Salem sighed at the stupidity of those who resided in this world.
He didn't feel like fighting so he made polymer masks out of his nanobots and shaped them so they looked like they had no faces.
Handing them to the two women, he explained why he wanted them to wear them.
"I don't feel like fighting and I want to see their faces when they see three faceless people approach them in unison." Salem said chuckling. "We should also let out muffled screams to make it seem worse."
Alina and Ruby shrugged and complied.
Salem instructed them to tilt their heads to one side and time their steps to a certain beat and then they waited for the men.
Salem felt a flash of inspiration just before the men entered the alleyway. He put his palm over Alina's mask and when he saw them come into view through his bugs he raised his head.
....
The men had come across a disconcerting sight. Three individuals had entered this alleyway. Two of them were incredibly attractive, so they had thought they'd please their boss with two "gifts".
Unfortunately, they were now faceless. It seemed the male had stolen their faces to the men.
The male's head jerked up when he heard their footsteps.
Turning, they saw them step slowly, but steadily, towards them, each had a hand outstretched.
"Maybe we should leave." One of them said.
They were all shocked to hear a muffled, yet bone-chilling scream come from one of the new faceless.
From the other, they heard a muffled "Help me.", causing the men to feel frightened.
Suddenly, one of them moved to the frontmost man and placed its hand upon their face.
The man screamed in terror as an amorphous silver substance came out of its hand and covered the man's face.
The man felt his face get covered by the substance and panicked, trying unsuccessfully to escape its grasp.
The man abruptly stopped struggling and stood up in the same manner as the other three.
The four faceless people abruptly moved and took four more of the men's faces in the same manner.
The remaining seven men turned and fled, all thoughts of pleasing their boss with new toys abandoned in the face of their utter terror.
Their fear intensified as they heard muffled laughing coming from the faceless people chasing them down.
Every one of their movements was perfectly synchronized. There was no deviation in their movements.
The rest of the crowd ran with the men in terror, stampeding away from the faceless people.
Rather than chase them, Salem had them all move synchronously out of the city.
There were no guards, which struck Salem as odd, but he didn't think much of it as he marched with his five new captives and Alina and Ruby.