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“Tony, darling, you’ll miss it!”

Kyn had popped some popcorn and had settled onto the couch for a nice night in. No patrolling, no youma, no interruptions. She was looking forward to some down time and, conveniently, Sarah had fallen to sleep early, adjusting to her new kindergarten schedule. She had a bottle of wine waiting on the table beside her and the remote in her hands. The movie they wanted to watch was starting in a few minutes and she was eager to be just frightened enough to curl against him during the bad parts.

“Darling!”

She looked toward the doorway, waiting expectantly for him to come in. She clicked on the television and tuned to the right channel, grinning.

“Alright, but if you miss it, don’t blame me!”

---

Tony chuckled, shaking his head. He knew Kyndall was excited for a night in, but he could not help feeling a little guilty for avoiding his knightly duties, even for one night. Patrols were important, but so was his family, and he knew his wife was lonely. She wanted to work with him more, patrol more, but they could also just take more breaks. One night off every few years was not asking much, right? Maybe it was a little more than that, but it did not feel like it. He worked very hard, both at the library and as a Royal Knight, so sitting down to enjoy the spooky holiday was a welcome change.

Of course, nothing in Destiny City was ever quite that simple, and he did have his guard up just in case. Holidays, especially Halloween, usual made for some strange happenings in the city, and he had been there long enough to expect anything. He also learned, of course, that if something was going to happen then it would, and worrying would get him no where.

That in mind, he came into the room with a couple of beers in hand. He set them on the table and took his place on the sofa beside his wife. Dogby was curled up in her bed next to the sofa, though she was awake and watching them with a dopey, sleepy expression. Gizmo was up and about still, trying to investigate the popcorn situation.

“I’m here, I’m here. Right on time. When am I ever late?”
----

“Shall I answer that or just glare?”

Kyn smiled and laughed as he came into the room. She patted the couch cushion beside her and didn’t spare a thought to patrolling. The world could wait; they had a marriage to work on and part of that was spending time together. What else would he be fighting for if not that? They needed to make the effort and she was trying to be out on patrol with him more and it was nice to see him make an effort to stay in as well.

She gave Gizmo a look and pointed to her bed. The younger corgi went with a pout.

She snuggled into him with her wine glass in hand just as the theme music started before...static. The television turned completely to static. She shook her head, letting out a sigh. It figured. She turned to the next station, and then the next. Nothing but static.

“Check the cable box?” It was as good of an idea as she had of what was wrong. She was not mechanically inclined. “I’ll call the company.”

Moving to get up, she started toward where her cell phone was charging when she heard something strange. She paused, turning her ear to try and hear it again but couldn’t. Strange, but this was the town for that. She moved to make her phone call, talking to an employee that assured her that there were no outages in their area and said there was nothing he could tell her but to restart the box.

“That’s odd. They said there should be nothing wrong with it.”

---

Tony smiled at her knowingly, but shrugged as if he were innocent of ever being late. He did his best, but of course, duty often called at the least convenient of times. He had gotten home late more times than he could really count. And even worse than that, there were times when he could not make it home at all, and left her worrying. Those were the biggest sources of guilt to him, though it was rarely because he chose to stay out. Either he was hurt, or helping someone else that had been hurt. It was never something simple like falling to sleep at the front desk of the library.

Sleep? What was that?

His focus was drawn as the television began to emit static, tilting his head in confusion. There was no storm, or even wind, to interfere with the reception, and he doubted the box had come undone. Dogby and Gizmo were pretty good about not chewing or pulling wires. That did not make it impossible, of course, so he got up with a sigh and moved to investigate.

He fiddled while she was on the phone, looking up once she returned.

“I can’t find anything wrong with it, either. Maybe the station is just playing some sort of Halloween trick? I keep hearing something in the static, so either it’s trying to work or it’s being done on purpose. It is a spooky scary time of year, after all.”

---

Kyn was beside herself trying to figure out what was going on. What her husband said made sense but why now of all times? If that was true it was all very frustrating. She was missing her movie and cuddle time with her husband. She paused, frowning, and then knelt by the television. He’d already done it, she was sure, but she didn’t think it hurt to have a second pair of eyes to look at it. She reached for a cord when she heard an unexpected sound. It was both loud and far away sounding,

“They’re coming!”

She jumped, falling back away from the TV in an undignified heap with a small yelp.

“What in the hell?”

“Help us!”

Kyn stared at the TV wide-eyed, trying to figure out what to make of it. Either this was a very good prank or something was terribly wrong. She looked at her knight and tried not to seem frightened, but she kind of was. He promised to be her knight, her protector, and she was close to freaking out.

“Tony?”

---

Tony listened to the static, hearing the voices clearer now. He shook his head, his heart jumping. If this was a Halloween prank, it was a very good one. Somehow, he was beginning to doubt it. Nothing was ever simple, his motto reminded him once more. Not in this city.

“Don’t worry, Kyn, it’s just a prank of some kind. Honestly, it has to just be the channel. They were going to be marathoning Halloween stuff, weren’t they? Here.” He moved to the controls on the bottom of the tv, clicking the channel over but finding the static, and the voices crying for help, remained. He frowned at it disapprovingly.

It was not helping him to calm down his wife in any way, behaving like that.

“They’re coming?” he echoed, shaking his head. He wondered if this was what it was like for those fooled by the radio, back when War of the Worlds broadcasted. No context, just scary words to over think about. He could see Kyndall getting more upset, and he moved to turn the television off before the noises got any louder.

They seemed to scream for a moment more, as if to stop him, but then the room fell silent as the TV shuttered to black. He took a breath, shaking his head.

“It’s alright, Kyn, love. Something strange is going on. Maybe someone hijacked the television waves or… however that works…”

---

He tried to comfort her and it was a valiant, noble effort. Kyn watched as he changed the stations and yet the static and the voices remained, sounding closer and creepier as he messed with the TV. She shuddered, scooting away closer to her dogs. This only proved the point that it wasn’t the station’s prank, unless every tv channel was in on it. She gave him a frightened look, knowing all too well what strange things happened in Destiny City and how dangerous these occurrences could prove to be.

She winced as the sounds got louder, looking away before the tv finally clicked off. She moved quickly to unplug it, just in case, and was relieved when it didn’t power on itself despite being unplugged.

“Tony, see if Elle can sit for Sarah for a while. I don’t think I want to be home right now.”

Their night in had just turned into a night out.