Left her to Rot

Cole is asleep as a phone starts ringing very loudly with an unfamiliar ringtone. Spider grumbles and covers their ears.

Luna and Hinata's ears flatten. "What the hell is that and why does it sound like it was made in the past year or two?" Luna grumbles.

Hinata groans and taps Cole on the shoulder, "Yo Cole, that phone you stole is ringing. How are you not hearing it?"

Cole jolts awake and looks dazed, "Buh..." Cole groggily answers the phone, "Helloooo?"

He hears a monotone voice, "Who is this?"

Cole hesitantly answers, "Rowan..."

Hinata stares at Cole and gives him a disapproving look.

Cole looks over at Hinata with a "I just woke up" look.

The person calling responds, "Who is this? How did you get Rowan's phone?"

Luna facepalms and mutters under her breath, "We know who's phone it is now."

Cole doesn't respond for a second then responds with the genius answer of "I'm... Rowan's... roomate."

There's a long ass pause, "No... I am."

Spider chuckles quietly as they watch. Hinata smiles.

Cole doesn't respond as he has the face of "Ah."

They repeat, "Who is this? Where is Rowan?"

Luna shrugs, "Your move Cole."

Cole grumbles quietly, "...I'm Cole with the IRS, you have 500 dollars left to pay or we will start taking legal action."

They respond, "From Cole Genesone Industries? Did you ki-?"

Cole turns the volume off before he can finish his sentence, "Oh yeah I'm Cole from Cole Genesone industries."

Luna asks, "What were they going to say? And how do they know about you Cole?"

There's a response but the volume is off

Cole looks over at the group, "It might be crazy what I'm about to say" Cole pauses as he smiles slightly, "I might have not taken my meds" Cole pulls out an earpiece and plugs it into the phone as he turns the volume up just barely enough to hear the call without anyone listening in.

Luna sighs, "Yeah no shit Cole. We've known this."

Spider asks, "Are you gonna take them?"

Cole hears the tail end of the person talking, "-by sundown."

"Considering the document in Max's server, probably not? Balls in his court though." Hinata mutters.

Cole seems to ignore the group as he responds, "What?"

Luna looks over, "What now?"

The caller responds, "As I was saying, considering the circumstances we are willing to trade Lochlan for Rowan but if we don't get Rowan by sundown..." There's a hint of rage seeping through the monotone voice along with the sound of metal bending.

Cole bursts into laughter then quickly stops as he sighs, "Your really funny."

They respond, "Cole. I can see what you are made of. There's plenty of chemicals that can eat through silicone, let alone it can still ignite given enough heat."

Cole goes quiet as he shakes slightly, "....Who are you?" Cole's voice doesn't show fear but he certainly looks like he just got called out.

Spider's head tilts at Cole's expression.

Luna looks nervous. 

They respond, "Bring us Rowan at the lighthouse and you won't become a glorified birthday candle."

Cole shakes his head as he quickly responds, "Now hold on uhm....what am I getting in return?"

They respond, "Lochlan... unless you had an idea of equal value."

Cole thinks about it for a second then responds, "....Is Icarus an option?"

Luna shakes her head as she only hears what Cole is saying.

They respond, "Yes."

Cole nods as he sighs, "I'll take Icarus"

Hinata blurts out, "Wait, they're the ones who have Icarus???"

They respond, "Deal." The phone hangs up.

Cole takes the ear piece out and sits there with his hands folded and an unreadable expression.

Spider glares at Cole as their ears perk up.

Luna shakes her head, "So what now?"

Hinata doesn't know how to react but stares at Cole disapprovingly.

Cole puts the phone in his pocket, "So... I learned a valuable lesson about taking my medication..."

Luna asks, "And what is that?”.

Hinata adds, "That it makes you sane and not make bad decisions?"

Cole slowly looks over at Hinata, "...Maybe."

Hinata sighs, "Isn't this what Luna warned you of? She's not stupid, she's been around the block."

Luna asks, "What the hell is going on Cole?"

Cole sighs, "So I may or may not have been off my meds for a while, which may or may not have caused me to make a dumb choice"

Luna stares at Cole with a stern expression.

Cole's voice drops to a whisper, "I uh... kidnapped Rowan...."

Luna doesn't react at first until her eyes turn a deep purple, "You did WHAT?? I mean that explains the phone, but like what the hell did you do that for???" Judging by the tone and volume, she sounds pissed off.

Spider sighs heavily, "Yeah I'm not surprised, why did you leave them in the first place?"

Hinata asks, "I mean... let's be honest, this is Cole we're talking about. Is he at CGI?"

Cole sighs, "I mean the reason why is because the voices might have told me to, but yes he's at CGI."

Luna commands, "Well, ball's in your court. Release him. Now."

Cole rolls his eyes and closes his right eye, "Fine."

Hinata asks, "Now, what was this about Icarus? Allow me to guess, the person who kidnapped Icarus is the same person you talked to on the phone?"

Cole sighs as he nods

Luna's eyes return to blue. "So what does this mean? Are we busting him out of the sun and moon cult thing?"

Hinata mentions "And please give him back his phone. It ain't yours."

Cole shakes his head

"What do you mean no? Answer me." Luna stares at him.

Hinata asks, "Why are we even bothering trying to get straight answers? You know how things go Luna. We're always the one to reason things out. We can probably do that here."

Luna nods and goes back to her laptop, reading over the notes that she could get from the second half of the conversation. "I mean they seemed to know some blackmail stuff? ...hang on, you didn't trade Rowan for Icarus did you?"

Cole doesn't respond as his still open eye glances away from the two

Luna smiles, "thought so. I don't suck at this. I have heavy doubts they're roommates with Rowan, unless Rowan is also part of this sun and moon themed cult."

"Cole, Rowan isn't coming back here is he? He's probably enroute to the cult right now." Hinata reasons out.

Spider grumbles and gets up heading for the front door

Cole shrugs

Luna shrugs as well. "That's about as far as I can get for now. Though I am curious how they got information about your company mishaps Cole. Heard something along the lines of chemicals. I'd rather not get too deep in that topic, but we really should keep distance from these people."

The sun is starting to set

Cole notices the sun setting as people in the house can hear tires screeching outside, Cole opens his right eye as he rushes outside as he says in a rushed tone, "Gotta go"

Cole appears with Icarus and sighs. Icarus looks a bit dazed with a few blood stains on his usual clothing.

Luna looks up as her eyes widen on the sudden surprise, “Whoa, that's an Icarus."

Hinata sighs, "Right yeah, I forgot."

Cole sits Icarus down as he sits next to him, "Yeah, he's not exactly in the greatest of shape and there's no way in hell I'm just leaving him in his home to rot"

"So... we're taking care of him now? Are we just becoming the home for displaced nonferals all of a sudden?" Luna sighs. Icarus is seated very easily and stares ahead blankly as if he's asleep. "First Lochlan, then Rowan technically, and now Icarus. What's next? Terminal and Harper? Gambit?" Luna asks Cole.

Cole glares at the both of them, "I'm taking care of him because it would be unsafe for him to return to his normal house" Cole looks disappointed, "He's only gonna stay here until he isn't fresh out of a torture chamber or whatever he was in"

"It was a room with stripped wallpaper and wooden wainscotting, tied to a chair and told to drink red liquids that apparently taste good." Luna shrugs.

"She's got you there Cole. Not exactly what I'd consider a torture chamber." Hinata adds.

Cole gestures to the blood stains on him, "He clearly had something happen to him that made him bleed or something."

Luna looks over, "ah... yeah I didn't even notice the bloodstains, whoops." Luna had been looking down at her laptop this entire time. It's the first time she actually got a good look at him. A lot smaller than the last time an albino alligator was in the house.

"Eh, fair enough. Doesn't seem to have loonism at least, considering he's okay around you, though we should be careful nevertheless." Hinata says, typing into Luna's laptop.

Cole takes the clear liquid syringe out of pocket as he mutters, "This'll wake him up more so he isn't just.....staring" Cole starts to inject it into his neck

"Uhhhh Cole, isn't that like a really bad place to inject someone. That's their jugular." Luna cringes.

Icarus doesn't react at first but soon his pupils restrict slightly as he takes a sharp breath in.

Hinata does not move or react to the sudden change in demeanor, instead keeping her focus on the laptop and the funny cat video she is playing.

Cole shrugs, "He'll be fine, plus anywhere else would also be a pretty bad place so" Cole takes the syringe out and snaps a bandaid into his hand and puts it on the needle wound.

"True, I suppose. At least here we work with nonferals all the time and have a lot of experience, for better or for worse." Luna shrugs. 

Icarus blinks as he glances at Cole and then the room around him, "The fuck."

Luna waves, "hello."

"Hi." Hinata smiles up at him.

Cole smiles, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

Icarus glances between everyone and puts hand to his neck, "Where are we?"

"You are in a house with two of my friends, safe and sound" Cole smiles a little more

"We're not on nonferal earth currently," Luna adds.

Hinata continues, "specifically Fairview."

Icarus shakes his head, "What do you mean safe? I was just home?"

"So you don't remember being tied up to a chair or dreaming of Morse?" Luna asks, cocking her head to the side.

Cole looks confused as he waits for his answer to Luna's question

Hinata doesn't have anything else to ask at the moment. She's also waiting for Icarus's response.

Icarus thinks a moment before shaking his head, "No?"

Luna tilts her head from side to side in thought, then types something into her laptop. "Strange. I doubt Datrs was lying to us. Maybe you forgot?"

"Maybe it had to do with the vial of red liquid? Maybe the scent. Or something else. Cole, did you notice anything off when you rescued him?" Hinata asks, trying to piece things together, though the memory loss reminds her of another very recent event having to do with Cole and Lochlan. 

Cole thinks about it for a second then speaks, "He seemed like he was just not all there when they gave him to me, and I'm wondering if I should have saved some of that clear liquid for testing."

"Clear liquid? Was it in a golden cup?" Luna asks.

Icarus has a confused look as he listens

Cole shakes his head, "It was in a syringe and they gave it to me to," Cole does air quotes, "wake him up."

"Ah, that. Must've been some kind of stimulant." Luna shrugs.

Hinata turns her attention towards Icarus and smiles sweetly, "Anyway, Icarus, nice to meet you finally. Uhm are you in any pain anywhere? We're pretty good with first aid."

Icarus speaks with uncertainty "I don't think so? And hi."

"Hey, I'm Hinata Solaire." she smiles.

"And I'm Luna Nightshade." Luna grins.

Cole shrugs, "I hope you remember my name....."

Icarus responds with a nod, "I don't think you’re all that forgettable considering you bought me a whole fucking house."

Cole smiles. "Look, I saw that you were in need and I helped you out" Cole shrugs, "I don't see what the big deal is"

Icarus puts a hand to the bandaid on his neck, "Yeah sure. whatever." He starts to stand up, "Why do I taste something sweet?"

Cole tilts his head to one side, "Uhhhh I'm not sure, you could just be tasting what I injected into you"

Luna tilts her head from side to side, "sweet? Maybe it's the stuff you drank when you were captured? Like a red liquid."

"What red liquid?" Icarus then looks down at his own clothing to see the red stains, "Oh. That red liquid... is that blood? Like my own blood?"

"It was in a vial of some kind left in a drawer. Seemingly some kind of sedative, you said it tasted good, thus you drank it once prior." Luna notes.

Hinata nods and adds, "Besides, if your blood tastes sweet, that's usually not a good thing. Then again, I don't usually drink blood."

Cole shrugs and doesn't seem concerned, "A little blood never hurt anyone" Cole seems to smile slightly then stop smiling as his face goes neutral

Icarus sighs, "Not even going to ask why there's more humans now."

Luna shrugs and smiles, "I mean we're not on nonferal earth at the moment. This is the home Cole and I co-own."

Cole nods in agreement with Luna

Icarus shakes his head, "Not on nonferal... What?" He instantly heads towards the closest window, moving aside the curtain to glance outside.

Cole holds his tongue as he doesn't say anything

Luna doesn't know what to say, but she still tries, "Yeah, it's a long story, but the short version is he rescued you from whatever cult like thing took you, and now you're with us."

"Cult? That sounds stupid. Are you sure it's not a gang or something?"

"Do you know of any gangs that wear golden masks and have sun and moon themed robes? Sounds culty at the very least. Cole?" Hinata looks over at him.

Luna shrugs.

Cole nods in agreement with Hinata, "Yeah it's very much a cult, they were wearing robes and masks which is a typical outfit for cults"

Icarus looks away from the window and looks towards them. "No? I don't know anything of that sort."

Luna shrugs and exhales deeply, "It's new to us too. But what matters is you're safe here. And whenever you're ready to head back, Cole can handle that. Until then, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want."

Hinata nods.

Icarus puts the curtains back, "Stay and do what? Sit around? I don't exactly feel like I’m injured."

Cole gestures at Icarus's body as he responds, "You've got blood on you, are you sure you don't have any wounds?"

"Do we even know if that's his blood on him?" Luna looks Icarus over to see if there are any visible cuts on his body.

Icarus checks himself over as well as he shakes his head, "No new leaks."

"So then where did all of those other stains come from?" Luna wonders while squinting a bit at the ceiling, "I doubt your nose scar caused that."

Hinata walks out to get some fresh air.

Cole shakes his head, "I doubt his nose formed a scar that quickly, it's probably just blood from his mouth or something"

Icarus furrows his brow, "Have a cup I could spit in?"

"Yeah I got you." Luna snaps her fingers as a clear plastic cup appears in her left hand. "Here ya go Icarus."

Cole watches intently.

Icarus takes the cup and spits into it. The spit looks mostly red as his eyes widen slightly, "Ah."

"Ah. That'll... do it." Luna grimaces on the sight, "Cole?"

Cole nods as he looks over at Icarus, "As I figured, do you feel any cuts in your mouth?"

Icarus has his mouth shut while feeling around with his tongue for a moment. He shakes his head again, "Nope. Nothing hurt or missing."

"Maybe internal injuries?" Luna mutters and looks over at Cole. "Either that or he drank blood, which... goes back to your original theory."

Cole shrugs as he responds, "It could just be from a bleeding gum, since it was just spit and it's not like he's coughing up blood which would be a different story"

Icarus smacks his lips, "I don't taste anything but sweet either. It's like fruit punch?"

Luna raises an eyebrow, "wait, fruit punch? Red and sweet, unknown liquid in a golden goblet. I mean that's... what if it's just fruit punch then? Like even the 'blood stains' on your clothes are also fruit punch?"

Cole seems to think for a second then gestures to Icarus as he speaks, "I guess he'd have to taste the stains on his shirt to find out"

"Or smell them,” Luna suggests.

Icarus takes the baseball jersey off and puts part of it in his mouth. After a second he takes the jersey out of his mouth and holds it out slightly from himself. The spot he put his mouth on has some fresh red spots now, "I literally can't taste anything but fruit." He wears a simple shirt underneath.

Cole sighs as he shakes his head, "So it's either fruit punch or you can't taste anything but fruit right now."

Luna looks confused, "strange. All of this is really weird."

Icarus mumbles to himself while inspecting the shirt, "How the hell am I going to wash all of this out?"

Cole snaps as a glass of water appears in his hand as he speaks with curiosity, "Can you drink this water and tell me if it tastes like fruit?" Cole extends the glass to Icarus

Luna is busy typing notes into her laptop.

Icarus sets the shirt down next to the dirty glass and takes the clean glass of water. He takes a sip. "Yup. Just fruity."

Cole sighs and shakes his head as he speaks, "Can I have the shirt so I can smell it?"

Luna tilts her head a little bit while in thought. She continues to watch over the situation silently.

Icarus nods as he sips the water again with a slightly confused look.

Cole grabs the shirt and presses his nose against one of the spots and inhales.

He smells nothing but intense sweetness as he suddenly loses consciousness for a few minutes.

Cole's eyes flutter shut as he mutters, "Goodness" then completely ragdolls as he hits the floor with a thud

"Ayo?? Cole I know you like bloo-- uh oh." Luna gets down to the floor and starts shaking his shoulders and making sure he's breathing.

Icarus jumps slightly and leans over some to watch

Cole is still breathing and there's the faint whirr of his coolant pump is still audible, just seems unconscious

"Okay, he's not dead. Just knocked the hell out. What the hell," Luna groans.

Icarus picks the shirt up and moves it away from Cole, "Not fruit punch. Got it."

Luna waits for Cole to wake up, "definitely some kind of sedative or like a chloroform. Though the fruit punch taste is tripping me up."

Icarus nods as he waits

Cole jolts awake and sits up as he stares forward and speaks in a quiet voice, "That.....was not blood."

Luna looks over in worry. She had stayed next to Cole while waiting for him to recover. "Do you know what it is?" Luna asks

Icarus tilts his head, "Then what the Hell else is it?"

Cole shakes his head as he groans, "I have no idea, I know it smelled nothing but sweetness before I...." Cole looks around him, "Passed out"

"Overwhelming sweetness, a fruit punch flavor, and it causes people to get knocked out? I can't say I've heard of a combination. But uh, are you okay though Cole?" Luna asks, still worried for her friend.

"Though, the fact that it came from a vial is interesting to me. Didn't Spider find a vial of knockout stuff in Terminal's home?"

Icarus looks over at Luna, "Terminal? You mean that crazy guy with the loon statues out front?"

Cole nods as he sighs, "I'm fine"

Luna looks up at Icarus, "Yeah, he's uh... very interesting. Do you know him Icarus?"

Icarus shrugs, "I think he has to do with the weirdo always protesting the produce stores. Not sure though, just a rumor going around."

Luna tilts her head side to side, "a produce protest? Why does that sound familiar? Hang on, I'm sure I put that in my notes." Luna pulls out her laptop from under the couch and scrolls through a bit humming to herself.

Cole mentally notes that as he nods, "Got it"

"So..." Icarus picks up and looks at the spit cup, "Need some samples or am I washing this one?"

Luna shakes her head, "I don't need samples." She then gets an idea and turns to Cole, "Though, Cole? You wanna run some tests on that? Maybe we can get a chemical composition of whatever stuff they're using to knock people out?"

Cole nods as he stands up and dusts his jacket off as he responds, "Yeah, I should probably run some tests on that stuff"

Luna continues, "Speaking of, Spider should still have the vial as well. Maybe ask them to give it to you?"

Cole shakes his head, "Spider handed it to me, I ran some tests on it and it was all inconclusive"

"Ah okay." Luna nods with a smile.

"I don't know if we should hope it's the same thing or not." Icarus holds out the cup to Cole

Cole takes the cup and looks down in it and swirls the liquid around, "I would hope it's not the same thing"

"Same here, but it would be nice to have an ID on what it could be as well." Luna sighs and picks herself back up, then she sits in the armchair.

Icarus suggests "How about asking the person you guys got it from to begin with? And that goes for both cases. Either speak with Terminal or whoever took me."

Cole nods as he agrees, "I'd have to speak with the cult and Terminal to see if both substances match up, though I think it'll open a whole can of worms if Terminal has the same stuff."

Luna nods in agreement, "actually yeah, I think a chat with Terminal might be a good idea, though I'll wait for Cole's tests to finish first."

Icarus stretches with a yawn, "Right. Well if that’s all, I’d like to head back home. As nice as you all are, I don't exactly plan on staying the night."

Cole nods as he cracks his neck and responds, "Understandable, and unless Luna has anything else I'll send you home"

"Nope, I'm good. Just glad to have finally met you Icarus." Luna smiles.

Cole snaps as Icarus disappears and a bottle of Cole's pills appearing in his other hand as he takes one as he grumbles, "I need my fuckin brain for this....."

Luna cannot believe her eyes, but instead of saying something, she just smiles and begins to nod off to take a nap.