Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once her hand was in his grasp Suto closed his long fingers around it. Her hands were so small, so delicate, it would be interesting to see what misery they could bring. Smile still fixed on his face Suto drew her closer as he opened the door wide. They would head to the main lab first. Some tests were in order. Then possibly a demonstration of her power. He wanted to know the capabilities, its weaknesses, its limits but he need to take careful measures now. If the girl lost control his pretty little toy might destroy herself.

"Follow me and mind you, it may be best if you keep your eyes forward." It was only a soft warning. Either way he could care less if she saw the hopeless souls locked away in their little rooms, nothing awaiting them but death but death would never come. Not when they finally wished it to. "This way." He led her down the hall, his eyes focused ahead. Long ago he lost interest in seeing the decay of the mind, he liked to watch the beginning of the end. Where madness begun and nothing was left but a lifeless shell.

Riyo followed him closely, staring down at the hand that was grasped around hers for the most part. At his warning, she found it harder to keep doing so. Only once did she glance to the side out of curiosity, but quickly found that his advice had not been given for poor reasons.

This man... She wondered what had led him down this path. Everybody started out as an innocent child knowing no more of the world than what their instincts told them. What had happened to Suto to make him spend his days like this? Had it been family? People in general? An outside influence?

She could begin to see where he might get his kicks studying people... With all the potential there is.

If he had been healthier, the thief probably would have hit his mark. It wasn't quite the case here and the next thing he knew was that he was on the ground, pinned. Letting out a shout, he painfully writhed under the pressure. Aside from being held down like that, it did not feel good by any means to be laying on his front where all of his wounds were.

"D-dammit..." he winced as he weakly struggled. With the way he was, he was having quite a hard time breathing once more, sapping his strength rather effectively. Before too long he settled down, painfully gasping for air. He was still conscious, just too weak to keep fighting off the bigger man.

So much for that plan... he thought rather bitterly.

Suto paused for a moment in his search as he turned toward Riyo. She seemed to be staring off somewhere and as his eyes followed her gaze they fell on the rabbit cage. Flopsy always did like attention. "I see that you have spotted Flopsy." Moving away from the desk Suto approached the cage. Opening the door he pulled out the rabbit that had died long ago and was now in a permanent position of cleaning its face. The eyes were only empty sockets, hollow and void, large chunks of fur were missing exposing the skeleton underneath, and it appeared as if one of the ears had under gone some extensive reattachment. "She is a rascally little devil." Walking back toward Riyo, Suto placed the rabbit on the corner of the desk next to her. He patted the frail taxidermy on the head before continuing his search. "You may pet her if you wish but be careful. She likes to bite strangers." It didn't seem like he was joking, at least his smile was no more mischievous than usual. There was no laughter before calling out the prank. He merely continued to shuffle about papers and opening drawers.

------

Keeping a firm grip on the boy the tech drew the needle from his arm. Once it was free he threw it to the floor. He examined the area for a moment though his concern was minimal. "That did hurt just a bit." The tech complained. Keeping a firm hold of Blade's arm the tech grabbed the top of his jacket with the other. With surprising strength the man hauled Blade to his feet. "Well, come along them.......where are we going?" He looked back to see the other tech still hiding behind the table. "Oh come on, you're embarrassing me."

"C..c...c-5. Suto wanted him taken to C-5." The tech stuttered still not moving from his 'protective' barrier.

"Oh, the ice box. You must have pissed off the old man." The tech smiled pushing Blade's arm further into his back. "Well, let's get going then."

Riyo's eyes widened ever-so-slightly as he placed the... rabbit... Next to her on the desk. It was obviously dead, but she felt the need to watch it carefully for movements.

When the rabbit made no moves, she leaned in closer, looking into it's sockets. It didn't smell heavily of death as you might expect a very dead bunny to, but she wasn't about to touch it. Not if it really did bite like he said it did. She didn't see how it could, but with that other strange object that sat on his desk, gullible was written on her forehead. She didn't know whether undeath was possible, though she hoped it wasn't.

It was beginning to look like Riyo was having a staring contest with the ironically eyeless Flopsy, because her line of sight did not venture anymore.

Figures a place like this would have an arena. Though, without much warning, he was turned about after the announcement was made. Wincing, he had little choice but to go along with wherever the big guy was ushering him. Quite frankly, he was glad that the trip to the so called ice box was being delayed. Though, as for going to the arena, he had some mixed feelings.

He was rather curious as to what was going on there, but most likely the doctor was going to be getting a kick out of seeing some poor sap get demolished... if things are to be a blood bath as the big tech mentioned.

"Watch who you're calling a monster," he muttered to the weasel as he passed by, "As far as I know... the only monster around is your boss..."

Within minutes the stage was set, Suto walked into the main area of the arena, guiding Riyo along. "This is where your performance will take place." He all but showcased the room as he turned her to have a look around. The entire room was made of metal and thick glass panels were set in the wall so that one could see the hallways that were set on all sides. It also gave an excellent view to those who were watching in safety. "Now, for this test you will not need this." Suto reached up and with the key he still held unlocked the collar about her neck. Pulling it away gently he put it in his pocket out of sight.

"The bracelets that you wear are not simple jewelry." He explained. "In a pinch they can do the same thing as the collar but only when I say so." He pulled a small remote from his other pocket to show her. On this tiny black box there were a series of buttons but he quickly put it away before it could really be studied. It was too bad he hadn't put these on Mitsu, otherwise she would still be here. "Other wise, they are a simple tool to read your vitals. They tell me if you are in distress, how much energy you are using, the calories you burn, and so on. The smallest detail can sometimes reveal the most." Resting a hand on her shoulder he leaned down slightly to look her square in the face. "We have only just met but I feel that we know a lot of one another. Show me your potential, Riyo. Don't hold back. I want to see that beautiful color we spoke of."

With a simple pat on the head Suto left her in the middle of the arena. He walked to one of only three doors and entered the hallway locking the door behind himself. There were already lab techs standing at the windows peering in at the girl. Suto paid them little mind as he spoke into another intercom.

"Let's begin."

On the opposite side of where Suto had left the door flew open and in came a creature that could no longer be identified as one thing or another. It appeared to have fur and yet in places it had scales or plates? Its eyes were oddly mismatched in color and shape and its mouth was a mess of long pointy teeth. In frustration of being manhandled it howled slamming itself against the already closed door. Anger was evident as it slammed into the door again before turning its gaze out into the room. It only took a moment for its eyes to settle on Riyo. The only thing that flashed through its mind was kill.

---

Through the hallways the techs went until they could hear the faint murmur of noise. "Hey, I think its starting." The larger tech forced Blade to move faster as they entered a narrow hallway with large glass panels set into the wall. Instead of there being multiple small rooms with reach panel there was one large room beyond them and a girl in the mist of the arena. "Oh, he got a looker."

Charged with keeping up the smaller tech wheezed as they came to a stop. "I...I really don't *wheeze* think we should be here."

"Like I said, we'll take him back when its over." The larger tech looked the girl over. "She is a sweet little thing. What I could do in five minutes with that. Am I right?" He nudged Blade a bit as he laughed, apparently pleased with his sick joke.