a stunt the duo could get in on, the world isn't as chaotic as one might think. These thoughts filled Dagger's mind as she continued to prod the fire attempting to figure out how the pair could verify the status of being actual heroes.

This train of thought was shattered when two cars collided head on atop the bridge, directly above the duo's heads. The sound of glass shattering and metal twisting consumed the forest for only a few seconds, followed by the sound of wood cracking. The pair exchanged a look before they sprung into action, Dagger pushed herself up and took off climbing up the steep hill under the bridge towards the smell of burning gasoline while Cloak simply floated upwards and phased directly through the bridge arriving on scene first but not long before Dagger came sprinting up alongside him. "Is everyone okay? Hello? You're gonna be okay, we're here to help!" Dagger shouted as she went fearlessly into the burning wreckage, Lincoln had no choice but to follow behind her. They came to the first car, a small blue truck with two older males in the front who sat conscious but covered in abrasions. Lincoln forced the door off its hinges and began helping the pair away from the burning car. Tandy found herself peering into the window of the more badly damaged car, where a single mother sat in the front with an entire backseat full of four boys, presumably her children. The car was so twisted and bent, Tandy couldn't hope to open any of the doors and instead began pounding on the glass to free the unconscious bodies from the flaming prison. Finding herself too weak to shatter the glass she pounded harder, desperate to save this family. "Linc! Help me goddammit!" she called out, spotting her friend getting the other pair to the side of the road while one began dialing on his phone.

By the time Cloak had gotten to her however, the smaller car was beginning to be engulfed in the flames. With a single strike Cloak but his fist through the window and grabbed the first boy closest to him yanking him free from the car. Before they could reach in and grab the second one the bridge shook as one of the struts holding it began to give out. The crash had obviously been so forceful that it damaged the actual structure of the bridge. Dagger began shouting in a frenzy as she struggled to unbuckle one of the boys from the flaming wreck, the fire threatening to come for her as well. When she finally managed to free him from the seat belt, fit her hands under his armpits and lift the bridge began to give out. She felt her foot slip and the cars begin to slide, realizing the bridge was giving out. Without a stable platform to push off from Dagger felt herself losing balance as she cradled the unconscious boy's body in her arms. Cloak was attempting to free a third boy when the car sputtered and began spewing out fuel which only added to the fire forcing him to stumble back as he witnessed the interior of the car ignite as the fire spread and the smell of searing flesh filled his nostrils. A massive cracking sound signaled the bridge had finally given way as it quickly began crumbling, sucking the car towards the railing before it flipped over the edge and into the water followed closely by the second car which now rolled towards the broken railing and where Tandy was standing. She screamed unable to find enough footing to save herself before Cloak closed in around her, wrapping his form around her and the boy. For a moment everything went silent and dark for Dagger, a type of dark that was clearly supernatural before she found herself a couple meters away from the initial wreck, watching as the flaming car also barreled over the edge and flipped into the water, quickly sinking before the rest of the bridge fell on top of it. Tears began forming in her eyes as she held the boy realizing she had failed him, whoever the others were in that car were now clearly dead and that was all because of Tandy and Linc's inexperience. She dropped to her knees squeezing the boy as she fell apart into sobs, Lincoln could do nothing but throw the hood of his cloak up and over his head, covering his face which was streaked with tears. Their hero career had officially begun with the death of three innocents in one of the most horrific ways she could've thought up.