The White Room
During next two weeks you, Dark_crawler, chatted with the contact person who knew a member... and then came the day when the member sent you an email. You reported everything to your ex-boss who never replied to you... or he did, but it was always the same "let it be".
Then suddenly one Sunday night when you were surfing around you got an email from someone called "Nail_inthe_Eye". The email said "We know who you are, we are watching" and there was a jpg-file attached. You opened it and it was a picture of your apartment building. It was a warning or more like a threat. You panicked and figured that you should close the curtains and turn off the lights. You called Steve.
- Hey... haven't heard from you for a while, how are you? he asked. He had been on a mission and you had been busy so you had not been talking with him for over three days, which was a long time for you two.
- Steve... you said and went to make sure that your door was locked.
- I think I am in trouble...
- What's going on?
- Remember the big case?
- Yes... what about it?
- I suspect something... uhm... I rather not talk about it on the phone... but very briefly put... I have a very heavy reason to suspect that my ex-boss is connected to the case...
- Care to specify?
- I just received a threat-message from a deep web user and they know where I live. I will upload everything to my personal cloud and then send you a link to it. Please read everything... This is really freaking me out! Okay... I have now uploaded everything and sent the link to every Avengers work email. Are in town?
- No... What is going on?
- Shit... Okay... I have been working on that case...
- The red room?
- Yes... So... my boss... ex... ex-boss is the only person who knows about my research. No one on the deep web knows my identity, I've been using memory stick-based operating system that works with RAM-memory... which means that every bit of data that could link me and my IP-address to any site is being wiped out when I shut my computer off... besides the Onion -router makes it almost impossible to track anyone online unless they download something and that something has a virus... and it goes without saying that I have not downloaded anything...
- Uhm...
- It means that I was supposed to be completely anonymous and the only person who knows anything is my ex-boss.
- I see... Are you safe now...
- Yes... no... well I was supposed to be... but now someone is stating that they know who I am and they're watching me! They sent me a picture of my building to prove their point...
- Maybe it's not your building and they're just trying to scare yo-
- No... I do recognize my building... the point of the picture is to let me know that they know who I am...
- Okay... Are you safe now?
- Yes... you said and went to the window, you looked out. There was someone standing in a black leather jacket outside the building.
- Or I don't know... there is someone standing outside my building.
- And you suspect that your ex-boss is somehow related to this?
- He is the only one who knows about my research and identity, including my home address and he has been telling me to stop digging around from the day I stumbled across the rumor at Intel Exchange.
- Okay... I will call Romanov... oh she is here with me... Barton... I will call Barton to come there.
- Okay... you said and took a look at the street again. The man was still standing there.
- I have to go now... Open the door when Barton comes, but otherwise do not open it to anyone.
- Yeah... you said and tried to keep yourself together.
Steve hung up and sent a message to Clint Barton, the Hawkeye, who answered that he was currently at the office but would go there asap.
You stood at the window. Suddenly the man was gone and your doorbell was ringing. You went to the door and pressed the speaking button.
- Who is it?
- Barton. the voice answered. You opened the main entrance door and and stayed waiting at your door. There was a knock. You opened the door and then realized that it was not agent Barton. You tried to close the door but it was impossible. Before you could defend yourself you had been hit in your head with something and you went unconscious.
When the real agent Barton got to your apartment the door slightly open and you were nowhere to be found. He called Rogers.
- She's not here. Did you tell her that I am coming?
- Yes... What do you mean she's not there?
- When I came here, the door was slightly open and I checked the place... she is not here.
- Shit! Rogers sighed and then tried to call you. Your phone was on the floor in the hallway and Barton answered to it. Rogers knew that you never left your phone behind.
You opened your eyes. You were in a dirty room that looked like a cell or maybe a room in an old slaughterhouse... yes that was it... an old slaughterhouse. There were old bloodstains on the floor and walls and big iron hooks were hanging from the ceiling.
The man came to give you water and food, it was important that you were fully conscious and "in mint condition" when the auction started.
There was a link that had been posted to your Dark_crawler -email address after two days of your disappearance. Natasha Romanov who was a computer wizard compared to Rogers clicked the link. The Onion link opened an Onion site that requested logging in. She found a password and an user ID in the email and then she was in.
The pages background was a picture of a dirty, white room where the hooks were hanging from the ceiling. The page was slow and it was loading something. A word "Welcome to the White Room" appeared. Romanov clicked it. A text popped up. It said
"This months special, place your bids now!" and then there were 5 choices to bid on; drowning, beating, mutilating, suffocating and poison/acid. A clock was counting down and there was an hour time to vote. First there were no bids but then suddenly, the first bid came. Someone had been paying 0,25 Bitcoins to see someone drowning.
- What is this? Rogers asked.
- I am not quite sure... Let me check her notes. Romanov answered.
- A red room... (Y/N) talked about a red room... Rogers remembered.
- Red? But this is "the White Room"... Okay... here... "A red room is a site where people pay to see someone getting killed or injured. In most cases the idea is to pay to gain control over the death or just watch as someone else makes the decisions. Usually broadcasting live, including chat".
- What? Rogers exclaimed.
Mutilating and poison/acid got votes. The hour was almost up when someone paid 3 Bitcoins to "suffocating" and it was the winning option.
A text appeared as the page got updated.
"Thank you! The live feed of suffocating; on Friday, 9 pm, East Coast standard time. Click here to meet our star."
Romanov clicked. A popup window opened and there was a low resolution camera feed of you walking around in the white room. Rogers recognized you even though the picture quality was bad and the picture was updating itself in every five seconds.
- (Y/N)! he exclaimed.
- I'll try to trace the signal... Romanov said and opened the source code to get any clues where the feed was coming from. Rogers ran to question your ex-boss but he had taken a day off, called that he was sick and he had not been seen since last Sunday when he signed off from the Stark Industries, around the same time when Barton had left the office in order to come to your apartment. Now it was Tuesday and Friday was only a couple of days away and they had no idea where the feed was coming from. It was routed and rerouted again... and again.