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The lack of animal life made the town eerily quiet. The chirp and rustle of birds or the occasional far-off bark of a dog were part of what made up the normal, barely noticed backdrop of sound in any inhabited town. Their absence would have been unsettling enough on its own, but combined with the stench and sight of death poorly hidden under the street and that high, faint whine, the quiet was putting Jordan on edge. "I wonder if it's the pitch," he said, glancing at Candace with a thoughtful frown. "It's very faint. Hard to hear."

The dead rat that she had spotted was massive. More alarmingly, it bore no visible marks of whatever had killed it. Jordan frowned and took a few steps towards the alley in which the thing lay beside a dumpster, steeling himself against the sight and smell with the intention of getting a better look. Then something crunched under his foot and he jumped back, looking down. "What - "

Cockroaches - a small dark mass of them, flowing out of a crack in one of the buildings and scuttling with a single-minded determination for somewhere else. "Roaches," Jordan said, and pointed them out. "What are they trying to get away from?"

Stay calm, Ferros said.

Right. Jordan approached the building that the roaches had been fleeing and tried to peer in through the dust-grimed window. "Can't see anything," he reported. "Too much dust. It looks empty in there, though." He backed up and turned around, looking towards the sewer grate again. "Everything dog-sized and smaller," he said, ticking off points on his fingers. "But not insects. That's pretty specific. No human deaths - that we know of, anyway," he amended. "Carcasses mostly left out of sight, or there'd have been more general alarm. Come to think of it, it looks like they've been dumped in an area where humans are less likely to care or report the bodies. Whether that's coincidence or deliberate planning ... " He trailed off, then shook his head. "Impossible to say, stick to the observable facts. Right. Roaches fleeing from unknown location and with no visible cause, and a high-pitched whining sound, difficult to hear, no apparent source."

He looked to Candace, then to Robert. "Am I leaving anything out? Do you guys recognize any kind of pattern? I've never heard of anything like this, so I can't offer any theories."

The whistling noise was actually starting to give him a headache. He listened as carefully as he could to Jordan's observations, and sighed in relief. "No, boss, you hit everything we got so far. I gotta admit though, Candace is right. This thing kind of does feel like a dog whistle. It's getting into my ********' head, and if I hear it any longer I swear I'm gonna start pulling my hair out." He tried blocking one ear with a finger, but it did little to no good stopping what he heard.

"And it makes sense, I guess. Like a pied piper or some s**t, using that sound to call all the animals and then killing them. Don't know why, though - not that I really care. All them ******** monsters are assholes as far as I'm concerned, they probably get off on it."

((I WANNA HEAR THE SOOOOOOOOOOOUNNNNNND

Edit: ):
Candace still found it strange the two of them could hear it and not her. She wanted to hear it. Did it really sound how they said it did? They both agreed she made a good point. "Underground, huh?" She cringed, looking down at the newest sewer opening. She really didn't want to go down there with that smell, but if they didn't go soon then whatever it was that was in there could move on and then the problem would just start up all over again..! Candace frowned, giving a quiet nod of agreement to what Jordan was saying. It sounded exactly like what she'd told Molly and Deryk. He had a point.

"True enough." Candace murmured, glancing toward another pigeon carcass and cringing. Gross. "Here's hoping little Susie's puppy is okay, hm?" Maybe if they were really lucky only the vermin was killed and the proper pets were still okay. That's if they were really, really lucky. Candace wasn't going to put any money on it though.

"Alright then. I'm cool with getting out of here and actually..breathing in fresh air that doesn't reek of sewage and death." She looked Robert's way. He was the leader this time, not her. "Your call, Robert."

"We can hope," Jordan replied to Candace, but he was of the opinion that the chance of pets having escaped the animal massacre was pretty low. Candace knew that, he was sure; he didn't need to say so and make everyone uncomfortable.

Robert's decision, right; Jordan looked to Robert, feeling a faint twinge of guilt. It had become habit long since for Robert to listen to him, but technically he was the low-ranking one here, and it was Robert's mission. He needed to remember to give his friend more credit and respect. Robert might keep up a facade of goofy idiocy, but he had more brains than most people gave him credit for.

Jordan wasn't quite sure if it made him feel better or worse to see his moment of startled confusion reflected on Robert's face. They'd both fallen into the familiar roles, at least.

When Robert agreed, he nodded and followed silently. He'd gained a lot to think about from this mission, both from the mission itself and from their interactions as a team.

The overall agreement of their next move relaxed Robert's posture, and he slowed down, until he was between his two teammates, heading back for the portal. He felt the hand on his shoulder, and turned his head down to look at Candace with mild curiosity. Whatever question he was expecting (and there was none in his empty head at the moment), was certainly not what he got from her. His blank stare turned dark, and troubled.

"I thought about it." He admitted as his eyes returned forward, glaring unseeing towards the direction they walked. "But I needed, just this once, for this not to ******** up. I'm not saying Petra or Maddie woulda ******** things up," He carefully left Jerry's name out of that sentence, "But I had been pretty confident in my ability to ruin everything." His eyes, just a little distant, dropped to look down at Candace. "You uh. You get s**t done right. You're really good at all this s**t. I needed someone I could trust would overcompensate to make up for what I lack."

Those were some of the biggest words Robert had ever used in his life. He had obviously given the choice a great deal of thought. All he'd said could even be considered a compliment..

"Plus you don't make me smile or feel good. So it's easier to concentrate."

And then he had to go and ruin it.

Jordan fell back slightly, listening to the conversation without comment, though he smiled slightly when Robert managed to bomb the end of the compliment with a minor insult. Good job, bro.

When Candace had finished speaking, he said, "She has a good point." Agreeing with Candace - well, not totally bizarre, but perhaps not frequent. "I hate seeing you dragging like this. Taking things seriously is good, yeah - but you haven't been yourself."

"Robert. You know me. It's what I do." Jordan's smile was softer than the usual confident grin he showed everyone, fond and amused. The return of humor in Robert's eyes and the sudden, familiar laugh eased a lot of the worry he'd been keeping quiet. He stood aside, nodding for Candace to follow Robert through the portal.

Jordan took one more look back at the city. Then he followed the other two back through the portal.