Seeing this, she was left in a bind. On one hand, she wanted to find Light and Yukio, but on the other, she was in a weakened state and did not have confidence in confronting whoever took them while also protecting Ace and Rin. There was also the sleeping Xiao Ai to consider.
She could only use about 5% of her strength at the moment and could not use any of her superpowers. The only skills she was able to utilize was the psychic scan and the light connection she had between the ones who have her blood. In summary, the only thing she could really rely on in combat was her personal experience as an assassin.
Thinking for a moment, she decided that the best thing to do was to directly surrender. These Reapers clearly had the ability to think and she could tell through her connection that neither Light nor Yukio had been hurt.
She first took Xiao Ai out of the backpack and held onto her like a plush toy, then instructed Ace to carry the sleeping Rin with them. Walking out into the open, she held her hands up to signify that she was harmless as she called out, "Please come out. We would like to talk to you."
They were just met with silence. Ace looked around curiously, trying to find these elusive people she was calling out to.
After a moment, she decided to call out again, "You can really come out. I know you're there. I think you'd rather come to me than I come to you."
At that moment, the metal man and the eagle man came out of their hiding spot. "What do you want?" asked the metal man.
"I am looking for my companions who were staying at this house. I assume you were the one to take them," responded Aida coldly.
"Why would you, a Variant, choose to be around normal humans after they chose to shut us out?" asked the metal man.
"Variant?" asked Aida, "Hm… that's an interesting name. I like it." She could tell that the metal man didn't actually hate humans and was just testing the waters.
"I don't blame humans for self preservation. Besides, they never really mattered anyway," shrugged Aida. "It sounds like you did take my companions somewhere. Can you bring me there as well? I promise not to resist, besides I'm harmless anyway."
Behind, Ace almost fell over when he heard Aida's shameless comment. The metal man responded seriously, "I can bring you as long as you allow us to tie you up. I don't believe a Variant that can wander around the city with a kid and a normal human could possibly be as harmless as you described."
"Fine, fine, just do what you need to," Aida responded as she rolled her eyes. Then she hugged Xiao Ai tighter, prepared for the possibility of them trying to take her away.
The metal man then nodded to something behind him and the tree slowly morphed into a man. Aida's eyes widened slightly as she tried to maintain her cold demeanor. Ace, on the other hand, just watched on noncommittally as though he was bored.
Thankfully, the tree man wrapped up Aida and the others without removing any of their items including Xiao Ai. After that, they began their walk towards the base. The walk took roughly 30 minutes as the eagle was able to distract many of the Reapers' attention to clear out the road while also acting as a scout. The tree man acted as their cover for when they couldn't avoid trouble. During this walk, the metal man didn't take any action to fight but Aida was sure that he was the last resort for any emergencies.
Although she was currently being held captive by the group, she still gazed admiringly at the Variants. She was inwardly thrilled to see other superpower users that were sentient. This meant that she would get to have more fun in the future. The possibilities were endless.
Arriving at the base, they saw that it was a 3-story dormitory. This was a very interesting strategic choice. It appears whoever made this decision had received training before. 3-story is the perfect height for quick getaways while having enough rooms to accommodate everyone. Because the infected did not destroy all the infrastructure and buildings, it allowed for any survivor to live in comfort.
The three of them were quickly brought to a room with the door removed and replaced with reinforced bars. The window was similarly reinforced with metal bars as well to form a jail cell. Inside, Light and Yukio were sitting there chatting about something. When they turned and saw Aida and Rin, Yukio immediately leaped up and charged over.
The guard at the door was startled by this motion and immediately brought up his gun. Seeing this, Yukio realized his mistake and calmed down. At this point, Light intervened and stood between the gun and Yukio while apologizing calmly, "Calm down, this little kid is just happy to see his brother who he thought had gotten lost."
Pausing for a second while regaining his bearings, the guard slowly lowered his gun and allowed Aida and the others to pass through. Closing the door, he walked away, embarrassed that he reacted so strongly towards a human, and a child no less.
Light had long noticed that there was something wrong with Rin. Normally, Rin would have been the first one to charge in and start recounting their story immediately.
Seeing the concerned look on Light's face, Aida felt guilty. He trusted her to keep Rin safe, and she failed. Explaining stoically, "There were complications when we were headed to the house and we ended up being surrounded by infected. Rin swallowed a gem to save my life and in order to ensure that he survive, I had to infect him."
Hearing this, Light's fist tightened.