Those who are gone

"Ok, let me see if I got this right. You can summon an arsenal of autonomous weapon constructs with the same intelligence as pretty much anyone, and you can also make a few of them into actual people?" Zestra had an expression of utter disbelief.

"That's the gist of it, but I can only make a limited number of them into people, and there are some requirements for it," Hera nodded. Livy was by her side in her Cerulea form while Lurize stood behind her, still staring at the elf. On the other hand, Nimbus was grabbing some drinks and snacks for everyone.

"And how did that let you find out where I am? I'm not much of a fighter, but I can hide from pretty much anything," Zestra leaned back on the chair. They were now in the dining room since Becca didn't want to risk having someone walking in on them.

"During the time I got lost, I also got a title," Hera replied.

"A title!" Zestra gasped.

"Well… two, actually. One related to sensing mana, which is how I found you out, and another that protects me from ailments, but I didn't get a chance to see its effects yet," Hera explained. She trusted Becca enough to share all this, not to mention Nimbus, Lurize, and Livy had already shown themselves. Since her cards were already on the table, she might as well show her hand.

"Ok, but how did you see me?"

"The mana title lets me feel mana better, and you were like a blank spot. As if the mana couldn't get to where you were. I'm guessing you were following us for a while, but I only realized it when we got here because I'm very used to the mana flow in my house."

"Really? That… sounds really hard to do," Zestra scratched the back of his head. Becca couldn't help but find the reaction odd. The spy was always confident, but seeing him like this was somewhat refreshing.

"It is, but like I said. I'm used to this place, Daskka. Can you help me?"

'Sure, mum. What do you need?' the snake poked from her shoulder. Hera didn't meet Becca with the herald out, but now that they were home, she called her to participate in the conversation.

'Can you use your mist to make a visualization of how I noticed him?' the Empress asked as Nimbus arrived with the sodas and snacks for everyone.

'Of course,' Daskka announced proudly, creating a mist with a humanoid-shaped hole in the middle.

"It was kind of like seeing a place like this. Again, I only noticed because I'm very used to this place. If we were somewhere else, I would have to spend a few hours or even days getting used to the area to see it as clearly as it was here. But now, can we change the topic? I want to understand what is going on here," Hera smiled at Zestra and turned to Becca with a firm expression.

"I agree. We should have time to talk about this later," Becca nodded and took a sip of the soda, "I already told you the gist of it. Still, there is a place, around 40 rooms away, where the guild is holding people captive. I have the information about that here," the reporter pulled a small metal lighter. She clicked the lid twice and tried to make a light five times before pressing on the sides. Then a hologram of a computer screen appeared above the lighter. Becca placed it on the desk and started moving things around, opening a few files and spreading them out for Hera to see.

There were pictures of the place, including a few recordings of the security cameras and a list of all the people locked in there. The facility wasn't as large as she expected, having only about 150 people crammed into 50 2 x 2-meter cells. They didn't seem to have a yard or anything of the sort, and according to one of the papers, the prisoners never left their cells, not even for showers. But the cherry on top was that none of them had a reason to be there. The documents were actual prison documents, and they had an empty box labeled 'Reason for Incarceration,' and most were blank. The ones who weren't all had the same reason marked 'Last Line of Defense sympathizer.' People were being locked up for being sympathizers, not even suspects or something like that. This felt dystopian. People were being tossed in cells just for thinking the opposition had valid points. At the same time, Hera knew this was a bit of a stretch. Maybe they were not just thinking that the Last Line of Defense was right but were actively supporting them in some way. But even so, would that be fair? Sending people to prison without a trial, without any evidence, or at least, without showing that evidence to people.

"And… there is also this," Becca pulled a single sheet of paper. A list of people who were supposed to be transferred to that prison.

Hera didn't recognize any of the names, not until she reached the last five. They were all dwarves from Boothudurn, and among them was Silah.

"How long ago did you get this?" Hera asked, trying to contain her emotions.

"Around 3 months," Becca replied.

"3 months? But… Silah was still here back then," she glanced at the date on the document. It was from 4 months before the current date, "What the hell is this?"

"From what we gathered, they were already thinking about doing something with these people for a while. There is a workshop going on, sponsored by a large government of dwarves. But, we think there is a fringe ground inside their parliament. A group that doesn't want to show strength against the guild but just thinks they should lower their head and keep quiet to avoid any conflict. I won't bore you with the details, and there are a lot of them, but basically, whenever the guild asks them for something, they help them. They believe this is what is best for their people."

"They are just a bunch of spineless pricks if you ask me. Even if their idea was reasonable, there is a line you shouldn't cross no matter what," Zestra huffed.

"And they have. The guild said that they noticed how some of the people registered for that were suspected to be part of the Last Line of Defense. And, their reasoning wa-" before Becca could finish the sentence, Zestra interrupted her.

"You mean excuse."

Becca turned to the spy with a stern expression. "I'm telling Hera the information we got, not what we think is going on. She's the one who decides if she can help or not. And if you can't let me talk without interrupting, it's better for you not to be a part of this conversation."

Zestra raised his hands, showing he wouldn't do anything, and slumped back into the chair.

Turning back to Hera, Becca continued, "Moving on, their reasoning was that if they staged the vanishing of the entire group, they could pretend it was some weird MAZE thing instead of an actual kidnapping. That way, the LLD wouldn't notice right away."

"That's stupid. If they really were involved, the moment one of them lost contact, they would change all the plans that person knew about," Hera shook her head.

"Exactly!" Zestra nodded with a smile, but seeing Hera's expression, he realized it wasn't the time for jokes.

"That is also something I considered. It was a bad excuse; even the dwarves who agreed to help were suspicious. Some of them reached out to one of my contacts and shared the location where they brought the people they kidnaped. The facility I showed you."

"Wait! They already were kidnaped?" Hera jumped up, with Daskka doing the same.

"Yes. About a week ago," Becca showed a couple of pictures of a large group of around 50 in front of a bus, "This is the last picture we have of them. The guild dispersed a sleeping potion in the AC unit, knocked everyone out, and then took them to that room."

"The dwarves that were on the guild's side told you about it?" Hera asked.

"Yes, they had to help the entire process, but some grew a conscience. Or were just scared of being caught," Becca nodded.

"I thought we weren't going to say anything based on opinion," Zestra smirked.

"Sue me then, " Becca rolled her eyes, "The same people also planted a mole in the crew. They changed buses every room, and that prison is around 12 rooms away from where they started. The mole also gave us confirmation of their current location, and he will help us when we make our move."

"Didn't you say it was 40 rooms away? Also, how were they able to make people cross while sleeping?" Lurize noticed what looked like some holes in that story.

"They woke them up and told them to cross. If you use the right spell to wake someone up from a sleeping potion, it is easier to make them do things as long as it makes sense... Saying, 'Hey, we arrived. Can you go through the doorway and go inside the next bus?' Wouldn't be a hard sell. And our road there would cross 40 rooms. They will likely know we are coming if we use the same path they did."

"Ok, but if they are missing for so long, why the rest of the dwarven government didn't say anything? I talked with Rutigan yesterday, and the workshop seemed to be going well," Hera was still trying to find something that could prove Becca wrong. Something that would tell her that Silah was ok.

"Making this workshop wasn't something easy to do. They used a good amount of favors, and having the participants vanish would prove any of the criticism of their opposition true. In the end, it is bad PR. The only way for them to get out on top is for them to find the participants themselves. Which they won't be able to do since there are people in their own government who are working against that. Today marks a week since they vanished, and this is the moment when they don't have another option but say what happened. If they try to stay quiet, people will start asking questions, and when the truth is revealed, it will be worse for them. If you would like, we can wait until the evening. They should be letting people know about the missing participants today. Maybe they already have."

Hera frowned, but out of curiosity, she pulled her tablet. It was on silent mode ever since she met Becca. There was one message from Rutigan asking her to meet right away. She sent a question as a reply, 'Is Silah missing?'

The answer came right away, 'Yes.'

The Empress looked up, "Are the people who were kidnapped in serious danger?"

Becca paused for a moment and pulled a few documents. Some were about deliveries to that room, and others were files of the old prisoners, "No one ever left that place. The oldest captive on record has been there for around 10 years. They also sent a bunch of materials and equipment that you would expect to be used in animal testing, but the dimensions of the things are not right. They are bigger than they should be. We also have this," another file appeared, with a list of all the people who were there at one point, but they were marked as 'Released,' "I have no more information about any of these people. Not ever since they were 'released' from that place. I don't want to say it, but I think they are all dead. No one vanishes without a trace. No one. If they are alive, they either find a way to escape and vanish inside the MAZE, or they just go crazy and can't be close to others anymore. They could have also changed identities completely, but someone helped them, and even then, considering the numbers, it's a stretch."

"And how long have we got? To save them. In a worst-case scenario."

"The shortest amount of time someone was there before being 'Released' was three weeks. Does that mean you are going to help us?" Becca asked.

"Yeah. I'm in," Hera pointed at the list of people participating in the workshop. Specifically, Silha's name, "This is my ex. And I still care about her very much."

"Oh… I knew this name sounded familiar. I'm sorry to hear it. When I asked for your help, your connection with the people of Boothudurn was part of the reason. If they see a face they can trust, it might help us get them moving faster. I didn't expect you to know one of them that intimately."

"I honestly don't care about the reason you came after me, Becca. I just want to know how we are going to get them out of there."