Arny pushed open a set of double doors and was greeted by the awaiting viewers.
"Here I am again! Thanks for stopping by! why don'tcha join me back at the studio, I'm cookin' up a real treat for ya today." Arny sat back at his desk which was now littered with several telephones, at least ten of them varying in all different models. "Its Calling In Reviews Time! you'll get to see if your reviews affect the story, be it the phone orrrrr... the internet if you technologically inclined." He motions to an old style computer that took up half of his desk.
"So, when I tell you to, call the number that's scowling down there at the bottom of the screen an-" Arny was interrupted by one of the phones ringing. He swiftly answered it. "No! not now!" Slamming it down he looks back at the audience. "Don't call till I tell you to... now remember to leave a review at the end... uh lets just roll the video." With the remote in his palm he presses 'play'.
THE DISPATCH
Part 13: Strange Behavior
(MSP) Ambient Background Music - Cicada 3301
Raven entered her room, finding it darker than usual. The lock-down having sealed up her window with the metal plating. She turned to face her leader and fear stricken teammate. Originally they planed to take Starfire back to her room, but Robin didn't want to risk leaving her all alone. With all that's been happening, he couldn't take any chances. So Raven agreed to let Starfire stay with her for the time being.
Raven walked over to her bedside lamp and clicked it on. Once, twice, three times and that was as bright as it got. Robin assisted Stafire across the room and carefully settled her down on Raven's bed. "There we go..." His gaze lingered on the redhead as she lay staring up at the ceiling, her normally chipper face now completely expressionless. It was like the happy had been sucked out of her. Reaching down with his left hand he gently touched her face. "Ohhh..." Starfire moaned and turned her head slight towards him. "Robin..."
"It's okay Star..." He whispered, stroking her cheek once before withdrawing. He looked over to Raven who shared a look of concern. "I think she's just in shock, that... bright light thing seem to know that we were there." Raven nodded. "Yes, the way it reacted when it saw us suggests that it was some kind of motion detector. It was definitely trying to prevent us from leaving the tower." Robin sent a wary glance towards the sealed window, as though someone was listening to them from the other side. "Well, I'm gonna take another look at the security tapes, see if I can enhance the footage for better analyzing." He took one last look at the alien girl. "Just... keep an eye on her for now okay? I'll be in the common room if you need me." Raven assured him that she'd be safe before leaving the room.
Raven walked around to the other side of the bed. Sitting down, she sent a troubled look towards Starfire who was now staring off into space. With silence now filling the room, she thought about trying some meditation, but decided against it. There was just too much bothering her. A deep ache suddenly grew in Raven's heart, and she futilely tried to suppress it. What in Azar's name was happening to the city? The last thing she remembered before all this strange stuff began was being sucked into the large vault at the research base. Shortly after they'd witnessed that unknown intruders ritual. She suddenly gasped. The ritual! She quickly reached inside her cloak, fumbling around until she pulled out an item that she'd retrieved from the base. "Why didn't I remember this sooner?" She whispered, mentally kicking herself.
Resting in her palm was the crumpled up piece of paper. The very one that had been tossed away by the mysterious figure. She carefully began opening it out to find twelve symbols sketched onto it, arranged in a pair of columns. At the very top was a thirteenth symbol. It looked like the crosshairs that you would see on a gun sight, but... the space within the circle didn't have the plus in it. Raven immediately recognized it... oh yes, she did. "The binding symbol..." Raven whispered. She squinted at it, finding it to be hand drawn. On closer inspection she noticed that this was no ordinary paper. It looked like parchment, like from Raven's ancient scrolls, but... it looked more alive. Her eyebrows raised as it suddenly clicked. This was a piece of vellum, also commonly refereed to as... animal skin. Raven grimaced at this little discovery. This would have made Beast Boy sick just touching it... Raven paused.
Beast Boy... his absence was beginning to become very noticeable, as well as Cyborgs. Their constant yelling and berating of each other reminded her that there was still life within the tower. With them missing and Starfire now gone into silent mode... the tower was becoming way too quiet, even for her liking.
(MSP)
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Audionautix - Deep Space
Beast Boy entered the lobby to find it dark and poorly lit with emergency lights. The metal doors to the elevator were at the far end, though he doubted it was in service, since the power was clearly out. Beast Boy made the logical decision and cautiously moved forward until he reached the stairs... taking them upward, to the common room. The sliding doors had been left partly open, he pushed them apart to find-!
An empty and silent room.
"It's too quiet. I don't like this." There were pots and pans out in the kitchen area, and ingredients for one of Starfire's alien dishes were laying around. He had no idea what half of them were, but they all looked cold, stale, and unusable. He searched slowly through the living room, looking for any signs of recent activity. None.
The Gamestation that never stayed off enough to get cold looked as though it had been off for years. Beast Boy inspected it closely, and found dust on it. No one had played it for a long time. He winced at the sight. Robin and Cyborg and him especially couldn't live without this precious item. Standing erect and turning towards the coffee table, he noticed something sticking out from under a couple of old magazines. Feeling curious, he lifted them up and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. Straightening it out he was met with a strange message.
Remember
-Don't look into the light.
-Don't move. They see motion.
-Don't produce light. They will see.
THE
STROBE
?
"What is all this...?" Beast Boy mumbled. It was written in a black marker pen with the last two words taking up half the page. He was briefly reminded of the messages left by Phil and Hank in the sewers. Did this have something to do with the two lost workmen? he didn't know what to make of it. But it did hold some useful survival tips. "I'm gonna hang onto this." He quite suddenly realized that all his pockets were full.
He spotted a small backpack sitting on the couch where Cyborg usually sat. Beast Boy went over to it. It was pink, suggesting it to be Starfire's. He unzipped all the zippers and turned it upside down. Two ticket stubs, two pairs of sunglasses, a digital camera, a passport and eighty three dollars fell out. A small water bottle fell to the floor with a loud Thud. The water inside was now a block of ice. How had it gotten cold enough to be solid? Beast Boy was then drawn to Starfire's camera, picking it up he was startled when it made a small noise. The zoom lens stuck out and a flashing red light blinked in the corner. The camera was still working. Looking closer since he'd accidentally triggered the 'Power' button, he looked at the viewing screen that was used when taking photos. Wondering why the camera was still running he decided to do some digging. Scrolling through the options he selected 'Photo Album'. He raised a brow at what he found.
According to the time stamps, Starfire had take over one hundred pictures over the course of two days. The strange part was... only about ten of them were taken inside the tower during the daytime. The remaining ninety plus show nothing but blackness. Beast Boy studied the photos, the first image was take outside Cyborg's room, taken at 16:34 pm on Oct 3, just two days after the events at the facility. The nine that followed where various rooms in the tower, none of which featured any of the three missing Titans. The last normal photo was just an ordinary shot of Starfire's bedroom with the light on. It was time stamped at 16:39 pm.
He came to the first nighttime image, the date displayed Oct 3 and was taken at 16:43 pm. She was now standing inside the dimly lit basement. Beast Boy wondered why Starfire would be down there at all, especially on her own. Scrolling to the next image, it showed her moving behind a crate that contained Slade artifacts, the darkness surrounding her was becoming more apparent. The next image confused him, as it was a close up of the wall. Had she taken a snapshot by mistake? he doubted that it mattered and kept searching. What he found next was just as puzzling. She was in another hallway, though it wasn't one he recognized. She must have taken it in complete darkness as the camera flash was evident.
"Where were you going Star?" Beast Boy heard himself speak softly. Another image came up, she had moved further down the hall, possibly using the camera flash to light up the path in front of her. From then on, the rest of the photos were pitch black. Beast Boy bit his lip, going back through all the photos a second time. He found that the file names of the images were numbered starting at 499. Her first image was listed as IMG499, her second image was IMG500, so on and so fourth. Beast Boy frowned.
If she was using the camera as means of guidance, why would she be concerned with deleting any images from her camera? especially in a place where there was no light. He wonder just where that corridor even was. The wall that was visible in the photo wasn't metallic, it was a greyish-brown and covered in black scratches. Had Starfire somehow found an area in the tower that no one knew about? If that were so, why did she go alone? Beast Boy looked down at the empty backpack, he decided it could be useful in case he found more items. Picking it up he stuffed all his current objects and the camera inside, slipping it onto his back, he looked around. The huge window-wall of the common room was covered by a giant metal plating, blocking off Jump City from view. If it was even there anymore... who knew how far the fog had spread itself. "I feel so isolated." He uttered.
Licking his dry lips, he stood in thought for a while. The Titans had managed to make it back to the tower, so whatever had been released into the city didn't take over straight away. Starfire's camera showed signs of strange behavior... the message left on the table supported it. Maybe searching their rooms would give him some new information... and a way to resurrect Cyborg. Beast Boy frowned after a moment, though. Even if he could get Cyborg recharged, he was still missing most of his limbs and was in no condition to help.
Thinking of things in the long run wasn't helping, so he decided to go and see if Cyborg's room was at least in better shape. He took the stairs since the elevator was dead. The hall was long, dark and dingy. But... unlike the sewers, he heard no whisperings, so he felt a little better. He found the door marked with his name, and stood in front of it for a moment. Starfire's last daytime photo had been taken in this very spot. Reaching slowly and carefully, he gripped the doorknob. It was ice cold. Summoning his inner strength, Beast Boy threw the door open.
The room was full of things that housed all the electrics for the tower, as well as the Tin Man himself. A row of metal shelves took up the entire right wall, staked with loads of hardware and servers. He glanced around the room. It looked old and forgotten, like everywhere else he'd been. His desk was strewn with notes and symbol scribblings, that looked heavily out of place in the metal man's room. A poster board with schematics of the tower with red X's on them stood next to it. Drawings, pens and loads of scribbled on paper was all over the place, as if someone had been desperately trying to solve a puzzle.
All the technical equipment was off, he noticed, save a single computer that was stationed in the far left corner. The other walls were tinted a dry gray, the paint chipped. Shards of gray lay on the white tiled floor, and the table the computer sat on was rusty and scared. He bit his lip as he focused on a certain stain on the wall. It looked like... dry blood. He shuddered at the thought.
Moving carefully towards the computer, it was an older model, one from the late 90s at least. It was originally Cyborg's fixer-upper project, but was now used as a back-up computer to store dater on, in case the main sever was disabled. Cyborg had modified it to work off a separate output. How he even achieved that? Beast Boy didn't know, but sat on the swivel chair in front of the monitor. He warily eyed a telephone that was placed on the desk nearby. Hesitantly, he picked up the phone, although he doesn't hear a dial tone... or whispers for that matter, he does receive a tone indicating the phone had been disconnected.
Hanging up the phone, he noticed a discarded outlet plug behind the computer tower. Acting on a hunch he reached over for it, he plugs it into the socket on the wall, pushing the button on the tower, the modem turns on. A whirring noise became audible, several lights on the tower started flashing. Beast Boy grinned as the computer activated and he wiped away the dust that covered the monitor. The old style bluish-green desktop came into view, with the tradition link icons listed to the left of the screen. Taking hold of the cursor he clicked on the 'Documents' folder, knowing that this was where data folders were stored. He frowned in disappointment when he found there was only a single video file, it was dated 10.02.06 which would have been today, but he doubted it was from the same time zone. "May as well..." he mumbled, clicking the file.
A small video player appeared on the desktop and it started playing automatically. It showed Robin of all people inside the exact same room that Beast Boy was currently in. He sat at the desk facing the computer which the camera seemed to be mounted on. It soon clicked with the green teen that he was watching a webcam recording. The clip was only about twenty nine seconds long, and the quality was exactly what you'd expect from a 2006 webcam. Robin was seemingly working on the computer, surrounded buy bits and pieces of information. He looked as though he hadn't slept in hours, as he would blink his mask several times to keep himself awake, so it was unclear as to why the webcam would even be recording.
All seemed normal until around the seventh second mark, Beast Boy noticed something disturbing in the background. The door to Cyborg's room had been left wide open, where a dark figure is seen walking swiftly into the frame. The apparition seems to sway in the doorway before noticing Robin and instantly backing away. The mysterious prescience must have made some sort of noise or caused a chilling sense, because the young detective suddenly twists around quickly to investigate. However by then, the dark figure has ran out of sight or disappeared into fin air. But something was still bothering Robin, as he spends sometime looking back and fourth to the hallway. Eventually he rises up from the seat and proceeds towards the hall.
"Dude... don't go out there!" Beast Boy felt like he was watching a scene from a horror film. "Don't..." Unfortunately, the video ends just before Robin walks out into the hallway.
Beast Boy looked around the room, glancing at the emergency light near the open doorway that was lighting the room. Licking his dry lips again, he turned back to the monitor. He played back the video, trying to analyze it, but the videos low quality made almost impossible to see what the unknown entity was. He paused the feed where it was just about visible, in some of the frames it appeared to be a dark ghostly mass with no identifiable features.
He stared idly at the desktop, a cold chill going down his spine. "Dude... just what the hell is that thing?"
(MSP)
REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!
The word flashes on the TV screen repeatedly. "Welp, that's our story so far. Now It's time for you to send in your responses." Arny announces while sitting by the telephones. "I'll be eagerly waiting your ca-" The surrounding phones all began ringing at once. Arny looks at the audience with a forced smile. "Your not gonna make this easy are ya?"
