Ai took one more gaze towards the woods and sneered. "Mai, tonight we will re-setup the traps so that humans won't notice them." Ai could only chuckle to herself if they thought that just because they had a good look at the base they would be able to get an idea of where her traps were hidden. She had originally only wanted to use them for machina since she had the automated turrets but now she decided to reset them all up for humans. Luckily the inside traps were already done in this way.
"Good idea..." Mai's expression did not look good, she was a bit worried about what was to come. She did not trust these men for the life of her and hoped nothing would happen by bringing them in.
"Don't worry they will be locked up for now." Ai said as if knowing Mai's thoughts. Sure enough her words calmed some of Mai's worries.
"Wait, you are taking us, prisoner!?" Shogo asked only to get glared at by Eiji.
"Shogo, no one will fault you if you didn't talk. Of course, we are prisoners. Do you think three men who came out of nowhere asking for refuge will be trusted from the start? You have to earn trust." Eiji said disdainfully. He was starting to wonder if bringing this fool was a good idea.
"Speaking of trust..." Ai said as they entered the upstairs main hall. "Each of you needs to drop your bags and strip."
"You what!?" Shogo's face turned green. He really wanted to cry right now. 'Was this girl a pervert!?' was what was going through his mind at this moment.
"No one cares how small or big your pecker is. I need to make sure you have no hidden weapons. So either strip or I use you as a test subject, pick now." Ai's voice was cold. She did not want to deal with this any longer. If she did not need the extra manpower, she would not even go through all of this.
"Miss… Umm, what is your name?" Even Eiji was blushing but he still complied. He figured if his future woman wanted to see, he would show!
"You can call me Ai. Let me make things clear here and now. Until I need you, you will be locked up. I will make sure you get three meals a day and water. But the first sign of you doing anything suspicious, as I said before, I will kill you. If it were not for the fact that you all brought me into your mess, I would not care whether you lived or died." Ai did not even blush as she looked at the three, now standing in the nude. Mai on the other hand covered her eyes only to peek through the cracks in her fingers. As for the men, they were each covering the private areas with blushed faces. Even Yoshi the oldest was finding this whole situation uncomfortable. Even more so, after what was said next: "Foreheads on the wall and spread the cheeks."
Shogo's whole head was completely red as tears streamed down his cheeks, he had never experienced such a thing in his entire life. What made it worse was when he glanced back Ai even looked at this crotch and laughed.
"Mai, did you find anything?" Ai asked as she kept her gun trained on the three men.
"Two sets of binoculars, three pistols, and lots of ammo. They also had a few combat knives, two grenades, a few sets of clothes, and a little bit of food and water, nothing else. Not enough for us to be worried about. No shortwave radios or anything else." Mai felt much calmer after this search. She was happy Ai went this far, or she would have been very worried.
"Alright give them their clothes back the rest we will hold on to for now." Ai said as she turned to Shogo who was the most embarrassed out of them all and said: "Little guy, are you sure your, not a girl?"
*Pfft!*
Eiji did not care what he looked like at this time as he let out a laugh. "Haha! Shogo she got you!"
Eiji had also lightened up a bit. He knew he would still be locked up but with Ai joking around he felt her killing intent towards them had reduced by half, this was a good sign.
After getting dressed Ai led the three men to the basement area. Yoshi couldn't help but comment, saying: "You girls really nabbed yourself a good place."
"I have to thank you three for that. You helped a lot with pulling the machina away long enough for us to clean up. Although I say this it does not mean you will not still be locked up. Give me a few days and I will give you something that will allow you to roam around a bit" Ai decided she would make a collar that would explode if they left a certain area. It would also explode if tampered with. This was one of the ways that in a few years, the slave traffickers would control their goods. If tampered with or left the confinement area set on the collars they would explode taking the head off the person wearing them. These could also be controlled remotely by a remote switch as well.
Shogo did not know why but when he saw Ai's eyes, he had a chill run down his back. Ai of course noticed Shogo's frightful gaze, which made her wonder how someone so scared of his own shadow was able to survive up until now.
--- Authors Words---
I must apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas for those who celebrate it. In this time where many are in lockdown or staying apart from family in fear of passing this stupid virus around. I wish you all a safe and healthy holidays and for those who have loved ones who are sick, my best wishes and prayers go out to you all.
-invayne