[center][h2]Abandoned Apartment
Team Spyglass[/h2][/center]
[center][h3][color=cyan]Aria Wolfsbane[/color] | [color=aba000]Devora Amigora[/color]
[color=lightcoral]Serene[/color]   | [color=9e0b0f]Wendigo[/color][/h3][/center]

The time it had taken for the driver of the van to turn up had made Aria Wolfsbane wonder if it would have been worth calling a taxi. Then again, turning up in a taxi may have been a bad representation, and the quad-legged member of the team didn't want that for the precinct, or for herself. No, she would much rather let the driver take the blame and claim, rightfully so, that it was his fault. She had made sure to claim the front seat as soon as the van had arrived; both for the view, and to tell the driver how proud she was of his time management skills, making sure to comment about how positive she was about him turning up early. Only when she was finished did Aria hang her head outside of the window, letting the wind blow past her face.

It was amusing, to say the least, to witness the Chief talking to the driver. Fortunately Aria knew how to open a car door, so she slid her paw into the nook between the handle and the door and swung the door open before hopping onto the ground on all fours and briskly walking her way toward the chief, making sure to circle around the back of the vehicle rather than the front as to not be the victim of the driver 'accidentally' putting his foot on the pedal and claiming he hadn't seen her; revenge for the sarcastic flak that she had given him, no doubt if he tried.

Fortunately, the driver didn't attempt to lose his job, and Aria wasn't going to be sent to the vet. Instead, she listened to the Chief's take on the scene, before trotting away without a word to observe the scene; after all, Daza was already walking away after she finished speaking. Making her way closer to the blood. It was almost slightly light, very thin it seemed. If it wasn't all inside of the building too Aria would have guessed a single body was enough to cover some part of it, but the amount suggested several bodies unless there was an elephant hidden somewhere (she doubted that part). She took time to observe the blood and the patterns it was in, and particularly the amount that the blood had dried. 

Despite the fact that the team's pet mummy had been among those summoned forth to the site, didn't mean it was all sunshine and rainbows. But somehow, they'd managed to convince the sometimes very aggresive ancient dragon nicknamed Serene to join them. Perhaps a promise of food, or another bribe involving technology. But either way, in the back of the truck, sat the pink haired ancient, dressed in the outfit that she'd been first found in inside her capsule, listening to music on a portable player that she'd been shown how to use properly. Wireless headphones saved the organization more than a few headaches if she tried to breach containment, but for once, she was on good behavior. Perhaps it was the whole bribe, the giant walking tree monster, or something else, but shortly after the talking wolf bounced out, "Serene" pulled herself to her feet, surprisingly fine for this being one of her few, if only, wheeled ride so far. She looked briefly at whoever else had been sent, saying something under her breath...was that amusement on her face, before she moved to the way out, and jumped down. If she understood what Daza was saying, "Serene" gave no sign, as she turned around after landing, treaded heels crunching against the ground, before she then looked towards the house. She seemed to scoff under her breath, as if amused by it all, and began following after.

Only there was one problem.

The moment her foot was about to "pass" over the threshold that was onto the property, or, if they already were on the propery, after a point, she seemed to pass an almost invisible barrier, and jumped back, letting out an inhuman screech, bearing her fangs, now hissing at the building, her hair standing on end like a cat's for a moment. She lowered herself to the ground, fingers pressing against the ground, ignoring everything around her but the building before. She almost looked...afraid. Something was wrong here, and while she couldn't place her finger, the ancient dragon was not happy at the thought. She was uneasy. She ignored any reporters freaking out at the sight of her, if she had achieved Hellboy levels of fame with the public or not mattered nothing to her. She muttered under her breath something that only those very close and straining would hear.

[color=lightcoral] "Himinn móðir verndar mig..."
Translation: "Skymother protect me..." [/color]

A prayer, whether to an ancestor spirit or a deity was irrelevant. Perhaps there would be a sudden breeze after her prayer, or perhaps not, it didn't matter if a response came to the prayer. But she still didn't cross any further, instead moving back and forth along the "boundary" line, hissing all the more as she went. Unless someone made her cross over, she wasn't about to go any further...

Inside the apartment complex, Wendigo tensed up with a growl as it protectively wrapped Devora, hunching over its handler with fury burning in its eyes. Until it got orders to attack it would focus on defense for her.  To which the half-elf placed a hand on her companions trunk-like leg. 
[color=aba000]"Easy, buddy."[/color]
Devora's eye opened again, showing a strange blue symbol on her iris, similar to the markings on the Raven. She decided it would be best to share half her senses to see through her flying companion's eyes. Perhaps it may see something strange around the upper levels.

It took a few moments for Aria to stop staring over at Serene after the screech that had brought her attention, but she turned away to go back to what she was doing - only briefly, however. With a sigh, Aria made her way over to to the door, over to the 'boundary' that Serene was pacing on. Knowing that Serene did not know any English, or didn't show that she did, Aria could do little through words to ask what the problem was. Human words, anyways. Aria let out a single bark to try and get Serene's attention, and tilted her head to the side inquisitively. 

It took a moment, but just as quickly, Serene's head turned towards Aria, tilting her head to one side, staring at the talking wolf, before lifting an eyebrow in the universal message of "what?" She didn't do anything else, merely remained stationary, then paused, looked down at the boundary, then back up to Aria. She tried to gesture with one hand, before suddenly getting an idea. Scratching something in the dirt, she drew what looked like a pentagram, aka the rebranded anti-demon weapon from long ago(ask me on Discord, there's some history to that symbol), then gestured from it, to the house, while making a look that was like "I'm gonna throw up." All in an effort to commuciate her unease at this.

There were some things in Serene's communications that were obvious - that going further made her feel sick, or uneasy, however she wasn't quite sure about the pentagram. Aria took a few moments to think, but she wasn't entirely sure how she could make Serene pass the boundary - claiming it was a fast food resteraunt and that there were some remaining french fries inside was most likely not going to work in this case. Aria motioned with her head toward the door, trying to direct Serene in, as if that was going to do anything.

No budging. Serene refused to move. She wiped out the symbol on the ground, and hissed again. Though she did for a moment move her arm across the boundary, only to yank it back just as quickly. As if to try and show that while she could cross, it wasn't something she relished, or that akin to say, a monster with their non-mortal weakness, it would be difficult at best. She needed reassurance, proof it would be okay. That it was safe.

Aria had no clue what to do. At least it wasn't a physical barrier, one that Serene truly could not cross without it harming her. In some ways, Serene was like a fussy puppy with this, scared to cross a river despite it being an inch deep. There were two things that Aria could do: Be tough, which meant forcing Serene across the boundary to show her that nothing was happening to her when she was within it, or she could try and show it was okay. She picked the second option, with a little bit of what only a canine could do. Turning away from Serene, Aria walked toward the lobby - just slow enough that it could be picked up on that she was slow, but fast enough that it wasn't a drag. She turned back toward Serene when she was at the lobby entrence and quite simply just laid down, resting her head between her paws and letting herself give Serene puppy eyes. After a moment, she used a paw to pat the ground, gently, trying to show that she was laying there and she was fine.

Back at the police line, Daza had been busy on the phone directing the efforts of the OTOs at The Beacon. Despite the press, despite everything happening across the city, her temper had always been kept in check. I was common knowledge around the precinct that the Chief's temper was not something you'd want to test. But when her eyes drifted back to the entrance of the complex, it almost looked as if fire were to spew from her mouth. "I'll call you back", were her last words to Vhurdaer before stomping over to Serene. "What is the problem?", she asked holding back obvious rage "OTO cleared the building, the basement is clear, if there was someone or something here we'd know about it. For gods' sake, we even sent an investigator with warding knowledge and he cleared the place. Now if I leave here and still see you here when I look back, dragon girl here wont see another day outside for months. Now go!"

Trying to threaten someone who can't understand words, but can understand tone, is a mixed bag. Serene's response to that, which came right before she was about to step over and see what actually happened due to the puppy eyes...doing something to her, was to make some sort of eye roll. Then she just looked at the police lady, giving her a look that if eyes were met, would probably scare most people. Like the look of an apex predator, before a blink, and it was just another seemingly ordinary neutral expression. She looked back, sighed, cursed under her breath something unheardable, then reached over gingerly, placing one hand against the ground. When nothing happened, the other followed, then when still nothing happened, she suddenly scurried across the ground, in a weird, very unnerving way that would probably bring Japanese horror to mind, before she was next to Aria. She said nothing, then looked around, moving closer to the door. Peering inside, she noticed the nearest sigils, and the breath caught in her throat. She looked to Aria, and tried to mouth something untranslateable. But it was clear...what she was looking at was troubling. She had a fair reason to be frightened now. Something was very wrong with this place. Moving inwards, she let Aria do whatever, before she moved over to of all things, Wendigo, and looked up at the corrupted dryad, and gestured to the sigils, as if asking "do you recongize these?" Maybe she was wrong, maybe these weren't as ancient as she thought...

Now that Serene was finally inside, from Daza's work rather than her own, Aria was free to continue to explore knowing she had at least one member of the R&D team at her back - she had no sight of Caldwell, and wondered if he had fallen asleep somewhere with a book. Regardless, she was going to continue on with the case, whether alone or with allies. She trotted over to the rusted door to look closely at the blood there, careful not to touch it for it was still wet and could damp her fur with red. [color=cyan]"If OTO cleared the building, how is this still damp without them finding anything?"[/color] Aria asked aloud. She leaned down for a moment, before bringing herself high enough to turn the handle and open the door, and using her paw to make sure it was opened the rest of the way.

[color=aba000]"There's a reason why they're an OTO, they're not detectives."[/color] Devora commented, as she approached the door with the wolf. A dozen or so black rats started to scurry out of her shadow and further into the building, her eye changing symbol to a shadowy purple sigil choosing to scan the building with the swarm of shade rats, using her other eye to look around herself, even though she knew that Sir Fluffles had her back.

[color=cyan]"But being dumb enough to miss something as simple as this? You know, at the beginning of my career, I thought that the people above me were a lot more experienced in their roles, and that they knew everything inside out." Aria halted, just staring into the darkness below. "There are some that meet that definition, some I feel I can rely on, some I can work with. But what did I discover? Looking good is almost as easy as I got the title of professor."[/color]

[color=cyan]"You want to know how you can tell if you would make a good detective? You compare things that are not normally compared. You can tell that someone has been here recently just by how dry the blood on the wall is, it's as simple as that. I have worked with some that cannot even make that comparison. Our investigators need to pass training that, to me, looks too simple, too easy. Some are better at jobs than others, but we should all be at a standard."[/color]

[color=cyan]"The normal people? They see a desk with paper. The police, the OTO, they see a desk with a paper with notes. Investigators like myself? We see a desk with a piece of paper on it, the notes on it being in bad handwriting and the little trembles in the letters as the person shakes as they write. We see the pencils on the desk, some more worn down than others, ink still wet on the end of a ballpoint pen, the gun hidden in the locked drawer, with a round missing in the chamber. But for all our different skills, our different depths, every one of those groups should be able to look at the paper and see that the notes on it read, 'I don't want to live any more'. It shames me to think that some, in all three of those groups, the normal public, the Police and OTO, and the detectives, cannot even make that distinction. That they are too blind to see the obvious."[/color]

[color=cyan]"But those are only some of a much larger, grander number. There are many out there who are able to make the proper distinctions, who are able to see things through, and see things apart from the rest. An OTO team always has one person with a head, able to make proper observations, or has a person stupid enough to ask a question so dumb that it's brilliant. They have one person who will complain when he reaches for the door and gets the wet blood on his hand."[/color]

Aria did the math in her head. The scene would have had to been found and called in, then the police would have to arrive. The OTO team would then have went in, determined it as safe enough for detectives to enter. The first investigators would then have went in, chased their tails for a while, and then told Daza to call in R&D. There was then the travel time between the station and the scene, including how late the driver was. Aria quickly recalled the average time for blood to dry, and with how thin the layers were, it would have dried fairly quickly.

But it wasn't dry. And there were police sealing off the area.

[color=cyan]"Well, Devora, I would prepare for things to be interesting. I do firmly believe that the culprit is waiting for us downstairs, or at least a lot more evidence."[/color] Aria took a step down into the darkness. [color=cyan]"But based on the facts, he or she is most likely down here. And we're going to catch them."[/color]