Tifa & Yuffie

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

((well lets do the one where they run into Oliver again, so how we gonna do this? I believe you were in control of Jackalman so if you want them you're welcome to them but I'll take them if you don't ))

[Tifa Lockhart]

((Maybe it'd be easier if you moved things along, coz I don't know where to start.))

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

((screw the oliver one! we thought of something BETTER, Oliver can wait! >C also, the parts we'd roleplayed just previously are probably the BEST setup for this EVER!))

After a while of attempted casual chatter with Chaud on subjects he could easily indulge in -that being the exorbitant numbers of classic and antique books he had amassed in his library- Saito announced that he had to go, since he had something he needed to work on back at Sci-lab with Mr. Famus. Offering Chaud his best wishes and insisting on giving him a hug in hopes that he might feel a bit better, the boy left Chaud and his twin to do something together.

So soon enough Saito arrived at Sci-Lab, hopping off of his over board and skillfully flipping the board up so that he could grab it as he landed on the sidewalk, evidence that he had already been practicing. He pressed the button that folded the board into its compacted form so it was easier to carry and then made his way inside, immediately accosted with greetings from the staff in the lobby, who by now knew him personally. He then made his way up to the research levels in the south wing, as he had been told by the one who had called him, Mr. Famus. He found his way to the laboratory, greeting the scientist in question politely with a slight bow. Famus was among the few that Saito didn't call by title, and that was purely because Mr. Famus didn't like being called Mr.
After beginning work on their project, Saito was tasked on monitoring the data collection and recording in the computer systems during the tests, a job he quite enjoyed as it kept him very busy. During the third test, Famus noted that one of the components for the testing apparatus had fried and was giving off that tell-tale electric-smoke smell. Sai immediately offered to go to the components cataloging room to find a replacement part, since his role was basically inactive until the equipment was working again, but Famus insisted that he would do it, and that Saito should continue to monitor the rest of the equipment until he returned. So Famus made his way down the hallway to the section in question and began searching amongst the shelves for the component they needed. It seemed Saito was doomed to danger that day, as while he remained unfortunately unaware, alone in the laboratory that he and Famus had been working in, a swarm of Dark Beast viruses broke into the mainframe of Sci-lab, infecting and corrupting the systems quickly. The alarms went blaring throughout sci-lab, alerting everyone in the complex to the intrusion, but not before the Dark Beasts had successfully achieved what they had been sent to do. One of the computers in the southern wing exploded under the pressure the Dark Beasts' presence, erupting in a huge, furious blaze that quickly consumed the computers next to it, these too erupting into huge fireballs. The computer was one of the logging computers in the room Saito was in and the blast blew into the computer next door with the ease that only such a force of nature could achieve. The shelves and equipment nearest the explosion collapsed down on themselves and their nearest neighbours, though luckily Saito wasn't near to the wall that had burst open, but security very quickly did just as it was programmed to do and locked down the labs and rooms, bolting down the door to try and contain the blaze. The heat was already growing yet more intense, the blaze spreading and consuming the items that had been thrown from their shelves and the computers, the massive monitors and hard-drives also exploding under the heat. The fire began to spread throughout the room very quickly, and Saito wisely ducked behind one of the benches, to try and stay out of the Blaze. He didn't bother with the door, knowing it would already be locked down and the heat would have fried the lock circuits by now, so there was no way he could manually override the locking system. The computers had all shut down under the heat of the blaze, there was no escaping into the cyber realm. He was trapped in the Lab with the fire, and the best chance he had was to stay down and hope the fire burned itself out before he succumbed to the heat or smoke.

In the security Labs the techs were working overtime trying to locate the fire. The didn't have to wait long before Famus called them from the room he was in, through the logging terminal there. He said that he could smell the smoke from the vent shafts and told them the fire must be in the south wing. He said nothing, but he was concerned for Saito's safety...if the fire was in the Lab, he was on his own and without any way out and he was far too important to risk losing him, for more than a few reasons. It wasn't long before the South wing was completely evacuated, and all the scientists and volunteers in the section were gathered in the lobby, being asked all number of questions as to whether they had an idea of what had happened and their presence noted down to make sure all were accounted for. Yuichiro had rushed to the lobby once he had heard, fearful that he mightn't find his son, knowing he'd been with Famus at the time. To his dismay, the boy was nowhere. The security crews immediately began a number of attempts to regain control of the room, to try and unlock the door, but it was registering as offline, an indication that the lock was broken and that meant there was no way out. Yuichiro knew he had to do something...but what?

Saito was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand if he stood up he'd likely suffocate through smoke, and on the other hand the fire was spreading throughout the lab and the heat was becoming unbearable. He was beginning to feel short of breath and he knew that if he passed out from the heat or smoke, he would be done for. But what could he do when the doors were broken and there was no way to quell the blaze? There was only one thing he had with him that could help him; he yanked his PDA from his pocket and sent an SOS to the first number in his contacts list. 'Blues! Security was breached. fire spreading in lab. I'm trapped, door is fried. Please send help!' he only hoped that the heat wouldn't interfere too badly with reception and that the message would reach Blues. He'd know what to do, and it was the only chance he had unless the fire burned itself out. But that wasn't looking likely.

((goddamn why is this so fun? ))

[Tifa Lockhart]

Back at the Blaze mansion, Chaud glanced down at his pocket as his PET blipped. He reached down, pulling the black and red device out of his pocket to look down at the screen.
"Message from Saito Hikari's PDA, Chaud Sir," Protoman immediately explained, pulling the message up for Chaud to read.
The young Tycoon's eyes widened as he read the desperate plea for help, and he heard Protoman give a strangled vocalisation of alarm.
"Protoman, you go ahead and see if you can help the scientists. Lan and I will make our way to the lab."
The navi nodded, immediately disappearing from the PET to head straight for scilab. In the meantime, Chaud turned straight to Lan.
"There was an accident at Scilab, your brother is trapped and there's a spreading fire," he explained, hurriedly transferring himself into his wheelchair. "We'll head there right away."

Protoman's appearance in Saito's PDA was almost instantaneous. His dark visor hid the true extent of his terror, but his voice could not conceal it.
"Saito! Can you hear me!?" he called out over the roar of the inferno.

Across the city, a pair of blue eyes turned to the horizon, narrowing as they spied the plume of black smoke that was rising into the crisp cloudless sky. He reached down to activate the radio communicator on his arm, immediately tuning it to the emergency frequencies. He'd worked out how to do that recently, it helped him find out where he needed to be the lend a hand to the cities authorities.
"Fire Crews report immediately to Scilab!" a voice demanded over the radio. "There's a Fire and some scientists are trapped inside! This is a code red directive!"
Zero's eyes widened slightly and he looked back towards the smoke, immediately turning to run in that direction.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Lan's expression immediately turned from confusion to fear, and he was instantly on his feet, ready to leave. "come on, then! there's no time to lose, we have to help him!" he cried, clearly terrified for his twin's safety. He then moved to help Chaud so they could get going as soon as possible. 'Hang in there, Sai, we're on our way! Just hold out a little longer!' he pleaded silently, as if he hoped his brother might somehow hear his thoughts. He just hoped they wouldn't be too late.

Saito was huddled behind the desk still, trying to keep out of the smoke and heat, but he was already feeling faint and breathless from the intense fire. He heard the familiar voice of Blues from his PDA, but only faintly over the roar of the fire, and immediately reached for the device, looking into the screen to see his love there, a look of terror on his face though it remained concealed by the visor. "y-yes, I can hear you" he replied, as best he could despite the smoke and lack or air making it very hard to breathe and speak. He coughed harshly from the smoke, clearly struggling to breathe through the thick air. "Th...the door's controls are damaged...I c-can't get out." he explained, between heavy breaths, struggling to even hear himself over the fire's roaring. He paused a moment, trying to catch his breath, though it seemed the effort was in vain and he was quickly looking more and more exhausted from the heat and the lack of air. "shoot...is help on the way? It's g-getting hard to...b-breathe in here" Again, he coughed, huddling closer to the bench he was curled up behind, trying to stay down as the hot tongues of the fire licked across the surface of the bench just behind him. Once the coughing fit was passed, he continued to gasp raggedly and likely helplessly for air, cursing under his breath and shaking his head to try and stay awake. He was covered in soot and his face was drenched with sweat as his automatic responses tried desperately to cool him down before his body shut down. The thick smoke continued to billow through the room, the dusty particles of ash floating like black snow down to the floor, it and the fire painting the room in ghastly greys and reds, it wasn't hard to see that the fire was well beyond the point of no return. There was no stopping the raging inferno now, until it burned out its fuel supply.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Protoman muttered a curse beneath his breath.
"I'm going to try and fix the door controls, or at the very least find some way to get some ventilation in here," the red navi replied. "Stay low and put something over your mouth to breathe through!"
With that the white-haired man vanished from the PDA, leaping into the virus riddled network to try and find some way of helping Saito.

By now Zero had broken into the building, making short work of a section of wall in order to gain access to the locked down facility. He made his way through the halls, heading straight to the level where the fire raged. He'd stopped briefly outside to speak with the scientists, and upon learning that Saito was one of those trapped inside, he'd sprung to action.
He found the lab door fairly quickly, and after a brief battle with the controls he decided destruction was better. He drew his saber, igniting the blade. He stabbed forward, dragging it down to slice through the metal doorway. Once he'd made a few incisions he pulled back, kicking out at the door.

The heat washed over him immediately, it was burning and fierce, and the smoke billowed out all over him. Luckily his lungs didn't need to oxygen like a humans, so he could push forward into the room without fear. He had to kick aside debris from explosions, climbing over fallen shelves and computer mainframes.
"Little Hikari!" he called out, his voice drowning in the roaring inferno. "Saito!"

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito nodded to his love as the man instructed him on what to do, and stay low he did, yanking off the cloth tied around his arm that bore the Hikari symbol, to try and keep from breathing in too much smoke and ash. Despite his best efforts, however, he was barely able to keep his eyes open anymore and quickly found himself lying on the ash-coated floor, struggling to stay awake between the influence of the intense heat and the ache in his chest from the lack of air. He only vaguely heard a high-pitched hissing, crackling sound that was very different to the fire's low rumble and the sound of the door crashing from its frame and the muffled sound of a deep, powerful voice calling him, and tried to call out but despite his efforts all he could muster was a weak, croaking plea of 'help' before he again surrendered to a fit of harsh coughing that made his chest ache and his throat sting. He was fast losing his fight for consciousness and he could feel the fire surrounding him beginning to burn his arms, though his efforts to move were ignored by his overheated nerves.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Zero didn't hear the feeble call for help, but he did hear the coughing.
"I'm coming, Little Hikari!" he called out, shouldering his way through some rubble as he began searching the debris on the floor for the source of the noise. He found the bench behind which Saito was hiding and pulled it aside, immediately seeing the weakened boy curled up tightly.
"You are safe now," he assured the boy as he gathered him up in his strong arms, immediately springing back up to make for the exit.

By now the Fire was blazing intensely, the entire room engulfed with the scarlet flames. Fighting his way through the debris was hard for Zero, but he knew he had to make it back to the entrance he'd carved for himself, getting Saito out into the fresh air was a priority.
He was just pushing his way through some debris when he heard a suspicious hissing noise. He angled his body at the last moment as the fire hit a gas main on the side wall beside where they were standing. The wall exploded violently, fire sweeping all around where Zero was standing. He shielded the human boy in his arms with his own body. He gave a cry of agony as he felt the flames tear through armour, circuitry and titanium skeleton. Already he could feel the coolant that ran through his ciruitry like the blood ran through human veins leaking out everywhere... all over Saito.
He had to rearrange how he was holding the boy, one of his arms completely destroyed by the explosion.
"I'm going... t-t-to get you out of....fhere," he insisted, vocal processors tripping and struggling, they'd obviously taken some damage as well.

Staggering through the debris, dark coolant leaking everywhere, Zero eventually made his way to the hole he'd made in the door, and he pushed his way through it. He continued down the hall until he reached the floor elevator. He knew that there were warnings saying one should not use an elevator during a fire, but he had to get Saito down to the ground floor where the rescuers were. So he forced the door open, laying the boy down on the floor of the elevator. He then connected himself up to the controls. He'd force the doors to close again, putting the elevator in motion, damaged optics watching the numbers slowly descend.

"Zero, is that you?" he heard Protoman's voice come through the system. 'Why are you operating the elevator? What's going on?"

"Saito is--is in the -levator," he explained to the navi, frustrated that his could barely speak straight. "H-headed f---r the ground f-f-floor."

"Saito? Is he OK? What did you do? How did you--" Protoman fumbled, already Zero could feel the navi's presence seizing the controls from him. "I've got it from here, rescue crews have been alerted."

With that Zero withdrew from the controls. He would find another way out...

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito heard the sound of the bench being moved and a muffled voice speaking to him, feeling the strong hands of his rescuer picking him up and lifting from the soot-covered floor. But he could only barely make out a blur of red, black and shimmering golden hair through his swimming vision to know that the one who had pulled him from the fire was Zero, then his vision went black and his consciousness began slipping from him. The last thing he was aware of was hearing of cry of pain that he was quite sure was not his own and feeling something that he wasn't sure was either warm or cool dripping on his face and arms before his mind sank into the darkness of an involuntary slumber.

When he next came to, he opened his eyes to bright, white light and an ocean of bleeding colours and shapes around him. His forearms dimly stung and his throat burned and he wondered if he could taste blood or if it was just his imagination. His chest felt tight and ached, and he felt like his lungs were full of water, but the air felt clearer than before and he could feel the ache becoming dimmer and dimmer as his shaky, rasping breaths steadied. There was a peculiar droning sound in his ears and it took him a moment to identify the garbled sound as voices around him, but he felt far too vague to identify the sounds as anything more complex than that yet. He couldn't move from utter exhaustion and the most he could muster was a weak groan of pain, but he noted that the sound brought the attention of many eyes to him, seeing the blurry, wavering shapes of what had to be faces turning sharply to look at him, the voices becoming louder and more urgent, though the words remained garbled to his heat-riddled mind. He dimly felt something tickle his cheek and guessed that his stunned nerves were having trouble picking up what he was feeling and that the warped shape beside his face must be someone's hand touching his face to try and get his attention.

He closed his eyes briefly with another groan, wincing in pain from his aching chest and throat, taking a deep breath to try and wake himself up before he opened his eyes again, watching the warped shapes begin to take more form before him, making the familiar shapes of human faces looking down at him and his father's worried eyes watching him, his mouth moving around words that Saito couldn't quite make out yet. After another moment the words finally began to clear and he recognised the sound of his father asking him if he could hear him and if he was alright. He met his father's concerned eyes and best his unfocused gaze could a nodded slowly to show he could hear him and that he was mostly okay. His head hurt terribly and he was still finding some difficulty breathing, but he was alive and he could feel his hazy mind very slowly clearing. He couldn't for the life of him remember how he was okay though...last thing he remembered, he was trapped in the fire and Blues was trying to get the door open or at least fix the ventilation...who had pulled him out of there? His memory drew blanks, and he decided that perhaps he should try to remember once his mind wasn't still frazzled from the heat and oxygen deprivation.
"Saito, how do you feel? can you breathe?" he heard his father ask him, the other people having turned back to checking him for any severe injuries. Saito grimaced as best his weak muscles would allow him to show that he felt positively awful, but he also nodded slowly again to indicate that he could breathe okay. He coughed slightly then, the sound husky and dry, wincing when the action caused him pain, before he turned his gaze around him to try and work out where he actually was. He recognised the hallways around him as Sci-lab, so he wasn't at the hospital or at home, certainly, and he thought he could just make out the shape of the elevator doors behind his father. Had someone brought him downstairs? He winced again when his head pounded painfully, groaning slightly from the pain and closing his eyes to take a moment to let the pain die off. When he felt the pain easing again, though he didn't open his eyes yet, he took a deep breath and licked his dry lips, opening his mouth to speak. "w-what happened...?" he asked, his voice weak and husky, the action making his throat burn as if he'd run sandpaper over a graze. He felt a twinge in his chest and was again forced into an involuntary -and painful- fit of coughing, once again opening his eyes to meet the concerned gaze of his father again and the others crowded nearby him who had come rushing as soon as they had heard that Saito was trapped. He could see the somewhat blurry shape of his twin, crying out of utter relief to see his brother safe and he thought he could see Chaud close beside him, looking on silently. It was hard to tell what the boy was thinking or feeling through his still-hazy vision, though.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Another pale haired man who stood beside Chaud's wheelchair stepped forward to stand beside Saito's bed then. A gentle gloved hand reached out to stroke his face. A pair of eerie coloured eyes looked down at him filled with regret.
"You got caught in lab five where the fire broke out. We couldn't get the doors open."
He ground his jaw in frustration.
"Zero broke in and got you put... We don't know where he has gone but..."
The troubled man reached over to where Saito's stained shirt was. He held it up for him to see the pale reddish-brown coloured liquid that stained it.
"We thought this was your blood... But it's lubricant fluid..."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito recognised the man as soon as he got close enough to see the trails of silver hair flowing behind him, and his exhausted expression twitched into a small, brief smile to see him. When he began explaining what had happened, Sai's memory seemed to have been jogged and he immediately tried to sit up, wincing in pain as his aching lungs protested the movement, his father immediately moving to try and stop him.
"Saito! Calm down, you need to rest, you're in no condition to be getting up right now!" he scolded, anxiously trying to push his son back down, but the dark-haired boy wasn't about to listen.
"n-no! Papa, please...w-we have to...find him!" he panted, shakily trying to brush his father away. "I-I remember...I remember what happened! the fire...th-the gas main...Z-Zero protected me...he was h-hurt!" his twin rushed forward then, taking hold of his hand and trying to get him to lay down.
"Sai, stop it! We nearly lost you, today! Please just lie down for now, we can look for Zero once you're feeling better" he pleaded, his twin shaking his head furiously, though it seemed his brief burst of energy had run out and he stopped fighting, gasping for breath and coughing hoarsely as his father and brother helped him to lay back down. "Calm down, okay? Zero will be fine, we'll find him Sai, I promise. Right now you need to rest, you were barely breathing when we found you, you need to relax for a while." Saito didn't reply to that at first, too busy trying to regain the breath he'd lost, but the distress in his eyes was more than clear. He turned his fearful gaze back to Blues, his eyes pleading, tears streaming down his face, hoping he might understand just how much this mattered to him. Zero had saved his life back in that fire, and Saito didn't want to see his friend die when he knew there was something he could do to help him.
"H-he's...really h-hurt...! p-please..." he whimpered, clearly in a half-delirious state from the trial he'd endured, his mind addled from the intense heat he'd been subjected to for so many minutes. Lan gently squeezed his elder brother's hand, trying to reassure him that it was alright, but Saito wasn't even listening, his eyes remaining fixed on Blues', desperately begging for his help.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Blues squirmed uneasily under Saito's pleasing gaze. He didn't want to cause extra fuss and put any strain on the ailing boy, but at the same time he knew that his dear Saito would not rest until he was certain Zero was OK. So he reached into his jacket, producing the slick dark-lensed he had in the human world that mimicked his visor, putting them on.
"I'll take my bike out and scour the city for any sign of him," he explained, moving forward to give Sai's hand a squeeze. "I'll call if I find anything."

"I'll go too," Chaud piped in. "I'll take a car and check downtown, if you go to the upper end, Protoman."

"Yes, Chaud sir," Blues agreed. "I'll be back soon," he promised Sai, before he hurried out of the room, Chaud wheeling after him.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Saito watched Blues until he was gone from his sight, he then turned his eyes away to stare at the ceiling above him, blankly, still in an only semi-conscious state and beginning to feel increasingly exhausted again. He stared at the reflective, while ceiling for a long time after that, unnervingly still, before he eventually closed his eyes and let himself drift into a restless, shallow sleep. His brother stayed close by his side while he slept, gently holding his hand and waiting patiently for his ill twin to recover.

After a fair time still and silent besides the still rasping sound of his heavy breathing, Saito finally awoke again, still looking very ill but seemingly a little less delusional than earlier. He still had a certain look to his gaze that wasn't quite 'all there' though. "Sai? Hey, how are you feeling?" Lan called softly, seeing his brother's eyes open. Saito took a moment to respond, but after a moment he turned his gaze to his brother, slowly, meeting his gaze vaguely.
"...Lan...? Have...you heard from Blues...?" he whispered, voice husky and impassive. "did he...find Zero...?" he took a deep breath as he finished speaking, eyes briefly closing in exhaustion before he again opened them to look st his brother. Lan shook his head, regretfully.
"no...nothing yet, Sai...don't worry, we'll find him" he said, softly, frowning worriedly as he saw the distress leak into his twin's eyes again. He quickly reached over to clasp his other had around Saito's that he already held, trying to offer him reassurance.
"...will he...I-I mean...do you think Zero...will be okay?" he asked, voice quivering with unshed tears of anxiety. His brother offered a soft smile in reassurance, squeezing his hand in hopes that he might feel a little better. To Lan's surprise, he felt Saito gently tug on the hands that held his, beckoning his brother closer with his dark eyes. Lan understood the request immediately, moving to put his arms around his ailing sibling's shoulders, the elder brother burying his face into his twin's shoulder for comfort.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Sai...everything will be okay. Just relax, okay? We can help search for him as soon as you're feeling better." Lan replied, gently holding his twin, hoping that he would be okay soon.

[Tifa Lockhart]

It was another hour or so before Chaud returned with nothing to report. Apparently the weather had taken a turn for the worse in the early-evening, causing the young tycoon to call off his search for his driver's safety. The rain was so heavy it could be heard even from inside the laboratory where they were looking after Saito.

Blues returned not too long later, drenched to the bone by the rain.
"I'm sorry, Sai," he apologised, looking riddled with regret. He'd hoped he might find Zero and put his love's hopes to rest, but it had been to no avail. Zero was nowhere to be found, having managed to cover his tracks surprisingly well for someone who was so presumably injured.

"Maybe he is perfectly fine?" Chaud suggested to try and smooth the situation over a bit. As he spoke Blues moved to take a seat on the bed beside Sai. "Zero is known to show up, rescue people and then vanish before any reward or thanks can be given... it's sort of his call-card."

Blues shook his head, grim-faced. He wished Chaud's suggestion could have been right.
"Professor Hikari took Sai's jacket to the lab and analysed the fluid we found. It's the special oil fabrication that Zero taught him how to make. It runs through all of his major hydraulic lines... kind of like arteries I suppose."

"Damn..." was all Chaud whispered.

Blues turned to Sai again now, aware that this conversation would not be helping him relax any, and would probably only be making him fret worse.
"Zero was clearly built to last, Sai," he assured him, taking his hand in his own and squeezing it gently. "His core functionality survived the state he was in when you found him, a little fire damage is not going to destroy him."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Sai had seemed in very low spirits when Chaud returned empty-handed. He had seemed even more upset when his beloved, too, found no trace of Zero. When Chaud's suggested Zero might be fine after all, the boy shook his head insistently. "I know...what I saw, Chaud...Zero's really hurt." he argued, softly, his breathing still very deep and laboured, but beginning to lose the rasping sound and far more even than before, as his condition continued to improve. When Blues came over to offer him comfort, holding his hand gently and offering words of reassurance, Saito still only frowned with deep concern, but he whispered a soft thankyou to the silver-haired man, still grateful for the concern.

It wasn't for another few hours after the two returned before Sai was finally able to stand again, finally breathing better and once more thinking straight. He still sounded husky and ill and his cough was no better, and his face was still deeply flushed from the fever brought on by the heat he had endured, but he insisted that they had to find Zero first. Then and only then would he return home to rest up and wait out the fever.
The others couldn't have possibly said no when Saito insisted that they let him go and look for Zero with them, not when his dark eyes would glisten with tears that threatened to fall again whenever they even considered telling him no. So, on the proviso that he wore his warm jacket and didn't stray from their group, he was allowed to help them search, since he knew the reploid far better that anyone else. He never strayed far from Blues' side, clinging to him for comfort constantly as they went, regularly asking him if he thought Zero would be okay whenever he started to feel anxious again.