Arny sat at his desk with an assortment of metal parts laid in front of him. Raising his long sleeves, he gathered up the parts in his dark energy and began to assemble them together.

"Welcome back people." He spoke without looking up. "Good to see the lot of ya again." The parts connected and made the form of a small robot. His energy fades as he faces the audience. "I'm just gonna give a quick heads up about this chapter, it's gonna mostly focus on the other three Titans within the 'T' tower... but that doesn't mean you'll be safe from the horror." He smirked sisterly. "Oh, and on a side note, you may have noticed, but the rating on this story is now "M." and its gonna wear it like a badge of honor."

Arny then presses a button on the back of the robot, with a small 'blip' a red light on it's camera head came to life and it turned to face him. "What is my purpose?" It spoke with a male computerized voice. "Pass the remote." Arny ordered it. Turning on it's caterpillar track wheels, it went over to the other end of the desk and retrieved the said item, pulling it back across the table with it's forklift arms. "Thanks a bundle." Arny takes hold of the device and unpaused the TV.


THE DISPATCH

Part 7: Unseen Presence

Starfire entered her room, barely able to hover as she reached her circular bed. She lay down on her back, with her head hanging over the foot of the bed. It didn't take long for her seemingly endless energy to reach it's end and she was out like a light. She lay there for what felt like a good fifteen minutes before a light breeze passed through her hair. Being a light sleeper she drifted back to consciousness. She didn't remember opening the window. Where did that breeze come from? had she left her bedroom door open? A growing sense of unease made Starfire open her eyes. Slowly turning her head she discovered her door was in fact shut.

A stronger breeze passed through her hair.

(MSP): CO AG - A Gothic Symphony

With an involuntary gasp, she sat bolt up. Her temperature dropped ten degrees when she noticed that her closet doors had been opened. A few of her personal belongings now lay scattered across the carpet. Starfire sat silently, looking and listening... but nothing else happened. No sound. No movement and her bedroom was dark and quiet. She ran her hand through her hair, unsure what to make of this strange occurrence. After a few moments of silence she finally regained courage, she stood from her bed and went over to the mess that had been made. Kneeling down she rummaged through the small pile and gathered up a few clothing articles. Purple miniskirts, a red scarf, a green longsleeve jumper that was far too long for her, a pair of blue oven mittens and one of Robin's masks were placed back into her closet.

Turning back she discovered that her jewelry box was hidden under the pile. It lay on it's side with the lid propped open. Surprised by this she bent down and picked up the discarded item. "Oh, I do hope you are not the damaged." She dreaded, sitting back on her bed. She opened it. A tinkling, romantic version of 'Amazing Grace' made itself known. A little ballerina was slowly turning inside the jewelry box. There wasn't much jewelry inside since that wasn't exactly Starfire's thing, but there were a few trinkets that made the box worthwhile. There was also also a handful of photographs that had been taken throughout the years.

Smiling in relief that the small dancer was undamaged she reached in and took out the photos. There were three in total. One was of Cyborg and Beast Boy, they both sported wide grins with Cyborg giving a thumbs up and Beast Boy was giving a double peace sign. She let out a soft giggle at their expressions. The second photograph she had, was that of herself and Raven. It was taken that time they first went to the mall together, they were seated together at a booth in a cafe', Starfire had her arm around Raven's shoulder. Raven was in the process of rolling her eyes but was half-smiling none the less. Who had been behind the camera? she couldn't remember. Sighing fondly she looked at the last photo. Herself and Robin were in the picture which it had been taken last Christmas. They stood in front of a Christmas tree that they'd set up in the Common Room. They were posed happily while holding hands, their fingers interlocked.

Another breeze quickly passed through her room, followed by a SLAM!

"YEEK!" startled by the noise the tanned alien dropped the pictures and looked towards her closet. It's doors had mysteriously slammed shut. She stared at it for a few seconds, a bread of sweat worked it's way down her temple. "This is starting to feel the most... creepy..." She muttered and wiped her forehead. "I must not let it affect my powers though." Taking in a short breath she bent down and retrieved her photos from the floor and took one last look at the Christmas photo. That's when she noticed something was different in the picture.

Blinking a few times, she took a closer look and instantly went pale. "What on Tamaran...?" Starfire couldn't even find her voice. Truly disturbed at what she was looking at, she shoved the photos back into the box and slammed it shut. "I'm suddenly feeling the urgent need of the company." Clutching the box tightly under her arm, she leapt from her bed and rushed out of her room.

The nervous redhead ran down the long, empty corridors until she reached the common room. The electric doors slid open to reveal Robin who was still standing at the Titans mainframe. "Robin!" She cried, causing the masked detective to spin round in a heart beat. "Starfire! are you...?" Starfire was slightly discolored, he could see fear in her eyes and was shaking slightly. "What's wrong?!" He held her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "I... I am not sure... something has... I cannot do the explaining..." She trembled in his grasp. Concerned for her well fair Robin guided her to the couch and sat her down. "Hey, it's okay Star... just take your time and start from the beginning." He sat next to her, placing his hand into hers.

Feeling more relaxed she carefully began to explain the strange events that took place in her room. Robin listened closely, his expression looking more concerned by each detail. "...and then I looked at the picture again and... something was not right." Hesitantly she opened the jewelry box and took out the photographs, handing them face down to Robin, not wanting to see the creepy picture again. "Do the looking for your self... but I must warn you... it is... most disturbing." Unsure of what he was about to see, Robin turned the handful of photos over. They looked pretty normal, that was until he got to the last one, upon viewing it his mask seem to double size.

One of Starfire's limbs was now missing.

In the picture her right arm, the one that wasn't holding Robin's hand, was missing from just below her elbow. It seemed to have just faded out of existence. Whats more, in it's place was a shadow with long slender fingers casting on the wall just behind her. The shadow as a whole didn't seem to match her usual Tamaranean uniform. It looked more like the shadow was wearing a long dress. Robin felt confusion and unease wash over him, as he was well and truly stumped. He shared a distressed look with his troubled teammate as silence filled the room.

(MSP)

Raven sat quietly in her room, she'd been trying to meditating for the last fifteen minutes, but failed. The haunting voice messages from earlier would repeat themselves in her head. what did they all mean? and just who were these people? on top of all that, two of her teammates were currently missing in action. That thought alone was beginning to bother her more than it should... just were could they be?

A distant feminine scream came from outside her room.

Raven snapped back to reality, pupils dilated and breathing heavily. "What was that..." She whispered, uncertain if her ears were playing tricks on her. She quickly leapt from her bed and ran towards her door. It slid open to reveal an empty corridor. the dark girl took a look around as she tried to settle her uneven breath.

Another distant scream came from her left at the end of the corridor.

(MSP): Sinister Dark Ambient Background Music - Poltergeist Opening Track

Raven's heart did a flip-flop at the sound. OK, she definitely heard something that time. Raven instantly flipped open her communicator. "Robin! come in! this is urgent!" The Boy Wonders face appeared on the small circular screen. "Raven, what's wrong?!" He expressed with a look of concern. "I'm not entirely sure but... there's a strange noise coming from somewhere in the tower." Robin raised an eyebrow. "A noise? what kind of noise?"

A third scream was heard in the distance.

"That kind of noise." She answered stoically. The Boy Wonder was taken back by what he just heard, coming back to his sense he made a quick decision. "Alright, stay where you are, we're on our way." The transmission ended. Raven, summoning her legendary courage, faced the direction of screams and slowly advanced towards the end of the hall. By the time she reached the end Robin and Starfire had arrived. They came to a halt as another scream was heard.

"W-what is m-making that h-horrid noise?" The alien princess stuttered in fear. "I dunno Star..." Robin admitted. "We're just gonna have to investigate." He stated and reached into his belt, deployed his bo-staff. He peaked his head around the corner, when he found it to be clear he signaled to his teammates. "C'mon, lets go." The trio of teens advanced into the next hall, with the screams getting louder as they neared it's source. Eventually they found themselves in a corridor that lead to the one room in the tower that nobody could possible be in. "Terra's old room." Raven whispered.

The screams were now louder than ever, yet muffled behind the door. Something in Terra's room was giving off light. The light was peeking through a crack under the door, blinking with a fizzing, popping sound. What was it? was it even safe to go in? deciding they weren't getting anywhere fast by just standing there, Starfire and Raven readied themselves for an attack as Robin kicked the door in. "Freeze!" Robin shouted.

The other two titans boiled into the room, starbolts and dark magic were at the ready. A tornado had paid a visit to Terra's room. All the furniture had been turned upside down, the carpet had been ripped up, parts of the ceiling were hanging down and the lights were flickering... but nobody was in there. They all stood in a defense formation for a few seconds, but there was no immediate threat.

The room had mysteriously gone silent.

"Wow..." Raven uttered, unable to find any words to describe the situation. "R-Robin... I-I am... t-the officially... freaked out now." Starfire visibly shook. Robin looked across the destruction before them, unsure if he just saw a metal panel fuse itself back onto the wall in the far corner of the room. Re-tracking his bo-staff he turned round and quickly ushered the two girls out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

(MSP)

"Raven, were you able to sense anything that was in Terra's room?" Robin asked warily. Raven shook her head. "No. Whatever was in there moved to fast for my powers to detect it." Her masked leader sighed. "Alright, lets all go back to the common room. We all stay together in-case of any other... incidents." He cast an uneasy glance at Terra's door, feeling rather high strung at what he'd witnessed. With all in agreement they made their way back.


With the press of a button the TV pauses. "That's the end of part seven. Sorry if it's a little short, but that's a small price to pay for a lot of sleepless nights." Arny shrugs innocently as the small robot appeared before him. "What is my purpose?" It spoke in it's computerized voice. Arny glanced at it with a bored expression. "You pass the remote." It looks down at it's tiny forklift arms, realization dawns upon it as it has an existential crisis. "Oh my god." Arny nonchalantly agrees. "Yep, that makes two of us pal."