CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Bullet Hell
When Saya finally came to, she knew that there was no good coming out of this situation. She was still in Mewtwo's soft grasp, but both were now in a narrow hallway with doors with barred windows lining the walls. Worst of all was a group of smiling and sinister-looking men, Poison and Hugo among them.
"Looks like you're actually good for something, Mewtwo." Poison said with a smirk.
"Wh-where am I?!" Saya cried.
"In the S.I.N. facility near the Aokigahara."
Saya's eyes widened at the name of that forest and the horrifying memories it brought with it, but the name of S.I.N. greatly confused her until Poison made that clear for her.
"You're exactly where Jedah wants you to be."
"…what do you want with me?"
"At the moment, nothing."
A couple of the grunts stepped forward and wrenched Saya free of Mewtwo's grip, all of them smiling sadistically.
"Such a cute little girl." One of them chuckled. "Pretty hot-looking, too. What's the legal age in Japan again? Thirteen?"
"Don't you dare, you sick freak!" Saya cried before rearing her hand back and striking the man across the face as hard she could.
"You little brat! You're gonna pay for that!"
As the grunt clenched his fist and reared it back, he was suddenly shoved up against the wall by an invisible force. Saya turned to see Mewtwo's hand and eyes glowing as he shook with anger.
"Whether she is a prisoner or not…" the Psychic Pokémon growled. "You will not harm her. She had been harmed enough as it is."
"Maybe you're forgetting your place again, Mewtwo." Poison sighed before pressing the button on a remote that she had in her hand.
Saya became quickly horrified when she saw Mewtwo cry out in pain and writhe about, even dropping to his knees and clutching at his head in agony. It looked (and, in Mewtwo's mind, felt) like he was being shocked with tens of thousands of volts of electricity all at once…like this pain was enough to kill him.
"STOP IT!" she cried, rushing forward and seizing the Pokémon around the middle.
Poison released the button just as Saya grabbed Mewtwo, relived that she hadn't shocked the girl by accident. If there was so much as a scratch on her, Juri and Jedah would have her head. Why would she willingly put herself at risk just to keep someone or something from hurting? Maybe she just felt too much and thought too little. Maybe she was just a big heart that bled for everyone but herself. Poison failed to understand how a child like that could possibly exist when there were people running around that tried to ruin everything for them…people like her.
"Goddamn, what is it with these saint kids I see everywhere nowadays…alright, enough with the bestiality crap." she growled, wrenching the door open on a cell and pointing into it. "You. Kid. Get in."
Saya released Mewtwo and stood, but not before he held up his hand to the grunts.
"Wait." he whispered before motioning Saya back down with his hand.
Once the girl was in a kneeling position again, Mewtwo pressed his hands to the sides of her head and looked deep into her eyes. In that moment, she felt him staring into her soul, comforting it to the best of his ability.
"Everything will be alright, Saya." he whispered into her subconscious. "But you must stay strong. Don't worry about me. Just worry about you."
"…why are you so concerned about me?"
"Because you've seen that I've already failed one innocent child. That is a mistake I plan on never making again."
"Amber."
"Yes. I will never forgive myself for letting her go…and that would only be made worse if I can't at least try to help you."
"…thank you, Mewtwo."
"My pleasure."
The communication as cut off when Poison finally got fed up and wrenched Saya to her feet, wordlessly shoving her into the cell and locking it before she and the rest of the grunts dragged Mewtwo off down the hall to be put back into suspended animation.
Once she felt that Mewtwo was gone and that she was completely alone, Saya collapsed onto the surprisingly soft bed and stared up at the bland metal ceiling before this sight was obscured by the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Whoever's up there…tell me. What did I do to deserve this? …why couldn't Mother and Father just take me with them when they died? …why are you letting this happen to me?!"
She was in the enemy's clutches without any way to escape. She'd noticed earlier that they had taken her sword, and there was no sort of object she could use as a weapon. Nothing to pick the lock with, nothing she could use to make an explosive and bomb a hole in the wall, nothing. She was trapped.
Then again…maybe she could just use her power…just this once.
"What was I supposed to do, Father?! Just let them be killed?!"
"No, Saya. I understand that you were frightened and didn't know what to do, and yes. I'm proud of you for saving their lives, but actions like that have repercussions. Could you imagine how everyone would react if they knew you could do things like this?"
"You…you don't want me to use them?"
"Yes…but only because I don't want you to get hurt. Because you're my daughter and I will never forgive myself if you are hurt."
"…I'm sorry, Father."
"Don't be, dear one. I will love you no matter what."
That wasn't the conversation of anyone nearby. That was the conversation she'd had with her father after she'd used it once before. She cherished and damned what he had said. Cherished because he admitted that he loved her and forbade her from using her power simply because he wanted to keep her safe, but damned because she could have done so many things to better the land if she could use it…and he never bothered to tell her exactly what it was. To this day, now that he and her mother were long gone, she still didn't know, but she knew why.
Because it had once come out without her consent, devastating anything nearby and no one realized that she was the cause except for Takamaru. He was the only one after her parents that really understood her…him and Lucas.
"Lucas…I should have just told you."
She told herself time and time again that she didn't need people pitying her so much, but now she realized that she wanted that. She wanted people to be worried about her at least a little bit. That let her know that they cared…that they were more human than any of the monsters that held her captive.
She thought of the orphanage, the only home she knew now. She thought of Aiko. Ammy, and the rest of her friends there. She thought of all the friends that she'd made on the road. Ness, Link, Dante, Kat, Pit, Morrigan, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser…and most of all, Lucas.
He was trying so hard to protect her, and she kept shutting him out. She wanted to fulfill the promise she'd made to him. She wanted to go back to the Nowhere Islands with him…she just wanted to be by his side. And now S.I.N. or whoever these people were…they were going to kill her. Or worse.
"I should have just told him…he'd understand. He cares about me, so why wouldn't he? Even if he didn't understand, there's no way I could hold it against him…"
The door opened and Saya sucked up the tears. The last thing she wanted was to let Juri or Poison or whoever see her cry. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of her anguish. If only there were something to fight back with…then she could just smash their smug faces in.
"Wait…what am I thinking?! I can't stoop to their level like that!"
As it turned out, she didn't need to and let relief wash over her when she saw that the being wasn't who she was expecting, but then again, that was half the problem. The being that came through the door was, oddly, a robot. Its head was very box-shaped with two lens for eyes. It had no legs, just a large pad that could perhaps be concealing treads or rocket thrusters or something of that sort. Its red arms had no joints or thumbs and were stuck out in front of it, and it seemed like it could lower his "torso" along its neck that connected the pad to the head.
Saya sat confused until the robot spoke in a male and digitized voice. What greatly caught her attention, however, was how calm and friendly he sounded.
"Greetings, Saya Kusanagi."
"Um…h-hello. What…who are you?"
"Ah, yes. Allow me to introduce myself. I am ROB. Robotic Operating Buddy."
The young girl could do nothing but stare at ROB in curiosity. She didn't think that anything in this building would be this kind to her, let alone a robot that supposedly had no emotions.
"Is something wrong?" ROB asked.
"No, just…curious, I guess."
"Understandably so. Are your containment quarters to your satisfaction…or is that a silly question?"
"Yeah…it is."
"I understand. I feel the same way."
"Huh? But you're a robot."
"I have been programmed with approximately fifty emotions, including compassion. Though my voice synthesizer prevents me from showing it, I am very dissatisfied with my current situation."
"You mean you're being held against your will, too?"
ROB nodded.
"In any case, is there anything I can receive for you?"
"Well…I'd kind of like a glass of water."
"Right away."
ROB left the room and returned moments later with exactly what Saya had requested, balanced on his arm rather than being clutched between his hands. She downed the drink in seconds and placed the glass on the bedside table.
"Um…thank you."
"You are very welcome. Will there be anything else?"
"No thank you…actually…there is one thing. This is really weird, but…could you maybe stay and talk to me for a little while?"
"Certainly."
"Are you sure? I'm not wasting your time or anything, am I?"
"Of course not. Despite the short length of our encounter so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed communicating with you."
"Oh…okay, great. But why are you being so nice to me?"
ROB was silent for a moment, and Saya had no idea that he was processing her question, searching for any answer that wouldn't offend her or make her feel uncomfortable.
"Your physical beauty despite your biological age is possibly a contributing factor…conclusion reached. It would also appear that I possess a stronger sense of pity than all of the other lowlifes in this facility."
As much as the current situation would have sucked all positive emotion out of her, Saya managed to let out a small chuckle. Not only a sense of pity, but a sense of humour.
"Thank you, ROB…things just haven't been good for me recently."
"I am listening if you wish to tell me."
"Oh…no, no. I don't wanna bore you or anything."
"Fear not. I highly doubt anything you say will bore me in the slightest."
Talking to a robot was definitely not the worst nor weirdest thing that had happened that night, and with some reluctance, she began to tell ROB everything that had happened to her thus far. He listened intently, nodding every so often and becoming more intrigued as she went on. Saya herself wasn't sure whether or not ROB actually cared about her situation, but if he didn't, he would have left a long time ago. Why hadn't he? Yes, he was fully capable of emotion, but…wait…no. He couldn't possibly be feeling that. He was a robot. He probably didn't even understand it.
"And that's pretty much it."
"I see. I must say that I feel very sympathetic toward you."
"Thanks, I guess…"
"Saya, could I perhaps ask you about your family?"
"…I don't want to talk about it."
"I apologize. It is just that I do not have any family other than my creator. His or her identification is not encrypted in my memory bank, so I believe I am what you would call an orphan."
"You, too? Seems like every single person I run in to has that problem."
"Perhaps it is not so bad for me. Perhaps my creator created me as a product to sell rather than an actual child of some kind."
"Well, if that's true, why would they give you emotions? If you can feel, that makes you more human than anyone gives you credit for."
ROB was silent again. He had once believed that he had perfect processing in terms of logic, but here was a human girl that had outsmarted him even if only slightly. He felt his emotions well up within him, and he felt the need to say something to her to compliment her deduction. Not only beautiful, but intelligent.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance. The door opened again and in walked Poison, probably one of the last people Saya wanted to see at the moment.
"Alright, kid. Get up. It's time."
Saya started trembling. Poison simply rolled her eyes and reached toward the girl, only for ROB to block her.
"What are you doing, you bucket of bolts?!"
"She is fully capable of leading herself. She does not require you to drag her along."
"Yeah, whatever. Why don't you go scrub the floors or something?"
"Does not compute. I require an adaptive device in order to properly utilize the tool necessary for such an act."
"…what?"
Two slides lowered in ROB's eyes at an angle, proving that he did have emotions. In fact, he was feeling one now: irritation.
"I do not have thumbs, you moron."
Poison growled and raised her whip, but Saya stood up.
"Don't. I'll go…just give me a minute."
Poison groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Not this crap again…alright, fine. But hurry up. I'm not getting paid to be your babysitter."
She left the room, leaving ROB and Saya to converse with one another. Saya had peeked out the door to check if she could simply run the other way, but Hugo and a large number of grunts blocking the hallway quickly made her throw that idea out the window.
"I'm scared…" Saya whimpered. "What are they going to do to me?"
"You must stay calm, Saya." said ROB. "I am near certain that your allies have sent someone to rescue you. You must hold out until help arrives."
"What if they don't?"
"They will. You must have faith. Trust me."
There was no way she couldn't trust ROB now. Just speaking with him had made her feel slightly better. Even in this base that may as well have been Hell, there were two kind hearts (or a motherboard in ROB's case) that wished only for her safety.
They heard a growl and saw Poison in the doorway again.
"That thing about you coming with me was an order, not a suggestion! Let's go!"
Saya reluctantly followed Poison down the hallway, taking one last look at ROB as she went. There was no way she could have known, but the second ROB had laid his eyes on her, he felt something stir up that he had never felt before. It was an impulse. An urge to do something to help her. He couldn't stand to see her so afraid and wanted to save her from whatever S.I.N. had planned for her. The truth was that he didn't know whether or not help was coming for her and had only said it to make her feel better (though his scanners had indicated he hadn't helped much in this field).
But no. If they weren't now, he would make sure that they would soon. He had the entire base mapped out in his system memory, and he knew that communication room wasn't far away. He would help her. He had to help her.
As he made his way there, pushing past the unsuspecting grunts to do so, he brought up a list of organizations that could be there as quickly as possible and landed on one particular one that had quelled viral outbreaks in the Mediterranean and Africa a number of years ago.
"They are perfect."
The first thing Saya saw when she entered the room were the ten containers filled with liquid, six of which were hooked up to a nearby machine that looked far more threatening than she would have preferred, and another that holding the unconscious Mewtwo inside. She had the sudden urge to rush over to him and break him out after what he had both done and said, both to give him the freedom he longed for and for him to get her out of here since she knew he was capable of such a feat. Sadly, by the time she had made the decision to do so, she was strapped to what felt an awful lot like an operating table and had Juri leering down at her. The smug look on the Korean woman's face made Saya want to get off the table and start beating her to death with it. She'd never felt more angry than she did now.
"Finally got you right where we want you." she hissed. "And Ghirahim thought I couldn't do it."
"Mewtwo did it…" Saya spat. "And even then, he didn't want to do it. Let him go."
"Hell no. He's too useful. Whether he's as useful as you remains to be seen."
"What are you going to do to me?"
"It's on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know."
"…tell me something, Han. Were you this big of a bitch in your childhood or did you have to work at it?"
"That's funny. This whole thing we're doing is just that human drive for power, honey. The weak are slaves to the strong."
"That's the worst definition of humanity I've ever heard…Mewtwo is more human than you'll ever be. Give him credit. At least he has a heart and isn't a bloodthirsty pile of vomit."
Juri gritted her teeth and raised her fist.
"Stop." said a suave voice that Saya recognized in an instant. "Striking her will not achieve anything, Juri."
Saya's fears were realized when a smirking Jedah stepped from the dark corner nearby. Thoughts of Bowser's sacrifice rang through her head and served to make her even more enraged.
"You bastard…Bowser is dead because of you!"
"Bowser…ah, yes. That large turtle fellow. Collateral damage, my child. Collateral damage."
"I'LL SHOW YOU COLLATERAL DAMAGE!"
Saya's rage wasn't enough to break the bonds that held her even though they certainly felt like they were straining. They also felt like they were biting into the soft skin on her wrists, but pain was the least of her concern. She finally relaxed again when Juri pressed two pressure points to make her go limp.
"No, no." Jedah scolded mockingly. "We can't have you unleashing that ultimate power just yet."
"What the hell do you want?!" Saya shouted.
"You aren't useful to our ultimate goal at the moment, but there is definitely something you can do for us right now. Have you ever questioned why you have been able to see people's scarring memories?"
"…the curse of Yami."
"Exactly, but do you know who Yami was?"
Saya said nothing. She had no idea who Yami was, but considering the term was "CURSE of Yami", there was no way he could be anything good. This dread was confirmed when Jedah spoke again.
"In ancient Japan, Yami was known as the Emperor of Eternal Darkness. For a long time, he was contained in a place called the Ark of Yamato. Thanks to the armies of the demon Orochi, the Ark entered the mortal world and began to spread its darkness across the land. The Shinto goddess of the sun named Amaterasu entered the Ark to combat Yami and managed to defeat him, though not before he slaughtered the Celestial Brush gods with barely any effort. So, yes. A curse, indeed, for Yami was both evil and tremendously powerful."
Jedah smiled evilly at Saya's shock, but he was far from finished.
"The real question, of course, is why Yami would ever need to see into the memories of others if he was so powerful. Simple. To stall time while he built up the strength to fight Amaterasu, he created duplicates of incredibly strong enemies she had already defeated up until that point."
"What are you saying?"
"You are inflicted by the curse of Yami, and thus Yami's power is your power. Anything he could do, so can you."
Juri sadistically chuckled and cracked her neck.
"Now just connect the dots, sweetheart."
Saya did exactly that and wasn't happy with what she came up with.
"You wouldn't!"
"Does a bear crap in the woods?"
A strange contraption was lowered onto Saya's head and she heard a disturbing droning sound as it started up. She looked at Juri, then at Jedah.
"Why…why do you want to do this to me?!" she cried.
"You will find out soon enough. I leave this matter to you, Juri. I must attend to the master now."
Jedah disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Saya alone in the room with the most insane woman she had ever met in her life. That thought alone was enough to disturb her, but what made it worse was what was literally going on inside her mind.
She was suddenly rushed with all sorts of images, always showing flashes of the people she had seen before. The woman at the police station in the tube…one of the officers she had seen leaving the building…the legendary fighter Ryu Hoshi…she even saw Mario, Ness, and Ammy. She had no idea what these meant until she saw the frightening images attached to them. A violet-skinned dragon-like creature, a tall hulking monstrosity in a black trench coat, a dark-skinned man with flaming red hair, a massive purple ghost woman with streaking white hair, a disgusting spider creature with a rotting flower on its back and a face lacking everything but a fanged mouth, and finally Giygas. Were they really going to have this machine replicate all these monstrosities?
It seemed so, but it also seemed like Juri and Jedah were fully content with torturing Saya to go along with it. The images kept flashing through her mind over and over again, emitting loud noises and forcing her entire body to wrack itself in pain. She began to scream, able to be heard throughout the entire base and perhaps even for miles. That was all she could do in the seemingly endless moment of pain. Just scream until it felt like her lungs would give out.
The pain eventually stopped, and Saya's throat hurt greatly from the screaming. When the helmet came off, she looked at the six canisters and saw that there were now floating and amorphous masses inside each of them.
"What have you done?!" she shouted in a hoarse voice.
"Exactly what you thought we would do." Juri giggled.
Still panting heavily, Saya looked over at Poison and Hugo, both of whom seemed shocked and disgusted at what had just happened yet had done nothing about it. Almost as though they had no idea what they had been getting into.
"How can you two just stand by and let this happen?!" she cried.
"…what else are we supposed to do?" Poison sighed with a shrug.
"GO TO HELL! ALL OF YOU!"
Juri laughed again before striking Saya across the face, leaving a visible red mark.
"No, no. Don't let your emotions get the better of you just yet. You need to wait until he gets here."
Saya barely had the courage to ask who, but she didn't get the chance when the door was kicked open and one of the grunts ran inside with a panicked expression on his face. Juri groaned.
"Well, somebody better be dying."
"No, but we're gonna be soon! There's an army gathering outside!"
A wave of relief and hope washed over Saya. Somehow she got the feeling that ROB was responsible for this, and for that, she needed to thank him personally. Juri simply smirked.
"Oh, did Chun-Li and her little Interpol agents finally pop up? Good. I've been looking to have a little more fun with her."
"No! Worse! It's the BSAA!"
Juri's eyes widened in shock and she looked at the nearby monitor. Indeed, there were several armoured vehicles driving toward the base at high speed with the emblem of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance plastered on them.
She gritted her teeth. They had called in the big guns.
"Redfield…"
Indeed, the first agent to set foot on the ground in front of the base was Chris Redfield, garbed in a heavy suit of tactical gear with a hunting knife and an M16 assault rifle ready to go.
"Team A!" he barked into his communicator. "Wheel around to the east side! Team B, you stay here! Jill and Parker, we're gonna take them from the inside!"
While several other agents set turrets up in case any S.I.N. grunts attempted escape, Jill Valentine and Parker Luciani jumped out of an armoured vehicle alongside Chris, armed with a Government handgun and a sawed-off shotgun respectively.
"So what's the plan, Chris?" asked Parker in his thick Italian accent. "It's a big place. Gonna be quite a maze in there."
"No plan." Chris replied as the three ran up to the building. "Just gotta search every room. It's a teenage girl in a terrorist hideout. She'll be pretty hard to miss."
Chris pasted some C4 against the wall and the three stood back until the explosive detonated, blowing a large hole in the wall for their entry. They aimed their guns down the hallway and spotted several unarmed grunts running away like cowards. With a series of hand gestures, Chris directed Jill down the left hallway, Parker down the right, and himself down the center.
Parker happened to be headed down the hallway which the grunts had fled down, and he kept his gun raised in case anyone or anything tried to jump. As he rounded the corner…
"SHIT!" he shouted as he about to fire on the thing that had suddenly zipped toward him, though progressively calmed himself upon getting a closer look. "What the hell is this?"
"I apologize for startling you." said ROB. "I am ROB."
"ROB? You're the guy who contacted us?"
"Yes."
"But…you're a robot!"
"I fail to see how that bears any relevance in this situation."
"…huh. Alright, whatever. You know where Saya is?"
"Of course. But firstly, do you possess a stun gun or tranquilizer of any sort?"
Parker dug around in his many holsters before he pulled out his stun gun.
"Right here."
"Excellent. If you could fire over your left shoulder, please."
Parker obeyed, not really seeing what ROB was getting at until he heard the screaming of one the grunts behind him. He turned just in time to see the grunt collapse onto the ground, still fidgeting uncontrollably.
"Okay…so you're handy. Now then. Saya?"
"Right this way."
On the other end of the base, Chris rounded a corner and heard strained moaning from within a room at the end of the hallway. There was no window for him to look through, but he had no doubt that it was Saya judging from the pitch of the voices. Without a second thought, he reared his foot back and began slamming it against the door until it shot open.
Saya shrieked when the door was suddenly kicked open and seeing a man in tactical gear with an assault rifle in his hands didn't help matter much, especially when he pointed it at her in the split second after he'd entered the room. What did help was when he lowered the gun upon making eye contact with her, as well as what he said.
"Saya Kusanagi?" Chris asked.
"What do you want?!"
"Don't be scared. My name is Chris Redfield. I'm with the BSAA. I'm here to get you out. Your buddy ROB called us."
Saya sighed and gave a warm smile.
"Robotic Operating Buddy, indeed."
Chris unsheathed his hunting knife and hacked away at the leather straps binding Saya to the table, finally letting her get up and get the blood running back through her body properly. She massaged her wrists and looked into Chris' steely and wolf-like eyes. In these, she saw a hardened warrior who looked like he'd see too many things he never wanted to see (which he clearly had since she'd heard that the BSAA had done a lot of tough work in recent years), but she also saw a stern and heroic man trying to help her. He may have been intimidating, but like Bowser, she knew he had a good heart.
"You can tell me why they nabbed you later." he said suddenly. "Right now we've gotta get you outta here."
"Look out!"
Chris rolled to the side just in time to get out of the way of Poison's whip, hoping to threaten her into backing down with his rifle but only serving to make her lash out again.
"Drop it, hot stuff." she hissed. "You're not taking that girl anywhere."
"Yeah. Actually, I think I am. You don't seem to realize that I could pump you full of holes any second."
"Well, guess what?"
She snapped her fingers and in walked Hugo, and to Chris' dismay, he held Jill captive in his club-like arms. One arm had Jill's arms pinned behind her back, and the other arm had its hand on her neck. Saya's first instinct was to start panicking, but Chris simply scoffed.
"That's how you want it? Fine."
In one swift motion, he had seized Poison and put her in the same position save for having the barrel of his rifle pressed firmly against the side of her head. Poison had the thought to shriek, but feared that doing so would instinctively force Chris to pull the trigger. Hugo gritted his teeth.
"Let her go right now!" he bellowed.
"Then you let my friend go. Now."
"I gonna give you to the count of five before I snap dis lady's neck!"
"Well, I'm gonna count to three before I blow this girl's brains out! In fact, I'd say you've got about three seconds before that 'lady' shoots you in the foot!"
Hugo froze. They had reached an impasse, but he had a terrifying feeling that Chris would go through with it if Hugo didn't do as he said. He couldn't risk Poison's life like this. Not for S.I.N.'s sake after what they had seen.
Finally, he let Jill go and Chris let Poison go to both of their reliefs. Nevertheless, Jill kept her gun trained on Poison until the two were back beside their respective partners.
"Now go. We don't have time to deal with thugs." Jill said sternly.
The two obeyed, Poison still shaking from being that close to having her head blown off at point-blank. Jill quickly checked Saya's body for any injuries while Chris kept his gun raised at the hallway in case anyone tried to come after them.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jill asked.
"Yeah…" Saya panted. "Just please…get me out of here. I want to go home."
"Alright. Chris! Let's find Parker and get out of here."
Chris nodded and touched his fingers to his earpiece.
"Parker. What's your situation?"
"Coming down the hallway toward your current location. I got our contact with us…he's a robot, by the way."
"…well, that's not weird or anything. Alright, we'll meet up with you as soon as we can."
Chris lowered his fingers and smirked over his shoulder at Saya.
"Really. That isn't weird. Jill and I have seen way weirder things in our day."
"Jill…" Saya muttered. "Haven't I seen you before?"
"Hm? …oh, yeah! You were that girl in the police station in Tokyo where that guy Dante got arrested." said Jill. "Sorry. I didn't recognize you for a second…but anyway, we've got more important things to do. Let's hightail it outta here."
Saya was about to obey when she suddenly felt like something was amiss. Not that she was scared that someone was going to jump them at any second (even though it was very likely that would happen anyway), but that she was forgetting something. Then she spotted it out of the corner of her eye and her emotions reached a near-peak.
"Mewtwo!"
Saya ran to the tank holding the Pokémon and began searching for a way to open it. She didn't care how long it took to get him out or whether or not someone was going to try and pull her away. She couldn't just leave him behind and let him be a slave to these monsters. She had to do something…she had to save him.
"Saya, come on!" Jill called. "We don't have much time before more grunts show up."
"I'm not leaving without him! He saved me! I owe him this much!"
Jill looked into Saya's eyes and saw a frightened girl that wanted to do good for the sake of doing it. It was stubborn of her, but in no way was it wrong. Put in the same situation, Jill concluded that she would have done the same thing.
She motioned to Chris, who nodded and raised his rifle to the tank.
"Stand back."
He fired off a single shot once Saya was out of the way, shattering the glass and letting Mewtwo's body hang limply, though Saya was quick to rush forward and catch him. Even though he was supposed to be packed full of nutrients whenever he was in the tank, he looked as tired as a one hundred-year old man on his deathbed.
But no. Saya wouldn't have that. She was getting him out of here whether anyone liked it or not. She removed the breathing apparatus from his mouth and began gently yet quickly tapping his face.
"C'mon, Mewtwo. Wake up."
Slowly, Mewtwo's eyes stirred open and he weakly looked up at Saya, surprised to see her not only free but cradling him as well.
"You…what are you doing?"
"Saving you."
"…why?"
"Do I need a reason?"
Mewtwo barely managed to crack a smile as Saya helped him get to his feet, only to slump over again on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry I…I should have just taken you back to your friends, but I couldn't."
"You don't need to tell me. Let's just get you out of here."
Chris stepped forward and hauled Mewtwo onto his back, making sure he still had one arm free to fire off his gun if necessary. As the four exited the room and proceeded down the hallway, though, it looked like he would soon have to. Dozens upon dozens of armed grunts had rounded the corner, all of them shouting for Chris and Jill to drop their weapons.
Chris took one look at Saya and sighed.
"Saya, from what I've heard, you're emotionally scarred enough without watching someone drop dead in front of you."
"Yes, but what are you…"
"For your own sake, close your eyes. Shut everything out and don't look until I say it's okay."
Right away, Saya knew what Chris and Jill were about to do and shut her eyes. Chris was right to assume that she wouldn't want to see what happened next, but that didn't stop her from feeling sick to her stomach when Chris shouted "OPEN FIRE!" and the two started shooting, filling the air with unbearably loud gunfire that nearly shattered her eardrums at first. She rushed forward along with them, crouching behind Chris the entire time. She heard the grunts crying out in pain. She heard their dead bodies slam against the floor…and at one point, she felt a warm drop of blood drip onto her cheek.
But she kept her eyes firmly closed. She felt so disoriented and nearly felt herself topple over, but she made sure to keep her feet on the ground and her breathing normal. The last thing she needed was to open her eyes and see a dead body staring her in the face.
"Chris!" Parker shouted once the gunfire had finally stopped. "Sheesh, you had to start the party without me, eh?"
"Sorry, Parker. Some guys just don't know when to quit. Okay, Saya. You can open your eyes now."
She did and had to keep telling herself not to look down, instead looking at ROB who she rushed to immediately.
"You did this just so I could escape?"
In that moment, Saya knew that if ROB was capable of smiling, he would.
"Yes. But now is not the time to dwell on that. We must escape immediately."
"He's right." Chris added. "We've got armoured vehicles waiting for us to take us back to Tokyo. Let's move, people!"
They ran as fast as they could go, the armoured vehicles waiting just a few dozen yards from them with several other grunts having been subdued by the other soldiers. They were almost there…when Mewtwo and Chris both screamed in agony and toppled face first onto the ground.
"What the hell just happened?!" shouted Parker.
"Oh, no…" Saya growled. "Someone must have flicked that electrocution switch."
"Chris, come on! Get up…wait, do you hear that?"
The sound of blades cutting through the air at lightning speed began echoing across the landscape and directed their attention toward the facility's roof. Right at that moment, a helicopter emerged, and sitting in the passenger seating area was…
"Juri!" Saya growled. "What in the world is she doing now?"
"Oh, shit, she's got a turret!" Parker hollered. "EVERYBODY HIT THE DECK!"
With nothing short of a smile of pure malice, Juri let fly with a stream of bullets shooting along the ground and giving the BSAA operatives just barely enough time to get out of the way. Once they were all good and dazed she wheeled the gun around to Chris and Mewtwo.
"Hoo, boy, I'll bet Wesker had wished he could do this!" she cackled before revving up the gun again.
Saya didn't care if her power was shown off now. She couldn't let those two die…not by her hands or anyone else's. She lunged forward just as Juri began firing.
"SAYA!" Parker screamed.
He was too late to stop her. The bullets came surging forward and began embedding themselves one after another into the girl's body, leaving Chris and Mewtwo to stare up at her in complete shock.
"My God…" Chris mumbled. "…what has she done?"
"Wait." Mewtwo said suddenly into Chris' mind. "Look."
Chris was just as shocked as anyone would be: the bullets had done absolutely no damage to Saya despite the fact that she had shown visible signs of strain. That, and the fact that Juri had been firing for about six seconds, and Chris estimated that with a gun with that kind of fire rate, Saya had gotten pumped with nearly five hundred bullets. Yet there she was, standing as though nothing had happened. She had perfectly shielded them.
"How in the world…" Jill muttered.
Juri gritted her teeth.
"Figures that a big bleeding heart like her would do a thing like that. No biggie."
She began firing again, this time targeting Parker, Jill, and any ground soldier she could see. Of course, she was completely unaware of the large flaming broadsword that had come spinning into the air directly behind the helicopter.
"Let's see you save every single one of 'em!" Juri cackled. "I dare ya, you rotten little…"
"GREAT AETHER!"
Juri was jostled off her feet and had to hold on tightly once the unseen blade had been seized in mid-air and used to slice off the helicopter's tail, sending it shooting down the ground in a fiery crash. What caught the attention of the troops on the ground wasn't the crashing aircraft, of course. It was the brave (and possibly insane) man that had brought it down with nothing more than a sword that landed on the ground in a crouching position moments after achieving the amazing feat.
He seemed to be in his mid-twenties, and he was without a doubt ungodly strong since he'd both taken a helicopter down with a two-handed sword and was holding said sword with only one hand (because only scrubs use two hands, perhaps). His spiky blue hair had a headband running through it, flowing behind him as did a long dark red cape. The cape was accompanied by a brown vest, white trousers, tall boots with blue plates of armour attached, and a single blue spaulder on his left shoulder. His face looked very chiseled and serious, much like Chris as a matter of fact. Even so, he didn't look threatening as he approached Saya with a smile.
"Good moves." he said. "But I think you ought to leave the fighting to the warriors next time. Just a thought."
The man assisted Saya in helping Mewtwo and Chris up off the ground, the latter brushing himself off and panting heavily.
"Man…I don't know what kind of steroids you must be on, but…I'm impressed." he breathed, holding out his hand in a gesture of welcome. "Chris Redfield."
The man smiled and nodded before taking Chris' hand and shaking it.
"Ike of Crimea at your service."
"Nice getup." Jill said with a smirk as she came up to the group. "What're you doing all the way out here?"
"In all honesty? Haven't a clue."
"Hm…whoa, hold up!"
The flaming wreckage of the helicopter stirred before several metal plates were launched away, Juri jumping out almost instantly. The second she spotted Chris and Jill starting to raise their guns at her, she turned around as sped off over the landscape.
"Halt!" Chris shouted, motioning to run after her, but only succeeding in getting blocked by Ike.
"Leave her be. We don't need her trying to injure anyone else."
"So you plan on coming with us or something?"
"Considering I haven't a clue where I am and you people seem nice enough, why not?"
"Alright. Parker. Help me load Mewtwo up."
Parker nodded and came over to assist, but began staring at Saya in disbelief.
"Not that I'm unhappy you saved Chris, but…shouldn't you be dead? You just got riddled by a gatling gun, for Christ's sake."
Saya didn't answer him, and he saw no reason to pester her about it. Jill led Saya, Ike, and ROB to the nearest armoured vehicle that was empty save for four figures sitting in the passengers' compartment, one of these figures instantly familiar to Saya.
"Trish?!" she sputtered.
"Saya!" Trish sighed before pulling the girl into a soft embrace. "Oh, thank God you're okay."
"Nice to see you, too…nice suit."
Samus smirked and gave her a two-fingered salute.
"Nice save. You mind explaining it to us?"
"I…" Saya started before her eyes inevitably averted to Krystal. "Whaaaaa…"
Krystal rolled her eyes with a smirk.
"Relax. I'm tame."
"Hop in, Saya." said Chun-Li. "We gotta bail before more of those guys show up. In the meantime, you've gotta tell me and the rest of the gang how you survived that."
Saya entered the vehicle, but as the door closed and it began rolling across the ground toward Tokyo, her mind began racing again. She was happy to be out of S.I.N.'s clutches for now, but she couldn't help but think that things were only about to go from bad to worse.
"Is something wrong?" asked Ike.
She looked up at him with a solemn expression and wanted to look away, but his soft gaze kept her from doing so and wrenched the words out of her.
"…is it just me…or does it seem like we got away way too easily?"
Well, how about that? Someone asks for Ike and he turns up in the very next chapter.
And as for the sheer randomness that is ROB, come on. It was either him or Mr. Game and Watch.
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Saya, Ness, and Lucas- "Pollyanna" from Earthbound (SSBM)
Marth to the rescue- "Together We Ride" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (SSBM)
X and Zero versus Kirby and Meta Knight- "Meta Knight's Revenge" from Kirby Super Star (SSBB)
Link versus Morrigan- Morrigan's theme from Marvel versus Capcom 3
Link versus Dante- "Never Surrender" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Krystal and Trish versus the Moblin horde- "Lock and Load" from Devil May Cry 1
Krystal versus Mewtwo- "Poké Floats" from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Saya versus Ghirahim- Ghirahim's battle theme from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Frank versus Ghirahim- "On a Mission" from Dead Rising
Courthouse caving in- "No Redemption" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Samus escapes- Metroid Prime main theme
Chun-Li versus Samus- Chun-Li's theme from Street Fighter IV
Standoff on Mount Fuji- "Douchuumen" from The Mysterious Murasame Castle (go on Youtube and look for a version by a group called ysk1210)
Saya and Lucas- "Love" from Mother 3
"LET'S ROCK!"- "Devils Never Cry" from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
The Devil Trigger- "How Old is Your Soul?" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Ryu and Ken versus Juri- Ryu's theme from Street Fighter IV
Jedah's assault on the airship- Airship theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 (SSBB)
S.I.N. versus B.S.A.A.- "Ride on Sea" from Resident Evil: Revelations (or Biohazard: Revelations if you live in Japan)
Ike to the rescue- "Eternal Bond" from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (a.k.a. the only Fire Emblem game I've played all the way through. T_T)