Issues with Audition & Tascam 1200

To start, I have a Tascam 1200 that I use quite regularly and it's coupled with a pair of "Neat Worker Bee" mics, a "fifine" headphone amplifier and recently I switched from Audacity to Audition and that's where my problems began. My computer is a new Dell that was built in April of this year... I think that sums up the hardware and software piece of the equation. 

When I start a new project in Audition I select audio track," and when I hit record I notice that I immediately have an external audio source (levels are moving) even when the Tascam is muted. I can leave the mics muted in the Tascam interface and somewhere, somehow, audio is still being recorded. There is no level change when I unmute my mic, so I believe that Audition is somehow using my laptop's mic to record instead of the intended worker bee.

For settings, I have gone through the appropriate process in both Windows and the audio portion of Audition, ensuring that the Tascam is selected as the primary input and Master Clock device, I have left output to my regular speakers on the laptop, however, as I don't have an external speaker for the Tascam unit.

To further my suspicion, when I go to do a new " multi-track" project and select the tascam as "host" in the "podcast" template, I record absolutely no audio. The settings I have in the multi-track are as follows: Tascam is input, laptop speakers are out, and I have "armed" by selecting the R before starting to record.

If anyone can provide me assistance that fixes this issue, I'll venmo you $10 for coffee or a beer... anything is appreciated.

Thank You