"So tell me about my brother," Marcus half-heartedly demanded through stuffing food into his mouth.<br/><br/>Dicen sat next to him, eating much more politely, covering his mouth when he spoke. "You'll have to clarify that for me," he replied, offering little more than a confused look at the demand. "I assume you'd know more about him than I do."<br/><br/>Marcus shook his head vigorously, chewing faster so he could get his thoughts out in a timely manner. "I mean, yeah, but I didn't work with him. I just remember sometimes bothering him at the hospital but he never told me anything about this," he said, making broad motions to the building around him, and the military base it was within. "What was he like to work with?"<br/><br/>Dicen sat back in his seat and looked to the ceiling in contemplation. Then he laughed softly to himself, a breathy noise that Marcus would've missed if he wasn't so intrigued by the fact that Dicen was actually capable of smiling. The Realian was about to speak before a shriek pierced the air around them; whatever he had been getting ready to say was lost in a noise of pain and Dicen clapped his hands over his ears. The small groan of discomfort turned into a noise of absolute agony and Marcus noticed the water that welled up in the corner of his eyes.<br/><br/>The noise was coming from upstairs, so it was slightly duller than it had been when Marcus had been in the room with it. It wasn't something that he needed to cover his ears for, but it was apparently excruciating for Dicen. Since his hands were free, albeit slightly covered in food crumbs, Marcus clapped his hands over Dicen's to try and stave off some of the noise.<br/><br/>Eventually the noise relented, and Marcus slowly removed his hands as Dicen appeared less and less pained. His breathing was slow and labored, and Marcus felt a slight pang of guilt even though it was almost certainly Lex and Blue's fault. "... You good?" he asked slowly, his hands hovering above Dicen's still, just in case the noise started again. But Dicen just nodded silently and dropped his hands, cueing Marcus to drop his too. Dicen stared straight ahead, blank-faced with the remnants of tears still welled at the corner of his eyes. Marcus, however, looked up. At least now he all but knew where his brother was.<br/><br/>Lex's hands had started to wander to Blue's hips as she took her seat on his lap, moving to curl his arms around her waist until that too-familiar piercing wail sounded again and he was forced to cover his ears instead. The noise was awful and blood-chilling, and Lex found himself burying his face against Blue's back as if he could somehow hide from it. And then, much to his relief, it stopped, though the small whirring of the tape still turned. And then there was another voice, and another cryptic message.<br/><br/>"They're here?" he echoed in unison with Blue as his hands fell away from his ears. It wasn't his mother's voice this time, which raised more questions in millions and myriads, but it seemed to be talking about the same unidentified 'they.' Blue groaned at the cryptic clues that didn't fit together with any sort of rhyme or reason, and Lex himself was apt to do the same. "That doesn't make sense. This is the same tape, though. What happened in the time between my mom's warning... And that?"<br/><br/>With his chin propped up on Blue's shoulder, he stared at the radio. Or what he could make of it at least. It had to be actively giving them answers that they just weren't picking up on. It had to. As if there was a god that saw how lost he was and deigned him worthy of a more direct answer, the noise sounded again, only louder this time and decidedly not from the radio. It was coming from outside. And through the protection his hands provided, and from floors and floors and floors beneath them, his ears still could clearly make out an agonizing scream. Lex blanched. It was Dicen.