Break up

Cole is asleep with his knees still hugged to his chest Hinata and Luna walk out to the living room and sit on the couch. Lochlan had entered and sat in the corner of the room. She stays quiet but looks a bit mad like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Hinata meekly speaks, breaking the silence, "So. Uhhhh. How's everyone doing?"

Lochlan grumbles, "Wonderful."

Hinata looks nervous, "Great.. uh least we can still push forward on stuff. Just gotta... dodge erm. Certain inquiries."

Cole slowly lifts his head up as he blinks himself awake, "Buh..."

Lochlan still sounds annoyed, "I don't think pushing forward on anything is a great idea..."

"But what about our deal? We made a promise that we would find a way to get you out of this, and find you someone who likes you for you. And unfortunately, promises for LUNA models cannot be broken. But for now, we're stuck. Our issue is Mailman having complete control of the situation."

Lochlan scoffs, "Plan is I break up with that shift head and take the hit weather that dumb AI likes it or not." this is not a good plan at all

"Lochlan, that plan is somehow worse than Luna tattling on Mailman to Gambit. What the fuck." Hinata’s eyes widen.

Cole's eyes flicker pink for a second then back to hazel as he lets out an annoyed groan, "Maybe you should let me do my fucking plan, instead of risking your physical health for no reason"

Lochlan rolls her eyes, "It's not for no reason. And I would consider your plan if I even knew what said plan was!"

"That's the thing Cole, none of us are ever in the loop. Luna did what she thought was right, unknowing you had a plan to fight this. If you want us to work with you, we need to be able to help. And know." Hinata glares at Cole.

Cole rolls his eyes as he taps his chest, "I would if a certain DICK wasn't listening in on every word i say, i physically cannot tell you my plan for the safety of myself and everyone that lives here"

Lochlan grumbles, "Can he see this?" she goes to flip Cole off before flinching and pulling her hand away

"Wait which certain dick are we referring to here? There's two right?"

"The one listening in on him."

Cole nods, "Yeah, that one"

Hinata closes her eyes in thought. "Logically... ah right, I remember now. So there's two enemies here."

Cole sighs, "And i can't guarantee that those two aren't working together, so i'm staying silent"

Hinata nods. Luna walks into the room and sits next to Hinata. "I had the craziest dream, but it felt so real, I swear."

Lochlan still a bit of anger to her tone, "What was it."

"I was somewhere else, but I was in a plane and serving drinks to guests! It was like I've done this forever now!" Luna smiles widely. "Plus I was a cat!"

Hinata looks greatly concerned by all of that.

Lochlan looks confused

Luna is reading through the Datrs "It was cool having fur again though. Even if it was just a dream."

Cole looks slightly confused, "What...."

Lochlan squints

"Uhhhh... nevermind." Luna blushes, "all I know is that my dreams are in technicolor apparently. Extremely fucking bright technicolor." She shudders.

Lochlan asks, "What's technicolor?"

Cole suddenly feels very very old

"It's an old filmmaking technique to bring black and white movies to color. Makes everything suuuuuuper colorful and overwhelming. And in my dream, everything was blinding bright and overwhelming. Like rainbows everywhere, even the man I spoke to about my job was wearing rainbows. It was visual clutter." Luna groans

"Black and white movies? Just don't remove the color if you want them in color."

Cole shakes his head, "That's....not how that works....."

"I mean there are filters that can remove the color." Hinata mentions.

"And old cameras literally could not capture movies in color. The technology wasn't good enough back then." Luna adds, "I've been researching movie techniques a bunch recently. It's fascinating!"

Lochlan looks confused "Why not? Just turn off the black and white filter."

Hinata shrugs, "Good question."

Cole glances down at the bottom right of his eye as he raises an eyebrow then shakes his head, "It's not a filter, the camera couldn't see color"

"Who would make a camera not able to see color? Wouldn't that be more work than just seeing things how they are?"

Luna nods in agreement, "Exactly, the cameras were literally colorblind."

Cole sighs and shakes his head, "You wouldn't understand...."

There's a few steps outside as someone knocks on the door Lochlan glances over

Luna and Hinata look over at Cole. "Should we get prepared for battle Cole?" Luna asks.

Cole looks confused, "Maybe? Hold on..." Cole stands up as he answers the door

Mailman is waiting politely with his hands behind his back and his helmet on Lochlan stands up

While waiting for Cole's signal, Luna snaps her fingers as both Luna and Hinata's weapons are summoned to their persons.

Cole raises an eyebrow, "Can i help you Mailman?"

Lochlan stays standing and folds her arms with a bit of anger.

Mailman speaks calmly and happily, "I was wondering If I could speak with Lochlan yet. It's been awhile and I have a few things to discuss."

Luna and Hinata are staying back away from the situation for now. They've already screwed things up enough, and they fear they'll only make things worse by intercepting.

Cole looks back at Lochlan with a raised eyebrow

Lochlan speaks in a hushed tone, "I speak to that funker and I'm breaking up with him."

Luna looks worried. "As much as I would usually say go for it, maybe not right now," Luna whispers.

Hinata is staying silent, genuinely unsure what to expect.

Cole looks back at MailMan, "She doesn't wanna talk right now...."

His head tilts some, "I would her rather speak for herself. As I respect her opinion and all..." He hear Mailman's smile through his voice

Cole sighs and looks over at Lochlan with an annoyed expression

"This feels like one hell of a trap." Hinata mutters, "Lochlan, I trust your decision. We'll stand by it."

Luna cautiously nods.

Lochlan smiles back at Cole as she steps out int the view of the door, "I would LOVE to have a few choice words with you."

Mailman gestures to Lochlan, "How about that."

Cole sighs as he looks back at MailMan, "...You asked for it" Cole steps away from the door

Luna and Hinata return to the couch.

Lochlan stands in the door way with her arms folded and a glare, "Before you even try to lead this conversation around like you own the place, I'm getting what I want to say in first. I am breaking up with you." Mailman remains quiet and polite as she continues, "You have done nothing but trot around your happy ash like you are top of the line, you constantly braid me for not being good enough for your expectations, you abuse me all becuase you're too scared to face fact, you act like I was born under a rock, you treat everyone around you like troglodites when you frankly have no room to talk, and you have never spent a moment of your sad pathetic little life thinking about anything other than your own face to the point that you have probably lost every loved one you found dear and have to cling to people who don't like you and force them to like you to even feel a fraction of what you used to have. I have had it being a substitute and done dealing with your reckless and desperate actions for power. We are through."

Cole stands there in silence, bracing for the possible backlash

Luna wants to be happy for Lochlan, but she's taking deep breaths

Hinata cheers for Lochlan, "yeah! Let's go! Proud of ya Lochlan!"

Mailman sighs and brings up a hand. It moves towards Lochlan as if about to tuck her hair back out of her face. He speaks in a soothing tone, "Darling. You know I-" Lochlan quickly bats his hand away with the back of her hand and lowers her tone, "Don't."

Mailman pulls his hand back towards himself and tilts his head slowly while muttering to himself grimly, "Oh?... I see some half wits made you believe you had a backbone..."

Cole's fists clench as he remains quiet, not wanting to spark a fight

Luna does not react, her focus being on two things: Watching over the scene and deep breathing. Hinata is dead silent, wanting to react to Mailman's words, but instead preparing to protect.

The end of Lochlan's tail flicks as her nose slightly scrunches up to snarl. Mailman shakes his head, "Well now that you got what you wanted out of the way... I was hoping you would like to come back home. Though I knew how much the popel here meant to you... so why not bring everyone home?"

Cole raises an eyebrow as he reaches his hand into his pant pocket

Luna and Hinata stare at Mailman silently.

Mailman takes a step closer as he's inches from Lochlan, testing his limits. Lochlan stands her ground though the others her tail freeze as if not expecting him to step up. Mailman scoffs, "Let's all just head over there and talk this thing out huh?"

Luna and Hinata don't react and instead wait for Cole.

Cole decides to speak up, "I don't think we'll be going anywhere with you, you had your discussion and now it's time to leave"

Mailman leans his head to the side to see Cole past Lochlan, "Need I remind you who I am? We're all friends here, at the very least I could offer a little change in seanery."

"We're not friends Mailman." Luna shakes her head.

"Gods no." Hinata growls.

Cole shakes his head and holds a firm stance, "I don't need a reminder, and the only friends that surround me are Hinata, Luna and Lochlan"

Luna quickly adds, "And Spider! Don't forget about them!"

Mailman goes to step forward into the room while ignoring Lochlan right infront of him as if knowing she will get out of the way. She suddenly steps aside by instinct.

Cole quickly steps to block MailMan's path with an authoritative stride

Luna and Hinata both pull out their respective weapons. A wicked looking broadsword for Luna, her trusty weapon, and a katana for Hinata. They're blocking further entry into the house, though their swords are pointed down.

Lochlan stays frozen by the door as she watches. Mailman reaches a hand into his jacket as he looks ta Cole, "You wouldn't want word getting out about things would you?"

Cole narrows his eyes at MailMan, "You wouldn't dare"

Luna does not know what Mailman is referring to, but upon seeing him reach into his pocket for presumably a weapon, she attempts to stab Mailman's hand, assuming his ankles aren't the only weakpoint. "Oh no you don't!" Hinata crouches down and attempts to slice at Mailman's ankles.

Mailman's hand and ankles are cut at but only his ankles leave a few drops of blood. He quickly draws a strange gun from his jacket.

Hinata slices again on realizing she's hit blood.

Luna attempts to knock the strange gun from his hands, whacking it with the blunt side of her broadsword.

Cole's eyes widen with fear as he quickly puts his hands up upon seeing he strange gun

Mailman moves the gun out of the way and lifts his foot up both to dodge and to immediately stomp down onto Hinata's arm with immense force. Lochlan is starting to process what's going on as she looks between everyone a moment.

On seeing Mailman move, Hinata teleports out of way to dodge damage. She is now behind Mailman.Luna continues to try and knock the gun out of his hand, realizing Cole is terrified of whatever it is.

Cole keeps his hands up as he keeps his eyes on the gun

Mailman quickly moves the gun out of the way and pointing behind himself. The gun makes an electrical cracking noise as he pulls the trigger "Cheating." It causes electrical interference to any electronics directly in front of the barrel, that being Hinata.

Hinata collapses under her own weight. The glow in her eyes is gone. She is still breathing though only slightly and her heartrate is slowed, barely enough to keep her alive. Her senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, pain, and hearing are all gone. In other words, Hinata is nothing much more than a barely breathing husk of flesh. All because Mailman sucks.

"HINATA! AND DON'T YOU GET ME ON ABOUT CHEATING YOU FUCKER!" Luna's eyes glow a deep red as she goes on a rampage, her sword swinging away at his legs, probably missing a bunch of strikes.

Cole quickly moves away from the gun out of instinct and draws his revolver as he aims at MailMan's face with his hands shaking

Luna only gets a hit in before he aims and fires at her aswell. The same electrical crackling follows. Lochlan draws her combat knife as she looks between everyone, "What just happened??? There wasn't a bullet?"

Luna collapses underneath her own weight. The glow in her eyes is gone. She is still breathing though only slightly and her heartrate is slowed, barely enough to keep her alive. Her senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, pain, and hearing are all gone. In other words, Luna is nothing much more than a barely breathing husk of flesh. For all intensive purposes, the cheater cheated and won. She's downed. 

Cole keeps his aim on MailMan's head as he reaches into his pocket and presses down on something, "I KNEW YOU WERE IN FUCKING TALKS WITH HIM"

Lochlan looks confused. Mailman raises the gun towards Cole as he cackles, "You know very well you already tried shooting me once befor-" Lochlan suddenly tackles him as they both land on the sofa and lochlan tries to wrestle the gun from his hands. Lochlan yells, "LEAVE US ALONE YOU F-"

Cole panics for the second that it's aimed at him then quickly tries to get a shot at one of MailMan's ankles

A small spray of blood is let out from his ankle as there's another crackling sound. Lochlan's muscles tense up and she's shoved off into the floor. Lochlan groans in pain as she stays on the ground with her muscles randomly jerking. Mailman sits up and points the gun to Cole. (edited)

Cole keeps his revolver aimed at MailMan, "Don't...please...please don't do this to me, i'll do anything you want just don't use that on me PLEASE" Cole's hands are shaking as his stance shows fear

Mailman fires it at Cole without much thought.

Cole's muscles tense up for a second as he ragdolls to the floor, not breathing They all disappear

Hinata wakes up to find herself tightly tied to a metal folding chair with thick ropes. The others including Luna, Cole, and Lochlan are aswell. The room aroud them is nearly pitch black with a few glow in the dark stars dangling around them all.

Hinata's eyes have their usual emerald glow return to them, she's extremely dizzy and weakened, her muscles feeling as though all of them experienced a charlie horse at the same time as she groans in pain... she looks around at the surroundings, darkness. She attempts to move, but she's not able to. "Wh-- what hapen.."

Cole jolts awake with a dazed expression as he takes a sharp inhale, he tries to move out of confusion but his movements are stopped by the ropes as he slowly looks around the room

Lochlan's head is still hanging forward as she doesn't move

Luna wakes up next, with her eyes rapidly flashing between scarlet, jade, amethyst, and landing on sapphire. She feels really sick to her stomach, and the soreness from her energy being drained hurts her more than the ropes binding her to the chair. "...wh--" She's extremely weakened.

Hinata can barely even stay awake, feeling exhausted from her energy being drained like that. She yawns and her head slumps.

Cole finally speaks as his voice crackles slightly, "Where....where are we..." Cole's eyes make a shutter noise as he blinks seemingly more aware

When speaking there's a hint of an echo (edited)

Luna is struggling to stay awake. "i... dontknowccole. its uncomfortable." Her voice sounds hollow and quiet. Even despite being awake, she's weakened heavily.

Hinata had fallen asleep.

Cole groans as he tries to figure out where they are based on GPS as he mutters, "Come on...come on"

The gps marks far out into the ocean. They head a door open as blinding light fills the room for a moment while someone steps in. The door closes putting them all in darkness again. Lochlan's ear twitches as she slowly raises her head up and blinks.

Luna looks over, the glow of her eyes clearly giving away her position.

Hinata is still asleep.

Cole looks over at the light as his eyes click as he mutters, "God damn it that doesn't help"

Steps head towards the group as Lochlan starts to look panicked she tries to move but can't. The person who entered grabs the back of the chair and begins dragging her in the direction of the door they came from. Lochlan suddenly begins pleading in pure fear as her voice becomes more shrill, "WAIT NO NO PLEASE Please I can't do this again- I'll do anything- just let me go- PLEASE." The door opens with another flash of light and closes as Lochlan's words become muffled and disappear. It becomes eerily quiet again.

"...well that sucked." Luna mutters, taking some deep breaths if only to stop herself from freaking out. Hinata jumps awake from the screaming. "What the hell was that??"

Cole's voice starts to pick up as his coolant pump audibly spins up, he tries getting his coordinates from the GPS and looking at what's closest to his postion

Its still fairly quiet as the glow in the dark stars dangling around them slowly spin from the movement in the air

Luna's looking up at the stars out of curiosity, trying to discern if they're in any formation, like a constellation.

Hinata's trying to mess with her restraints, looking for any exposed knots she could untie.

"If I had a dollar for every time I've been tied up somewhere, I'd have two dollars. It's not much, but it's crazy it's happened twice now." Hinata mutters.

Cole sighs as he tries to see if any radio frequencies are accessible that have some kind of activity

The knots on the ropes and tucked under the wrappings and on the backside of the chairs out of reach. The stars seem to have no particular arrangement. The radio frequencies pick up on a few music stations before finding something taht seems like police chatter but slightly off and with a weak signal

Luna sighs on finding nothing. Hinata groans on not being able to reach the knots.

Cole saves the frequency as he attempts to get an approximate distance from Wicket Woods to where they are

Hinata is struggling to find any ways to escape. Her weapons are gone. Luna is staying put and waiting for her energy to regenerate.

The silence is broken by a distant pained scream

Luna and Hinata's ears all flatten from the scream.

Luna looks scared, "What the fuck?"

Hinata is extremely concerned, "Was that Lochlan??"

Cole doesn't seem concerned with the scream as he transmits over the police frequency, "This is a civillian transmitting SOS aprox 48 miles from Wicket Woods, repeating this is a civillian transmitting S-O-S aprox 48 miles from Wicket Woods on any available frequencies"

After a while the screams die down as the door opens again with a flash of light and someone steps into the room, closing the door behind themselves

Luna's eyes widen, "Oh what now? Gods my arms are gonna be fuckin bruised after this."

Hinata looks over, "hey can you loosen my restrains please?"

Cole stops transmitting as he looks over at the door, "Aw fuck, who's it gonna be this time..."

A hand grabs the back of Hinata's chair as she's dragged towards the door

Hinata is struggling, she's slamming her head against the enemy and trying to deal whatever damage she can.

Luna feels powerless.

Cole shakes his head as he tries to identify the person before they leave the room again

With the little bit of light in the room, Luna is quickly trying to figure out what this room is.

Before his eyes can adjust the door opens again and theres a flood of light. Luna only barely makes out bare concrete walls of a fairly large room. With how well the rope is tied, Hinata can't harm them as she's dragged out the door. The door shuts again. 

Luna looks lost. She looks broken. And as if a dam broke, tears drain from her eyes.

She's dead silent and trying to not bring any attention to it.

Cole hangs his head as he continues to listen to the police frequency as best as he can

All he can make out is something about a parking spot being discussed

Cole's eyes lose what hope was left as his coolant pump slows down as he mutters, "Fight on and fly on to the last drop of blood and the last drop of fuel, to the last beat of the heart"

Luna is focusing herself, focusing on how everything has been going. And focusing on her anger. She is looking for any give in the ropes, anything she might be able to reach due to her shorter stature. Right now, her goal is to save her friends. Nothing more.

The radio frequency seems to dip in and out as the chatter calms down. All he hears is a faint mesh of numbers

"Cole if there's anything I can do to help, tell me. I got computers and stuff in my mind too."

Cole tries to pick out the numbers as hope starts to fill his eyes again, static clouding his voice "I'm working on getting us help, i just need you to stay strong right now"

Luna nods. "Understood. And I expect Hinata to be okay too."

The door opens with a flood of light and closes again. He walks towards them

"Kiss my ass dude." Luna spits at the ground.

Cole continues trying to pick out numbers, hoping they mean something

They grab the back of Cole's chair and begin to drag them to the door. For a moment he makes out a few random ones before the signal cuts out again.

"...well that sucks."

Cole looks back at Luna as he's dragged, "Stay strong, we'll get out of this i promise"

The door opens and hes dragged out before she can reply. The door closes

Luna still calls out to Cole, "I BELIEVE YOU!"

Luna is just humming to herself wishing she had her phone on her. Cuz then she has her Telepathic Music magic enabled.

The room is deafeningly quiet

"Meh, may as well get some sleep. Maybe I can get regenerated enough for psychic magic..." She attempts to sleep.

While asleep, she communicates with Alais to try and find a route out of here. Unfortunately, they can't find an escape route. For all intensive purposes, with how tight the binds are and how her magic is weakened, it's no use. There is no escape. (edited)

The door opens and closes as he grabs the back of Luna's chair.

Luna rolls her eyes. She then closes them to the bright lights. She gets dragged out the door.

[Removed]

Another door is swung open as they hear footsteps again though more evenly paced making their way down the hall towards them.

"What the hell? Did Mailman summon trash mobs??" Hinata is focused on everything except for her shoulder. Luna is still knocked out and unaware of anything.

Cole stays calm as he crosses his fingers, "Please don't tell me that's a cleanup squad"

Another set of steps follow them as they hear a door open. There's a few more steps as the door to Cole's room is opened next. He sees someone covered head to toe in dark colored gear as they lower their gun on seeing him. They gesture to someone down the hall before walking in and using a knife to cut the rope. Another one of them walks past and opens the door to Hinata's room.

Hinata is bleeding from the open wound in her shoulder and her ears flatten against her skull, "please don't hurt me. I'm defenseless."

Cole sighs in relief as he mutters, "Thank god"

Cole and Hinata are freed from their chairs as they hear another door open. When they hear a voice across the hall call out, "Clear." The others around them seem to be less careful with their steps and movements, making more noise.

Hinata walks out while growling at anything near her. She's thankful for the escape but right now, all of her attention is on the pain.

Cole steps out into the hallway and yanks the forceps out from under his kneecap as he mutters, "Helmet punctum"

She sees theres a few more of teh same people in uniforms in the hall. One of them gestures to a door while looking towards Hinata, "Up the stairs and straight ahead. We have an ambulance on it's way." She also sees Luna being carried out of the room and out the door in the direction they gestured.

Cole nods as he follows their instructions

Hinata keeps her gaze down worried she'd give the officer a loonism attack accidentally. She mutters, "thank you for saving us" before following their instructions.

Luna is extremely light weight, only around 70 lbs.

The person nearest to her nods in response. As they head out of the hall they make it up a set of stairs and through a door that leads straight into a dinner. It looks fairly well kept with obvious glass doors as an exit. No one is in the resturant at the moment except fpr two people in uniform discussing something.

Hinata walks through the diner highly confused about where they are. "What the fuck is this."

Cole continues out the glass doors as he remarks, "How did he get away with a diner as a front?! Did no one hear the screaming?!"

On stepping outside they see a few cars parked around the front of the building. Each seem to have been crudely painted to look like cop cars with lights attatched. Many of the suposed officers around the area seem a bit off as their uniforms don't seem as consistant as they should. It's dark out as the flashing red and blue lights continuously strobe the area. One of them seems to be in less tacktical gear as they carry a small suitcase and aproach Cole and Hinata. Luna is set down on the ground nearby.

Cole raises an eyebrow at the man with a suitcase, "I hope that's my belongings and not a subpoena"

Luna's eyes, which had been open this entire time, flash between scarlet, jade, amethyst, and sapphire before eventually landing on sapphire blue. The moment this happens, she takes a sharp inhale in and growls in pain from the cut in her arms, "fuuuuuuucking hell, what a dick. Wait.."

Hinata looks over and immediately goes next to Luna with a careful hug, mostly due to her own injuries. "Holy fuck Lu! We're safe.. I think."

The man who approaches appears to wear a thin mask over his face as he kneels down near Luna and sets the case down. He looks up and speaks to all of them in general, "Anyone actively bleeding I need to sit down until we can stop it." In the case is various medical supplies though each are from vastly different brands.

They suddenly see two other medics spriting past and into the dinner before rushing down the stairs.

Hinata looks at her shoulder and back to the medic. "Uhm... yes? He kinda tortured us down there."Luna has a cut on her arm."Wait where's Lochlan?" Luna asks. 

Cole has a cut under his knee cap and gestures to Hinata, "Maybe you should focus on her" Cole looks around and also notices the lack of Lochlan, "Where....where the fuck is Lochlan?!"

The man reassures them, "Just calm down. We are doing everything we can at the moment. But I need you to sit down sir." He starts giving Hinata medical attention to stop the bleeding and get the medical tools out with the least amount of pain he can.

Hinata isn't even focused on the pain and more on her friend. "With all due respect, we heard a lot of screaming down there from presumably her, so please understand if we're a bit scared."

Luna is dead silent and praying to the Gods for Lochlan's safety. This includes Cole. 

Cole sighs as he sits down, noting the mismatched medical tools

One of them that appears to be an officer walks up to them as the medic finishes up on Hinata's wound and begins work on Luna's. The officer holds a small notebook and pen as he speaks clearly, "Can I have everyone's full names?"

Hinata looks over at the officer with a pained sigh and tears threatening to spill, "fine. Hinata Aurora Solaire." Her voice is weak.

Luna shakes her head, "Luna Selene Nightshade." She then closes her eyes and naps on the spot.

Cole sighs, "Cole Ernesh Genesone"

The officer nods, "Thank you." He starts jotting things down as he continues, "Do any of you know what occurred today?" The medic finishes up on Luna nd begins to work on Cole's wound.

Hinata looks over at Cole.Luna is sleeping while waiting for her energy to regenerate.

Cole sighs and shakes his head, "I don't remember much honestly, other than being thrown down there and almost having my kneecap removed or something"

Hinata looks dismayed at Cole's feeble explanation, "wha."

The officer asks, "So no one knows who is doing this?" As he speaks an ambulance pulls up next to the building as they open the back doors. A few paramedics climb out and quickly drag a stretcher out and brings it into the dinner.

Hinata doesn't know what to do, but she explains, "...I mean we don't know his identity, if that makes sense. It's extremely hard to explain."

Cole shrugs, "I mean i saw him wearing all black but that's all i really know"

The officer continues, "Did he ever show his face?" After awhile the doors of the dinner open as the stretcher with someone on top is being carefully moved back to the ambulance.

"Negative." Hinata shakes her head. "Just the helmet."

Cole tries to see who's on the stretcher

As the stretcher turns he can recognize it's Lochlan, though she seems a bit pale. The officer nods, "Ok. Do any of you need a place to stay for the night?"

Cole doesn't look capable of teleporting or doing much of anything power related as he nods, "That uh...that would be nice"

Hinata nods. "Please. I can say for her she'd like that too." Hinata looks down while speaking.

The officer nods, "We have you guys covered." He steps to the side for a second as he speaks into his radio. The ambulence doors are closed as it speeds off out of sight while turning it's siren on.

"What city is this?" Hinata asks the officer after he finishes speaking.

Cole checks his jacket for his business cards

They aren't on him. The officer replies as he puts the radio down, "You are in Tout's Town. Does anyone know the full name of the female white mark fox?"

"Uhhh I know her first name is Lochlan, but past that... Cole?" Hinata looks over.

Cole shakes his head, "I don't know her full name unfortunately"

"I think she said her last name's Whim one time?" Hinata adds.

he nods, "Thank you." He steps aside as he speaks into the radio again. The medic finishes up as he speaks to them, "Anyone hurt anywhere else?"

"Not that I know of." Hinata manages to show a small smile towards the medic.

Cole shakes his head, "Nope"

The medic nods, "Ok. Good luck." He gets up and walks away to speak to someone else as the officer returns, "Last thing before we go get you a hotel room, do you all know eachother?"

Hinata nods. "Yeah we're all housemates and close friends."

Cole nods in agreement

The officer asks, "Does this include Lochlan?"

Luna wakes up a bit with a yawn. Hinata nods once more, "It does."

Cole nods in agreement again, "I hope she's alright"

The officer gestures to one of the cop cars, "If you all would come with me we will get you guys that hotel room and the number for the hospital she's going to."

Luna gets up and brushes herself off before following. "Thank you."

Hinata follows right behind.

Cole nods as he follows, getting his business speech ready

He opens the doors to the car with three seats in the back.

Hinata takes the window seat, Luna gets in the middle because she's the smallest.

They both buckle up just in case.

Cole doesn't buckle up as he mentions, "I noticed that you guys have some mismatched equipment, i run a weapons manufacturing company and i'm more then willing to make some kind of a deal to get you better equipment"

The officer closes the door for them and climbs into the drivers seat. "Tout's town has an issue with theft. I doubt you'd want to give more guns to the people who keep getting them taken from them." He begins driving down the road as some officers move out of his way.

Cole sighs, "I do more then just guns, vehicles, medical equipment, really whatever you'd really need"

Luna and Hinata are silent, just thankful to be away from their captivities. They let Cole cook.

The officer responds, "I know we're currently a little low on funding but I wouldn't doubt if we got our hands on more things like that we could finally make a difference in a town like this." As they drive away from the blinding police lights they see a fairly small and run down towan around them. Neon lights line random buildings and the downtown seems filled with various bars and pubs.

"Whoa, I could really use a stiff drink." Hinata mutters before realizing she has no money.

"Interesting town," Luna smiles.

Cole shrugs, "When i get my stuff back, i can give you one of my cards and we could possibly strike a deal"

The officer slowly stops in a parkinglot infront of a hotel, "Sounds like an idea." He gets out of the car and opens the door for them.

Luna and Hinata get out and immediately hide their faces in their hoodies, hoping that no nonferal accidentally gets hit with loonism.

Cole pulls his hood up and then steps out as he keeps his head down

There's a police car already parked outside as He walks up to the front doors and holds them open. They head inside

The hotel seems rather average as you could expect being chosen on a whim. One officer is at the desk discussing payments as he holds out the keys to the other officer. The officer leading them takes the keys and holds them out to them, "This will be your room key for tonight. We booked it for one night and will be in the lobby incase anything is to happen while we look for the suspect. He brings out his cell phone and stares at the screen a moment, "And we have the number for getting in conact with Lochlan if you would like."

He holds out the phpne to let them see the number

Luna and Hinata search their pockets for their phone. Realizing Mailman took their stuff, Luna mentions, "Officer, the guy took our stuff from us. We don't have our phones."

The officer sighs and pulls up the radio to ask a few questions. He stands there a moment as he listens. "Ok they found you guy's belongings. They will be bringing it to your room shortly. If you all want to call using the phone in the room you can still use the number." (edited)

Luna nods, "Thank you." Hinata looks around the lobby for pads of paper and pens. (edited)

Cole's eyes emit a shutter noise as he takes a picure of the phone number, "I'll make sure i keep that number in mind"

The officer writes down the number and hands it to them, "You all need anything else just let us know."

Luna and Hinata both say at the same time, "Thank you." It's like an echo. They then look at each other and sigh at the same time.

Cole holds in a snicker, "Right, i think we should be heading to our room for now"

The officer nods and heads to one of the seats in the lobby, "Take care."

"Well, a visual change of pace is always good." Luna sighs before heading towards their shared room. Hinata follows.

Cole follows behind with some urgency

They all make it to the room safely. There's two large beds, a bathroom, a closet, and a small balcony up on the second floor. It's a faily simple yellow brown and beige design that's atleast clean. An old dark phone rests on the one nightstand between the two beds.

Hinata tilts her head, "at least it's clean. Not exactly the prettiest design." Hinata goes to sit on the bed to test how soft it is.

Luna goes to turn the TV on, if one of those is in this room. She needs visual stimulation.

Cole power walks over to the phone and starts dialing the number

The phone begins a tone as the TV turns to a genaric news channel reporting on missing people in the area.

"Wait, missing people?" Luna watches the TV and turns it up just a little bit while Cole's on the phone. She sits next to Hinata, who is also watching the news.

Cole dials the number as fast as he can while tapping his foot impatiently

Someone answers the phone, "Mathews Oak Hospital can I help you?"

The TV reporter continues describing people still going missing around full moons and reports of hearing screams before their disapearances.

"Full moons..." Luna groans, "Why is it always the full moons?"

Hinata replies, "It's like a universal constant. Ours included."

Cole responds, "Hi, i'm Cole Genesone calling about Lochlan"

The lady on the phone responds, "Lochlan is in room 901 she will be ok. You're free to visit her at any time or call her room when she's awake. She is currently not awake at the moment." The TV reporter then begins talking about the weather in the area.

Cole nods, "Thank you, have a nice night" Cole then hangs up and sighs

hinata looks to cole, "is she gonna be ok?"

Cole nods, "Should be fine, she's just sleeping right now" Cole looks for a room service menu

He finds one that lists various italian foods and even alcholic beverages... it seems theres an entire second menue just for the beverages. Perhaps the town has a favorite pass time.

Cole grabs the menu as he asks Hinata, "You want anything to eat?"

Hinata shrugs and sighs, "We don't have money though. I doubt they'll take my creator's credit card."

Theres a knock on the door

Luna is changing the channel on the TV, looking for something else to watch. News are boring.

Cole jumps slightly and stares at the door

"Uhhhhhh 1 2 3 not it!" Hinata says. Luna also says "not it."

Cole sighs and puts the menu down as he mentions, "I have money to pay for it" Cole answers the door

"Wait how? Did you get a job here?" Hinata tilts her head in confusion.

"Wasn't that our thing?" Luna shakes her head, "he stole our thing!"

Sitting infront of the door are a few cardboard boxes with all of their belongings. Yes all Even illegal stuff.

Cole grabs pulls the boxes into the room and closes the door as he grumbles, "Our stuff is here" Cole turns to the two, "I have my ways of making income"

Luna shrugs before noticing her sheath with her beloved Dueling Broadsword is in the box. "Yoooo my favorite weapon, beloved." Luna grabs that and brings it back to the bed.

Hinata grabs hers and Luna's phone and her cherry blossom katana and brings them back.

The tv is now showing old adds

"Did you just find the old reruns channel Lu?" Hinata is watching with interest, curious if these are human commercials or nonferal commercials. Luna is busy on her phone catching up with her AIs and tweets.It all seems nonferal

"Huh. Wait so what are loons supposed to watch? Nonferal tv?" Hinata is scrolling through the channels for anything loon related, implying that exists.

Cole grabs his various weapons and business cards from the box and sits down on the other bed then idly watches the tv 

Luna exhales heavily while reading over everything. "Great. My memories on what happened are all fragmented."

The tv continues 

"Cole? I think we should go check on Lochlan." Luna turns her head and asks.

Cole nods, "Yeah, couldn't hurt"

Luna and Hinata place their respective swords into their messenger bags and get up.

The group takes a ride in the cops car to reach the hospital. They make it to Lochlan's room and open the door. The room is fairly simple with white and gray walls. A nurse stands by a blue curtain as she writes a few things down on a clipboard before politely moving past them to leave the room.

Cole heads into the room with nervousness, hoping she's not dead or in a coma

Luna and Hinata are both taking deep breaths on entering the room, scared for Lochlan's health.

The nurse closes the door behind herself. They walk further into the room and see past the blue curtain. Lochlan is laying in a bed with blankets over most of her. One leg is uncovered with several bandages and there's large wrappings around the left side of her head that are stained red. Her eyes are closed but she's still breathing. 

Cole exhales in relief that she's alive, "Oh thank god"

Luna's eyes widen on seeing Lochlan's injuries. She doesn't have words to express how she feels, so she stays completely silent.

Hinata has a sad smile on her face, "I'm just glad she's okay."

Her eyes suddenly pop open as she hears them. She quickly tries to sit up but can only partly do so without stopping. Her voice sounds a bit shakey, "Finally you guys a- owww."

Cole winces slightly as he sees her in pain, "Don't get too excitied, i don't want you getting hurt more"

Hinata's tail wags on seeing Lochlan's eyes open, "We're not going anywhere Lochlan."

Luna smiles towards them, "glad you're alive still, my friend." She then turns her face to the side to let some tears out.

Lochlan sinks back down as her voice ia still filled with fear, "What even is this place? Where were you guys? I tried to play dead because I didn't recognize anyone and they thought I was sleeping and I was scared- do they work for Mailman???... and what is that thing that keeps beeping at me?!?" Lochlan looks over at a heart rate monitor beside her that is steadily rising in speed as she talks.

Cole sighs and shakes his head as he speaks with a small smile, "You're in a hospital and the people here are trying to help you, and that beeping is a heart rate moniter"

Luna continues, "we were rescued by the police here. They took us to a hotel while we recovered our energy. They don't work for Mailman."

The heart rate slowly calms down as does her voice, "I uh. I'm sorry you had to d- " lochlan pauses as she winces, "To deal with that. I really didn't think he was going to put it out on all of you aswell..."

Luna shrugs with a slight smile, "It's okay Lochlan. We promised we would help you with this, and our deal stands."

Hinata nods in agreement before wincing from her shoulder injury, "You're god damn right." 

Cole waves his hand dismissively, "It's fine, no one's dead and MailMan hopefully learned an important lesson"

"I doubt that." Lochlan goes to move again, assumably to turn and sit up but stops and grits her teeth in pain, "-funk. Why does it hurt so much more this time???" 

Luna looks concerned and looks to Cole. "Wha-- Where are you feeling pain at? Any specific location?"

"Seriously? Do you not see the bandages Lu?" Hinata shakes her head, hoping it's exactly that.

Lochlan answers, "On the bandages."

Cole sighs, "Just don't move, i'd rather you not reopening your wounds"

Lochlan looks confused, "What do you mean reopening wounds?"

"If you move too much, the work the doctors did to fix you might open up again. It's better you just take it easy." Luna nods.Hinata nods.

Cole nods in agreement, "Just calm down and stop trying to move so much"

Lochlan sighs and stays put, "I've never had to do that the other times this happened. And some of those where much worse." She nods towards her arm without much thought and winces as the banaged part of her head rolls onto the pillow by mistake.

Hinata looks worried, "Considering the tools Mailman had to use, I can imagine this was a lot worse than the previous times. Why? Uh..." Hinata trails off, unsure if finishing her statement is wise.Luna is sitting in one of the chairs in the room. She's struggling to keep her cool.

Cole sighs and leans against a wall, "i'm honestly just glad those police showed up when they did"

"How did they even know where we were?" Luna asks

Lochlan looks over at Cole

Cole taps his head, "I'm a radio, it's as simple as transmitting SOS on any available frequencies and just so happenly alerting nearby police" Cole grins

"You're a genius Cole." Luna smiles towards him. "Seriously though, thank you for saving us." Hinata smiles and nods. 

"Thank you." Lochlan nods. She's looking more and more tired.

"You should take a nap Lochlan. We're not going anywhere. Sleeping helps with healing." Luna smiles gently.Hinata is looking through her phone but she nods.

Cole nods in agreement, "Sleep is good, sleep is great"

"That does sound nice." Lochlan's eyelid half close as she looks ahead at the ceiling.

Luna falls asleep in her chair, finding it comfortable enough.

Hinata shakes her head with a smile. She then pulls up another chair and sits next to her, holding her hand. She falls asleep shortly after.

Cole starts to drift off to sleep while standing up, he seems oddly comfortable

Lochlan falls asleep aswell

In the morning the sunlight is going through the window and white curtains, brightening up the room. Lochlan is still asleep. 

Luna is still snoozing away. Seems the past few days have been exhausting for her. Hinata, on the other hand, welcomes the sun and wakes up. "Ughhhh and here I thought all of that was a dream." Hinata grumbles.

Cole blinks himself awake as he groans, "Of course it isn't..."

Lochlan is still asleep

Hinata looks over at Lochlan and breathes a hopeful sigh, "I'm just glad she's okay. Hopefully she can recover from this well enough so we can get back home." 

Luna wakes up from a shockingly okay night of sleep. Who knew hospital chairs were so comfortable? "Good morning. Uh should we head back? Cole? I feel recharged enough to handle the teleport."

Cole nods, "We should"

"Okay." Luna takes a deep breath and focuses her energy on the four. On locking onto everyone, Luna, Hinata, Cole, and Lochlan all disappear. 

Viper has been watching the house while they were gone, she's currently sitting on the couch on her phone

Luna, Hinata, Cole, and Lochlan all reappear in their usual spots. I.E. Luna and Hinata are sitting on the floor, Cole is somewhere near the hallway, and specifically Lochlan is on the couch. A small popping sound is heard by Viper as well as a small flash of blue light. 

Cole blinks a little bit, Viper jumps slightly at hearing the pop and looks up from her phone

Luna seems dazed a little bit, "hoo kay, I might not be at 100 percent then."

Hinata has a wrapped injury on her shoulder. On appearing on the floor, she groans and holds her shoulder.

Hinata lightheartedly says, "Fuckin hell Lu, couldn't you have found a softer landing?" She shakes her head with a smile.

"Sorry!"

Viper puts her phone in her pocket as she grins, "Well i see everyone isn't dead" Cole folds his arms as he stares into the bottom right of his eye

"I will say getting hit with two EMP blasts in the matter of hours was not on my 2024 bingo card. Or any of them honestly." Luna is typing something on her laptop, it was under the couch. "Lemme just update that."

Hinata shakes her head, "man fuck Mailman."

Lochlan remains asleep with bandages

Cole looks up and gives a small smile, "First time?" Viper shakes her head, "That's not a good thing, Cole"

"First time for everything, I suppose." Luna sighs and takes the bandage off of her arm. There's a scar where Mailman stuck scissors in. Just another for the old collection.

"Hey viper. I would give you a hug right now but my shoulder does not like being touched. Or moved. Of course he picks my sword swinging shoulder." Hinata shakes her head and grimaces from the pain.

Lochlan grumbles as she partly opens her eyes and looks over ta the room.

Viper nods, "Understandable" Viper then looks over at Lochlan and grimaces slightly, "Christ, someone got thrown threw a woodchipper"

"I still don't understand how it happened. Presumably it was Mailman who did it, but compared to our damage, hers is way worse." Hinata looks confused.

"And I don't even remember what happened. Apparently I lost memory of it." Luna looks worried.

Lochlan comments though her voice is still gravelly from just waking up, "I finally broke up with that freak."

Viper looks shocked as she looks between everyone, "This....this was over a breakup?!?!"

Luna nods while typing, "as far as I know, that's correct. Oh and he has Joshua's ray gun emp thing now. So it's probably half breakup, half wanting to be a right cunt. And probably half revenge for getting told on."

"Mans deserved it. He just about shattered my arm too." Hinata sighs and slumps next to Luna while watching her type.

Viper shakes her head, "Christ, you guys really have gotten yourselves into some deep shit haven't you?"

Lochlan shifts some with a wince to get more comfortable

Luna sighs in defeat, "chaos definitely follows our group, that's for sure. No matter what we do, people wanna start shit. If it's not the moon being stupid, it's one of our families being twats. Or a nonferal starting shit. And so on."

Hinata is silent while reading the laptop. She then turns around to face Lochlan. "You're gonna have to be on bedrest for a while okay? You're still injured."

Lochlan huffs, "For how long?"

"Maybe a day or two? Just take it easy while your wounds heal up." Hinata smiles gently.

Lochlan groans, "I didn't have to do that when I lost a whole leg. This is Bs."

Nightmare Luna — Yesterday at 2:50 PM

Luna looks confused while looking over at Lochlan, "no you're right, and that's where I'm confused about all of this. Considering how Mailman barely did anything to us, relatively anyway, it doesn't make sense. Our lives were in his hands, and yet the worst we got was a tool stuck in us."

"And a second EMP on you for standing up to him. That was cool." Hinata grins

"Yeah. 'Cool'." Luna exhales heavily. "Just wish i could remember." (edited)

Cole shakes his head, "I'm honestly just glad that the police showed up when they did"

Lochlan sighs, "They must have interrupted him then. May have had alot worse planned for everyone."

"Indeed." Luna closes her eyes in thought.

"All I know is I didn't like his vibes when we first met, and it only went downhill from there. Plus he's impervious to damage, so that just sucks even more. And he called me a cheater."

Spider walks into the room, one ear perked up "what's that about police?"

"Spider, how the hell did you sleep through all of that?" Luna looks super confused.

Hinata has a shoulder injury wrapped in bandages, "Uhhhh we had a really bad time with Mailman and we just got home from it all."

Lochlan has drifted off to sleep again