Arny sat at his desk, holding one of the many phones to his hat covered ear, listening to a recent call he'd just revived.

"Sure, I'll by some cookies in exchange for a review. How much will that be?" He paused when he heard the response. "You need about three fiddy..." Arny's smile faded as he realized just who he was taking to. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Nice try Loch Ness monster, now get off the line!" He slammed the receiver down before noticing that the audience had returned.

"Oh, hey everybody... uh, a word of advice, if a crustacean from the Paleozoic era asks you for money... don't give em' any. He eyes the phone that he hung up before taking hold of the remote. "Anyway... let's get on to the next chapter." With the click of a button the TV unpauses.


THE DISPATCH

Part 14: Sightings

(MSP) Sinister Dark Ambient Background Music - Dark Rage

Raven sat cross-legged on her bed, flipping feverishly through one of her books for any sort of info. "Surely there must be something in this book..." She murmured, trying to decipher the books odd alphabet. Most of Raven's books were in Azar, the language of her homeland. But, the book she was looking at right now was handwritten. It was quite old and dog-eared, but written in perfect English. Glancing over at the piece of vellum, she mumbled to herself as she compared one of the symbols with the one being explained on the page.

No good. It was close, but not the same symbol. She'd found two by lucky chance and her spirits had lifted. The first one looked almost exactly like the Egyptian sign for rebirth, akha. Raven wondered for a moment if each symbol had a country or religion of origin. But then again, some of the symbols reminded Raven of the ancient Azar scrolls she'd seen… was there a connection?

Starfire lay just behind her, she hadn't spoken a word since Robin left, meaning she had most likely fall asleep. Sighing in annoyance, the dark girl closed the book. She hadn't found any others and it had been nearly an hour. Needing to stretch her legs, she stood and placed the book on a stack she'd made. It had been real quiet for a while, she noticed it had warmed up after that thing flew over the tower earlier. The sound of Starfire stirring caught her attention. She was now curled to one side, facing away towards the sealed window. Raven debated whether she should wake her up or not, what happened at the roof had really gotten to her. "I hope Robins had better luck in finding out just what we're up against." She warily stared at her window.

Robin lent on the control panel in the common room, the viewing screen once again displayed a gird of camera views from outside the tower. He'd been analyzing the video with the mysterious row of lights for nearly an hour. He'd tried everything from enhancing the footage to adjusting the quality. No results. The main issue being that the cameras simply didn't have a 'Night Vision' mode. Robin cursed himself for not suggesting such a feature to Cyborg, he would have installed it in a heart beat. Running a hand through his spiky hair, he stood up and looked around the empty room in thought. He'd been rather surprised that the power had stayed on for this long. Only a few outages here and there, but couldn't shake the apprehensive feeling that it will go out permanently any time now.

(MSP)

He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when the 'Incoming message' sign alerted him. Startled by this, Robin quickly opened the message file. He was extremely surprised to find it was from the same unnamed sender.

(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Apprehension

Sorry I was gone. Reception went out earlier. I was worried it wouldn't come back on. No signs of activity outside. Come to think of it, it has been a while since I heard a gunshot...

In an instant, Robin typed back a reply.

Hello, are you OK? is there anyway we can help?

Unexpectedly the sender sent back a response.

To whosoever asking, I'm doing alright. Hiding in my room and waiting this out. And don't worry I have a way to defend myself if worse comes to worst. If anyone Knows ANYTHING about what is going on, please message me. 911 and other emergency lines are not responding and the only radio I have is out in the car. So I'm trying to gather as much information online as I can.

Relived that he'd gotten some good news for once, Robin braced himself as he typed up a rather important question.

Do you know how many other people are dealing with this? how wide spread is this?

He didn't have to wait long for an answer.

It's global. But the majority of people are without power and, therefore, internet. Even more of a majority have vanished. That's why news, government, everything stopped. We are the lucky few.

(MSP)

Robin's heart sank. Only now did it really hit him, just how many people had been impacted by this. How many friends. How many families. He wished he could do more to help.

(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Blue Sizzle

Just then, a loud high pitched noise came from the other side of the sealed window. whatever flew over the tower earlier was back. But this time the noises were different. Robin jump to attention, staring intensely at the metal plating. The thing was making sounds he'd never heard before. The vibrations began shaking the tower. Thinking fast, Robin took hold of the keyboard and brought up the security system again. This time though he changed the cameras control settings so he could operate the cameras manually. The noise changed tone, like it was some kind of electronic organ. He couldn't see anything on the north side of the tower, but he quickly panned to the east side just as it seemed to fly away and leave.

The vibrations stopped, the common room now became deathly quiet. Not wanting to let anything slip by him, he played it back and maximized the video. No sooner had he enhanced the picture, he froze disbelief.

An enormous dark shape was hovering in the distance.

Robin couldn't believe what he was looking at. It was like a giant origami, and it was less than a few miles away from the tower, hovering out above the ocean. "What the...? how can something... like that... even exist?" It's size alone was a sight to behold. It looked like some kind of spacecraft... an incredibly large spacecraft. Possibly the biggest one he had ever seen, and the young detective had faced many things that have been very unbelievable when told in stories, but this was on a whole new level of it's own.

The automatic doors behind him sprung open. He snapped his head back to see Starfire and Raven burst into to the room, looking as if they'd ran a marathon. "ROBIN!" They both choked out at once. Assuming they were here because of the noises and vibrations Robin made to reassure them. "It's alright girls... I heard the noise too and-" He was abruptly cut off.

"It got in."

Robin froze at Raven's blunt statement, unsure if he heard her right.

"W-what are you talking about Raven?" He stared at his two disheveled teammates.

"We don't know how, but the floating light got in."

(MSP)

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Audionautix - Deep Space

Beast Boy wandering down the empty hallways of the tower, his senses on full alert. Whatever he'd seen on the webcam may still be lurking somewhere. He also couldn't help but wonder what Robin was doing in Cyborg's room in the fist place, let a lone using his old computer. On top of that, he seemed to have been working none stop to try and decipher some kind of cryptic symbols. Were they in someway connected to all of this? he was torn from his thoughts when came round a corner.

Up ahead was the door to the bathroom. He stopped from a moment, holding his abdomen. He chuckled slightly. "Heh... guess I haven't gone in ages... so I might as well." He'd been running across the city for what felt like hours. Beast Boy had to relive himself sooner or later. Moving closer to the door, he found it to be half open. He slipped himself through the narrow gap, closing the door out of pure habit. There wasn't much to the bathroom, though it seemed to be strictly functional. A toilet, a sink and a walk-in shower. It was pretty much bear. He went over to the toilet and raised the seat. When he was done he turned, facing the medicine cabinet that was above the sink. He flicked the hot faucet on, but received no water. "Oh great... the waters out too." Beast Boy groaned in annoyance. "Well... it's not like I needed to wash my hands." He said while looking at his gloves. They were showing a little wear and tear, but otherwise kept his hands clean. He looked towards the mirror on the wall next to the cabinet, or at least... where the mirror used to be...

All he saw was an empty outline where the mirror had once been fixed to the wall. "Where's the...?" Turning a full circle of the room, he searched for wherever the mirror might have been moved. But no, it was gone altogether. "Weird... why would anyone go to the trouble of taking the mirror down?" Beast Boy paused for a lengthy time, feeling that he'd come across something like this before... back in the city when he drove passed Tito's Junkyard. (All the cars had their mirrors missing.)

Was this some kind of defense against... whatever that thing was he'd seen lurking in the hallway on the webcam? he sighed. "As if this couldn't get more confusing..." He said. "Tower locked down, water turned off, and all the mirrors are missing. What the hell next...? he sighed, resting his hands on the sink "I seriously doubt whatever the next clue I find will give me any... huh?" Beast Boy looked up at the medicine cabinet.

A black unknown liquid was leaking out from inside it, dripping into the sink where a puddle had formed. Reaching out and brushing his gloved figures over the small trail. "Black ink...?" Confused by this he opened the cabinet, finding it to be mostly stuffed with out of date toiletries. The trail came from the bottom shelf, which contained a stack of pills that were older than he was. He removed all the pills from the shelf, below them he pulled out a single piece of paper that had been torn in several places.

(MSP)

Written in dripping ink was the words:

SAVE YOURSELF

(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - The Dread

Beast Boy stared at the disturbing message, feeling his color drain away. Had someone written this only mere minutes earlier? he turned when something on the bathroom door caught his eye.

The word 'NO' had been scribbled all over it.

Beast Boy recoiled, dropping the note. The same word, over and over, began appearing on all the walls in what he recognized as black crayon. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up-! it was now practically scrawled on everything! the sink, the cabinet, the shower door... hell even the toilet was now covered in the word. The green teen was shaking uncontrollably, but they were only words, he kept reminding himself.

The shower's glass door slid open by itself. Beast Boy jumped and spun around to face it... but there was no direct threat. Instead, he was meet with a dark form slumped against the back wall. It looked like a body... Beast Boy's mind finally found his lungs. "Who's there?!" he said a little boldly, trying to sound brave. The black form started to move, pushing itself up into a standing position with it's head bowed down. Beast Boy slid the backpack down his arm, ready to pull out the spray can and lighter. "Who are you?!" he demanded when it stayed silent. "If ya don't answer me soon..." he warned, pulling out his lighter and flicking it on "Your gonna get-!" the figure raised it's head and Beast Boy cried in horror!

He saw a zombified clone of himself, chained to the wall behind by his neck.

(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Right Behind You

Beast Boy staggered back into the sink, dropping the backpack to the floor. That had been the absolute last thing he'd been expecting. But, there was no doubting it. Beast Boy saw himself standing in the shower, a strewn of whittled crayons littered the floor where he stood. A horrible look of sadness was on his face, staring back at him with sunken black eyes.

Beast Boy moaned with a hint of fatigue, unable to look at it for very long. "It's not there. It's an illusion..." He whispered, holding his head. "...not there... not real..." he looked back, and the figure still stood there before him. Trembling horribly in his torn outfit, Beast Boy moved a few inches closer. It looked identical to him.

The weather-beaten skin had pieces missing here and there, the nose was skeletal and his jaw was gaunt and detached with signs of dripping spittle down his chin. Several chains were wrapped tightly around his neck, his shirt had been ripped away along with his torso, exposing most of his rib cage. How in the world had he stayed alive in here for so long? His body had lost so much flesh and blood... Beast Boy reached down into the backpack, pulling out the spray can with a trembling hand. The decaying doppelganger slowly began to movie forward. The green teen held it up to the lighter, taking aim and pushing the top down as he reignited a flame

Only a small dose of air came out.

Beast Boy stared down at it in disbelief. "Oh shit..." he cried. "It can't of run out now!" he shook it a few times, the can made a low hissing noise, it was practically empty. Dropping it to the floor, he looked up to see the undead version of himself reach the edge of the shower. The chains preventing him from moving any further. It's thin right arm was now out stretched towards him, his gloveless hand was a stump with no figures. "Oh God oh God oh God...!" Beast Boy drew back shacking.

"There is no God, he has abandoned us."

Beast Boy clutched his chest in distress, his heart threatening to burst out in fear. It spoke to him, with a mournful voice that had lost all hope. His body trembling at the terror he was witnessing, he accidentally activated one of the gadgets on Robin's utility belt. A pair of disks landed on the floor. Realizing this he quickly reaching down and picked them up, discovering them to be Robin's 'Electric Discs.'

Feeling a rush of icy cold adrenaline pump through his system, he pressed the trigger on the gadgets. "No... I'm not you." He rushed forward, stuffing the two discs into the undead clones exposed rib cage. The clone fell backwards, hitting the wall as Beast Boy slide the shower door shut. In no less than a second, an audible electric shock was heard and the room lit up like a fireworks display. The clone let out a horrible, haunting cry, one that would haunt him for a long time... a burst of flames erupted behind the glass door. Beast Boy shielded his eyes from the blazing heat. A few seconds past before the crying ceased and the flames died down.

(MSP)

He stood there, shaking beyond measure not for the first time. A black stain of soot covered most the glass door. Reaching forward slowly, he slid the glass door open to find the clone had been reduced to a pile of dust and ash. He stared at the remains for a long time, barley able to believe what he'd witnessed. As soon as he could Beast Boy grabbed the backpack and rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Once it shut he leaned against the door for the longest time.

Tears flowed down Beast Boy's face. What kind of horror had plagued the city? How much more would he have to witness? Would he even survive to find a way out? This was a horror like no other, it was like 'Wicked Scary' horror cranked up to eleven. He was so scared at what he had seen... all he had were the strange pictures taken by Starfire and the weird video recorded by Robin. With wet cheeks and bloodshot eyes, he forced himself to stand at last.

"I can take much more of this..." Beast Boy whispered, slinging the backpack onto his back. It didn't seem to be such a bright pink anymore.


The TV freezes. Arny is shown unrolling a dance mat across the studio. He looks up at the audience. "Alrighty then, while we're all waiting for the next chapter, I'm gonna entertain myself with some of this..." He holds up a VHS copy of Patchy's Dance Tips. "The dance instructional video series of only $29.95, I know it sound tacky but... its a forty dollar value!"