Welcome to Gaia! ::

Making his way through the halls, Blade tried to think through everything he knew of this place to piece things together. Earlier he had some trouble doing this due to being literally prodded around, dragged and tossed from area to area. But now his mind had a little more clarity to it and he didn't have as many distractions as he navigated around.

However, he paused and glanced up as he heard footsteps up ahead. Immediately his eyes narrowed as the sight of Suto and some other tech were coming down. Frowning at this, he continued on trying to be discrete... something that was a little harder to do in a bare hallway than in a crowd of people at a market.

He didn't expect the scientist to appear in the same hall as he, but perhaps he could get by without a fuss. As much as he'd like to get a sucker punch on the guy, he wasn't really in the condition to be brawling. Not to mention he had something more important to do at the moment.

When Suto and the tech passed him up, he didn't look back at them. Blade wasn't sure if he wasn't really noticed or if the man didn't care, but it didn't matter. He was free to continue on. The thief just kept his ears sharp for anything sudden from behind in case the doctor decided to double back or anything along those lines.

He went through the halls, peeking into the rooms he came by to see which one might host his friend. Every now and then he was forced to pause to collect himself as all the walking was fairly taxing, even with the wall to help support him. A few times he nearly collapsed too.

It didn't help that he ran into one other tech who offered to help bring him to the infirmary, but he declined as he put on the scared tech facade once more, stating that he was worried the boss would literally have his head if he didn't hurry with his current task. That seemed to work well enough, with some disgust on Blade's part. It was almost too easy to act like one of the frightened workers here... at any prison it would probably be a little over the top.

Another tech was a little more skeptical, but the thief reminded him that Suto would likely be very displeased should he be cut off from his duties. That seemed to make the guy back off to continue on with whatever he was doing.

At some point, he thought he found Riyo, as he peered in to find a blond laying in a bed. The room was dark so he couldn't see all the features, but he went on in anyway. To his surprise, it was a starved male vampire who tried to jump him as he approached. Luckily for Blade, the patient was in a weaker state than he and his attack failed. That didn't stop the vampire from nearly getting what he wanted, leaving a small line of red at the side of his throat where the fangs grazed him. As quickly as his body would permit, he exited the room... but left the door unlocked purposely. With any luck, the vampire would get some strength to get up and possibly cause some havoc in the lab for him.

Aside from the bloodsucker, he saw a number of things as he peered into room after room. Each one was a disturbing sight to see in its own way. This place was filled with tormented souls and victims, whether they were the patients or the workers. Quite frankly, it made the prisons he had been to seem like paradise. And all this for what? Knowledge as Mitsu had told them?

Shaking his head, he winced as his wound gave a twinge of pain. Clutching at it, he gritted his teeth and peeked into another room. It was another blonde in black, though this time he was fairly certain he had found her. Unlocking the door, he slowly opened in, just in case he was wrong. He said nothing yet, as a few of the drones were walking down the hall, so he entered as nonchalantly as he could as if he was just going in to take care of some business.

"Riyo?"

Blade was a little taken back at the question as he closed the door behind him. She wasn't facing him either, so he had to wonder if something happened between now and when they were in the arena. Not replying right away, he looked at her wrists, spotting the bandages that were there. Recalling the smoke he saw earlier when her magic was cut off, he could only imagine the extent of the damage that was beneath the wraps.

"To break us out," he stated simply as he took off the broken glasses and tied his hair back to its usual ponytail, "Are... you alright?"

Again, he was taken back by her response as he hadn't exactly expected hostility here. With a sigh, he leaned against the wall and shook his head.

"Who said I thought you were a helpless princess? Regardless whether you're you, Mitsu, Atticus, Neko, or hell, even Tobi, I would have come. It doesn't matter if you're some invincible being.. I would have come," he replied calmly. He didn't know what had gotten into her, but he was still determined with his little mission here, "Why? Because that's how I am. You're one of the few friends I have in this world and I'm not about to give that up so easily. Besides, it doesn't matter how strong you are... it'll be easier for the both of us if we work together. Now, can you walk?"

Frowning, Blade crossed his arms, wincing slightly in the process. Shaking his head, he took in a deep breath and tried to figure out what he should say here.

"Well I'm not leaving without you. I mean, sure it might be all fun and games right now fighting whatever they throw at you, but sooner or later that guy is going to pull you out. Then what? Then you become one of the experiments around here? You become the 'victim' in the arena for the next interesting person he finds? I'm not letting you stay with that creep of a doctor... I mean.. this is the guy who's very name scares the crap out of Mitsu. Who knows what the hell he's going to do to you? He's already injected me with some weird thing for his own sick pleasure."

Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at the door momentarily before looking back at Riyo, "Is this what you really want? To be alone in this hellhole away from the people you belong with? If that's really the case, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but I promised Mitsu that should something like this happen to any of us, I'd do everything I can to bring them back. And I'll be dead before that promise is broken; so if that means dragging you out of here and getting killed in the process, so be it. This has nothing to do with being a hero; I've never been one and I never will. This is about being a friend. Regardless what you are... you're one of us.."

Pausing, he pushed himself away from the wall to try and look her into her eyes before continuing softly, "Riyo. Everyone has a dark side. Some people restrain it, others let it go. A life here may as well be death; they choose when you eat, when you drink, when you 'play'. Don't deny us because you're afraid of some 'what if'. Maybe that power you have will get us into trouble, or maybe it'll save our asses. At least out there it'll be your choice."

Stepping back, he went and sat against the wall, "But if you're so set on staying, looks like my own time here will be prolonged."

Raising an eyebrow as Riyo stood up, he wondered if she was going to try and throw or kick him out of there, though he noticed she was having a little trouble moving about. It seemed that her arms were messed up more than he though, seeing how it appeared she had trouble moving them.

Quite frankly, Blade felt relieved when she gave in. He was not looking forward to staying here for who knew how long. There was little doubt in his mind that Suto was not done experimenting with him. He never did get to see the results of that injection... Shuddering at that thought, the thief hoped there wouldn't be some horrendous side effect from that thing that hadn't surfaced yet. Who knew, maybe it wasn't really working and had worn off by now too. It was a little hard to tell when there weren't any holy objects in the vicinity... not that he really wanted to test it out.

Nodding silently to her, he pushed himself to his feet, cringing in the process. He paused for a moment, throwing the glasses back on. It was a pretty shoddy disguise, he knew, but it had worked so far. He could try acting like he was transporting her to some other place.

"How badly injured are your arms?" he asked her as he opened the door. The thief peeked out momentarily to see if anyone was around.

There was no sign of the mad scientist but lab techs were plentiful. Every few minutes one would appear in the hall only to enter a room. They would emerge a short time later, their arms full of papers or lab equipment. This went on for a short while and then all was quiet again. Apparently everyone was back at work.

It was when silence filled the hallway that a sound was fully audible. Something like the clack and clatter of hooves on concrete, but instead of four there were only two. The noise got closer, more pronounced, before a bull's head came into view. The creature looked to stand at around seven feet and as he came around the corner the sound of only a single pair of hooves made sense. This creature was a minotaur, part man part bull. It gave a snort as it moved down the hall, its vision seemingly focused on Riyo's door.

Oh boy. This was going to be fun. Why the hell was there a minotaur walking down the hall? Did he work here too or something?

Riyo maneuvered her arms behind her, to give off the impression that she was under control. She rolled her eyes as Blade played the role of her captor. Like the coat, it really didn't suite him. Though, now that she thought about it, she sort of was his prisoner, considering what had just happened in that room.