Doors

[Late Saturday, two explosions rock the Nevada night. Davies Cybersecurity, which is located adjacent to Harrah's on the strip, goes first, casting the sidewalk in front of it in smoke and flames. An unnamed facility outside the city goes next, and that explosion is louder, brighter, audible miles away in the city itself. Police and fire are dispatched to both scenes immediately, but they're turned away from the actual scenes of the explosions within minutes, when agents arrive on the scene, tight lipped and claiming that local jurisdiction does not apply. Injured civilians at the Harrah's location are transported to local hospitals, but no statement is made and no information is provided about injuries within either structure. Agents pull out black bags and comb both locations for hours before securing them. Neither story officially makes the news, and civilian video clips and tweets are quashed almost instantaneously.]

[Blake Thorne is sentenced on a Friday. His lawyers are all in attendance, as is his father, flown out from New York. The younger Thorne is noted in the press for not making eye contact with anybody but the judge, and is sketched looking drawn, dressed, uncharacteristically, in a suit. It's rumpled, though, and McQueen. He still has his self-esteem.

The sentence is eight months house arrest, with possible early release for good behavior. The list of approved locations is bound to be small, and he will wear an anklet for the duration. Regular drug and alcohol testing will be part of the sentencing, and failure to comply will result in an extended stay.

There are a few gasps from the court, and frowns from the lawyers, as much emotion as they can convey. Thorne doesn't seem to react at all, looking through just about everyone.

The projected outcome of the imprisonment is a reduced sentence, after the team of lawyers appeals the verdict and Blake proves he can behave himself. Three months, perhaps four. Still an eternity for a billionaire playboy, though, and the reporters are in an absolute paroxysm of glee. Nancy Grace even gives it a bit of air time. People reference OJ Simpson's conviction for grand theft - only right that he should get punished for something after all the suspicion surrounding that kidnapping and murder case. They might not have gotten him on the original charge, but one slip up now and it would be ten years, not a few throwaway months.

Blake is led from the court through a sea of screaming reporters with a laconic smile and not a single word. Not a one.]

[Thursday evening, a drug dealer with an extensive rap sheet is arrested in a filthy motel room, thanks to an anonymous tip. Not newsworthy in and of itself, of course - these things happen every day. His motel room is host to a cornucopia of controlled substances, and he is subsequently charged with possession with an intent to sell.

Through the course of this questioning, the dealer swiftly begins offering information, bad and good, to try to talk his way into a reduced sentence. Most of it is dismissed as coke fueled fantasies, but one sticks and is passed along for further investigation.

The dealer claims to have been contacted by a woman wealthy enough to make a drop for a kilo of coke in cash, a woman who indicated the coke would be distributed to high rollers. This woman had decided to use her connections to establish a regular business. They agreed on terms for an arrangement that would involve dead drops, cash on one side, drug on the other. It could have potentially been a long and fruitful relationship, but because of the timing of the dealer's arrest, only one drop was made. The coke was left in a bus station downtown, tucked into one of the lockers.

The security footage at the bus station shows a woman with dark hair, who briefly turns her face toward the camera, taking the parcel from the locker after obtaining the key from the attendant. No one seems quite sure how, but the news leaks out to the tabloids within a day or so, and by Friday afternoon, a blurry still from the black and white video showing the woman's upturned face is on the cover of every rag in town. DRUG BARON OF THE VEGAS ELITE? reads the headline.

The police, when asked, indicate they are merely following up on a lead, and will release further information when they have any to offer.]

[The Opera Populaire is abuzz Wednesday evening when news of the opera's latest patron. A member of the French aristocracy, it is whispered, and a Vicomte at that! It isn't long before the owners make the formal announcement that the Vicomte de Chagny is, indeed, the newest patron of the Opera Populaire, and there is hope with his financial backing that the opera house will rise to the glory that it deserves.

The Vicomte is present for the announcement, a composed young man with a charming smile and a gaze that makes more than one woman weak in the knees. He talks of his family's patronage of the arts in years past, and his hope that he can continue in their stead. When asked about rumours of his impending trip north, the Vicomte dashes them aside with firm words that he hopes to find a home in Paris once more, and that he has every intention of staying for the near and immediate future. One daring woman dares to ask him if he has a lady in his life, and it is with a smile that the Vicomte informs her that while he is still single, he hopes that shall change in the future, if the young woman he fancies is willing, that is.

Further questions are pushed aside as the Vicomte and the owners of the opera house disappear behind closed doors for further discussions.]

[It doesn't take long for the news to spread throughout the more questionable portion of Gotham's population.

Jonathan Crane has been released New Arkham.

Not only has he been released, the whispers say, but he's been released without restrictions. There are no anklets tracking his location, no required check-ins to prove that he's clean. Oh, he's still doing therapy, they whisper, but Jonathan Crane is a free man.

Rumours circulate about where he's gone to now, where he's decided to come home. The truth comes from a boarding house in a neighborhood that might have been nice once upon a time, but has lost its shine and gleam in the ensuing years. Pictures surface of the decidedly younger Crane going in and out with bits and pieces of a life, a suitcase, a pile of books, a sack of groceries from the store.

Has the infamous Scarecrow gone good? Some want to believe, but the whispers still hedge towards a decidedly negative answer.]

[There's a serial killer loose in New York, though police haven't yet tied the murders, which occurred randomly in adjacent counties, to each other. The victims are impaled, smothered and drained. There are no witnesses at the actual crime scenes, but passersby recall a red-haired stranger in the area on the day of the murders. In crime-filled New York, these reports get filed with other murders that are equally as gruesome, to await time and resources for investigation.]

[Residents of a certain neighborhood in Gotham notice that the Peaceful Passing Funeral Home has been quiet (moreso than usual) for the past week. Some of the windows have gone dark, and while vandals still stay away, there's a different sort of stillness settling over the building. It's not abandoned, not yet, but it's eerie in its silence.

Phonecalls and notes have not been returned, though after the first day or two, people stopped leaving messages. Something about the emptiness of the house kept people's thoughts from settling there as an option for their loved ones' care. After the span of a week, the doors (usually kept unlocked because the house itself keeps intruders away somehow) click and snap shut at the click of midnight over into the new day.

The sign near the front door changes.

Post-life services are not currently available
at Peaceful Passing Funeral Home.
I apologize for the inconvenience
and wish you and your family
the best of wishes.

-M. (Proprietress)

The only time the doors will open is if someone truly needs refuge and has nowhere else to go. Then the house will know, and the door will unlock only for them. Otherwise it sits, a quiet witness to the neighborhood's comings and goings, dark and silent.]

( Cut for violence/gore. So begins the sound. )

[The tabloids pick up on the gossip pretty quickly when photos of a late-night arrest are leaked to several sources.

The headlines are varied, but most run along the lines of 'Sam Alexander, girlfriend of the wealthy Neil Donovan, arrested on assault charges!'. The pictures are of a decent quality and show the aforementioned Sam Alexander being led out of the Aria Hotel & Suites by LVPD in handcuffs. They are hardly attractive pictures, what with obvious signs of her panic, and the redness in her face shows that she's been crying quite heavily. There's discussion about Ms. Alexander's state of mind, her suitability as Donovan's girlfriend, and then a rehash of the incident between Ms. Alexander and Ian Russell earlier in the year. No details are spared in the descriptions of what had happened.

Several other pictures show a woman being loaded onto a gurney by paramedics. 'Victim?' the captions read, though the woman's identity remains unmentioned.]

[Police and paramedics were called to the Aria suites Monday evening after a report of an assault in progress was called in by a resident. Upon arrival at the scene, police found two women in the hallway outside the Sky suites. A witness on the scene claims that one of the women, identified as Samantha Alexander, was involved in a verbal and physical altercation with the other woman, whose name is not yet being released. The witness claims that she heard the fight from her own suite, and when she ventured into the hallway to investigate, she witnessed Alexander, age 22 of Las Vegas, assaulting the other woman.

The unnamed victim was transported by ambulance to the nearby ER, where she is in stable condition and being treated for undisclosed injuries.

Alexander was taken into custody by the LVPD where she is being held pending further investigation.]

[On Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Magic is temporarily thrown into chaos.

It all began with the discovery of a body in the Atrium, that of an unconscious young man bearing signs of brutal torture and the word 'TRAITOR' carved into his chest. Witnesses were unable to determine when the body appeared, or who was responsible for delivering it, only that "it was just there." Suspended in mid-air, Ministry officials and members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad are unable to get the man down and attempts to do so backfire horribly on the attempted rescuers. Only after an hour does he fall on his own, to be immediately rushed to St. Mungo's, but in his wake the Dark Mark lingers in the air, both in the Atrium and in the sky above ground, in that very same spot.

Whispers that the injured man is Severus Snape, who has not been seen in recent days, and that He Who Must Not be Named is responsible begin to spread, but in a statement the Minister vehemently denies such claims and assures the wizarding community that there is no need to panic, as the situation is under control, and more information will be released as it becomes available.]

[At 2:33 AM on a Sunday, something falls out of the sky in Iceland.

The area onto which it falls is mostly populated by volcanoes and ice rather than humans, particularly as the nights grow longer. But something illuminates the sky so brightly that it can be seen for miles around, just outside a small town to the remote north.

It hits local news as a UFO story, at first. Relatives of people in the town, however, can't seem to contact anyone they know. Within 24 hours, a news crew and some intrepid UFO investigators head out to interview local residents about what they saw.

The town is empty. Most of the homes have been demolished, and the residents are missing. The town looks as if it was hit by a localized earthquake. Toppled buildings and debris are left, but no bodies to speak of. The only sign of what might have happened is a symbol burned into the ground at the end of the town's single main street. The symbol is recessed down six feet or so, as if it has been carved into the earth, unlike other examples of this mysterious phenomena which have appeared elsewhere on the planet. The soil around the symbol is burned, and the edges shine with glass melted from the soil by the heat of whatever struck there.

Eventually, most of the residents are tracked to a cave nearby, recessed into the cliffs, where the tiny town's population of a hundred fled. They describe a great light in the sky in the middle of the night, a thunderous sound, and a shockwave which leveled their homes. Most of them luckily had time to run, warned by the approaching thunder and flickering in the clouds. There are just a few casualties, all told, and only one firsthand eyewitness, a very young boy. His image is transmitted around the world, insisting to reporters that there was a man in the light after the shockwave, that the man was screaming, and that he stumbled north.

The Icelandic authorities try to write the incident off as a freak storm, a strike of lightning in the night, but the international media speculates, and speculates. A new invasion from outer space? The international community insists there is no evidence to prove such claims.

Authorities find no sign of the man the boy claims he saw. North of the town there is only ice, and the desolate, beautiful coastline, and the billions of stars in the long, clear night.]

[One of the Time-Turner displaced, a young James Potter, father of Harry Potter, caused a panic at the Leaky Cauldron late this afternoon. Witnesses say he stood up from his table, where he had been sitting obscured by a scarf, and urged patrons from the pub, telling them to run, citing the old building as the target of an impending Death Eater attack. He did not say how he knew.

Diagon Alley was quickly flooded by fearful witches and wizards unable to escape to Muggle London. Many Apparated away, but those too young, too old, or with too many, hid behind the walls of Gringotts for hours.

A Magical Law Enforcement squad came upon the scene and secured the Cauldron. There was no attack.

Harry Potter could not be reached for comment.

The elder Potter is being sought by the authorities for questioning. He fled the scene shortly after the pub was cleared and was last seen wearing a Puddlemere United scarf, a black set of robes, and red gloves. The public is being asked for assistance in finding the man; any with information are asked to contact the DMLE.]

[Late Friday night, there is a disturbance in a Muggle library in London, where disoriented adults speak of a raving girl coming in and rousing the children and kidnapping a fifteen year old girl. The girl’s identity was not given out, due to her status as a minor. A Magical Law Enforcement squad responded to the scene with representatives from the Improper Use of Magic in tow. All members of the Wizarding Community have been asked to stay in their homes, with proper safety precautions in place, and to block off their Floo networks, if applicable. All updates will come across the WWN.

Update: A Dark Mark was found suspended above a relatively remote bit of forest in an undisclosed location. It was discovered after an anonymous tipster contacted the DMLE, telling them they would find the person responsible for several of the most recent crimes there: Alecto Carrow. Carrow was at the scene, Petrified and bound. She was taken to St Mungo’s for medical attention. Ministry officials have made no statements as to how Carrow escaped Azkaban and how she appeared much younger than she ought to have. An inside source, who contacted us on the condition of anonymity, says the Ministry believes this to be the work of the Time-Turner Fault that has brought so many back, though none of the culprits have been found or interviewed as of this writing.

Update II: The Muggle girl, fifteen and frightened, was discovered Obliviated on the steps of St Mungo’s near midnight. A Healer, whose identity is being withheld, stepping out for a smoke break found the girl near the rubbish bins, unable to articulate how she had gotten there. She wore a cloak over torn clothing; investigators intend to comb both for evidence. Her superficial wounds had been amateurishly mended. She was taken in for tending to and will be released to her parents as soon as possible. The Minister is working with Muggle officials and spoke of the seriousness and necessity of getting to the bottom of the recent disturbances. He assured those listening that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has not returned. More to come as the information becomes available.]

[Hours after this, a standard delivery truck crosses the gates into Wayne Manor. Its appearance is nothing special, since it has all the right plates and license numbers. The very young male driver goes around the back, as instructed, and unloads eight children - three boys and five girls - between the ages of three and six. The children all wear second- and third-hand clothing, and they are thin and badly cared for, if clean. They are all dark-haired, dark-eyed little things, and they knock and knock on the back door, as if they had been instructed to do just that. Not one of them wanders or leaves that spot, regardless of how long the wait is. If asked, the children refuse to say where "home" is, though they will steal anything that isn't locked down if they're allowed inside. The truck is returned to the delivery company, with the real driver trussed up in the back and all his real packages for that day undelivered.]

[Thursday evening, several news stations flock to the scene of an accident near the Las Vegas strip. Initial video from the scene show a yellow cab all but wrapped around a light pole. Several pedestrians give their eyewitness accounts of the accident. The cab is reported to have lost control, both driver and passenger were seen panicking before the cab finally came to a stop after colliding into a light pole. A fire hydrant and a nearby postal box were damaged as well, and that section of the street remains closed off for the evening, creating a bit of a traffic mess near the strip.

Both the driver of the cab, Paul Simons, 58, and the passenger, Chloe Murphy, 32, were transported to local hospitals. No one else was injured in the collision. There is no current report on their condition.

Initial reports show that alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the collision. Police are continuing to investigate the vehicle for possible mechanical malfunctions.]

[Winston Pendergrass, a corporate shareholder for Oscorp, was found dead late Wednesday night. Police are investigating the possibility of foul play, but have stated that suicide is a probability. Oscorp stock has fallen sixty points since Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn, was appointed CEO in the past few weeks, and Winston Pendergrass was at the helm of losing his life's fortune. Harry Osborn was quoted as offering his condolenseces to the family this morning when he received the news.]

[Tuesday night, the missing squib children turn up in the most unexpected place: Godric's Hollow. Residents believe they first hear them in the doomed Potter residence, where a Dark Mark tellingly hangs in the sky, but no one actually sees the children until they're on Church Lane. All five children are crawling around on their hands and knees. They bark, they howl, they pee against trees and try to bite anyone who comes near. Whatever was done to them, it's stubborn, spells layered upon themselves. The children do not respond to their names, do not have language, do not attempt to walk upright. In short, they are feral, trying to attack any residents of the village who come near them. In the end, the Ministry is called, but the children have scattered into the surrounding, snow-covered areas by the time help arrives.]

[The children are taken from a muggle daycare on Saturday morning. Five of them in total, and the Dark Mark shows in the sky above the building before the teachers even realize the children are gone. An unnamed teacher at the preschool confides to local authorities that the children taken all had a relative that was a witch or wizard, but that the children have no magic themselves, their bloodlines having been long since diluted. The Minister makes a statement that afternoon, which is printed in the Prophet, where he insinuates that all of these incidents are related to unauthorized Time-Turner usage. He assures the matter is being looked into, that all displaced witches and wizards will be returned to their proper time, and that the missing children will be found.]

[The news keeps getting better through the Potter door. Late Tuesday evening, there's a spectacle outside Hogsmeade.

A young woman hangs suspended in the air, screaming, under the influence of the Cruciatus curse. The Dark Mark hovers in the air overhead, summoned by a cloaked figure in the woods nearby, calling all to be witness to the sight. The woman, when she finally lands on the ground, is insensible, but whispers of her identity spread like wildfire through the village. It is said that the young woman was Lily Potter, but before her identity could be confirmed or denied, she is rushed to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Officials at the hospital refuse to comment on the woman's identity, though whispers later raise some doubt as to who the woman really was.]