Zhen Liu had initially planned to don the mask from his mother’s torture case and just communicate with the main branch..."ambassadors"...and negotiate with whomever was on the other end of this right there and then.
However, he realized just before doing so was stupid idea, since he had the natural topography behind him.
If there’s one thing he remembered about spycraft movies, you do any negotiations in a generic looking dark room because that prevents better trained intelligence officials, and/or determined internet trolls, from ascertaining one’s location based on environmental clues.
The saga of a certain flag and a certain internet forum was thoroughly ingrained in his mind.
That being said, unfortunately Zhen Liu couldn’t just drag these two into the family’s dungeons or into his own room without causing an equally bad uproar.
It was a bad look dragging a single person into a torture cell, it was an even worst look dragging into two.
Luckily for him, he had a magic key to a building full of such rooms and then some...he just needed to double check something.
________________________________________________
’Is it safe to assume I can bring Bellona, Matilda and Alicia with me to the Library?’
=Milord, you are the current owner of the Library. You are free to invite whomever you wish.=
’Fair enough, but I’d rather not risk them suddenly getting attacked by automated defenses...or memory wiped.’
=Ignore them, just open the gate and we’ll handle the rest.=
________________________________________________
With the okay given, Zhen Liu proceeded to prepare a gate to the library under the curious gaze of the three ladies he made sure were vetted.
Jin Fang on the other hand saw what he was doing, and sat on the ground in preparation. She learned after the first trip that it was less disorienting when sitting down.
"Huh? What are you two...," Alicia was about to ask, until she saw that Bellona had also sat down in preparation for... something.
Alicia looked at Matilda for a moment before shrugging and gesturing her to follow suit.
Once everyone was seated and Zhen Liu finished drawing the gate, he turned towards the group.
"Now then, keep your arms and legs inside the door at all times until we reach our destination," Zhen Liu announced before activating the key.
One moment there was a young man, four young ladies and two tied up hostages at the bottom of a quarry, the next, they were gone.
________________________________________________
=Welcome to the Library of Nowhere, my current name is Logos. Please take this opportunity to freak out as necessary and prepare any questions you may have so that we can answer it later on to the best of our abilities.=
"Oh, so you’re the voices I’ve been hearing in Zhen Liu’s head," Bellona commented as she eyed Logos’s and Pathos’s current feminine form up and down, with a small hint of jealousy for some reason, ,"I feel like I’ll need to come here with Xiao Liu more often now."
"Oh, well tha-wait, kids?"
Alicia on the other hand was gobsmacked as stared at the countless shelves of the Library, alongside her maid Matilda.
"Matilda...are we still in Stone Claw?"
"I don’t think so milady...but I’m not sure where we are either...also, pardon my language, but holy shit I didn’t expect your future bridegroom to have this place as part of the skeleton in his closet."
"Also, I say this with sincerity with milady, if you don’t tie the knot with him soon, I might do it just for the benefits."
"Haha, very funny," Alicia mocked...while also taking the threat mildly seriously...
Meanwhile, Jin Fang and Zhen Liu discussed what the plan was here.
"So...are we still torturing them now that we’re at the library, or-"
"First," Zhen Liu interjected, "remind me later to ask you later why you seemed to know how to use that stuff...and what my mother does exactly."
"I make no promises," Jin Fang casually answered.
"Second, technically yes, we’re still torturing someone. But it’s gonna be less...blood and bones and more... psychological horror show."
"Don’t worry about it," Zhen Liu said as he waved off the question due to realizing that "psychology" doesn’t exist in this planet, yet, and went to go bother his two soon-to-be assistants.
"Logos, Pathos what’s the-"
=Ah, perfect timing milord. We’re all set for you to negotiate your stalkers,= Logos interjected, =I shall bring along the "cameras", just follow me.=
Under the directions of Logos and Pathos, Zhen Liu and the girls went their separate ways into two rooms that while disconnected physically, we’re connected in a special one way manner.
________________________________________________
=Alright milord, free to look through the disguise closet while I set up Bonnie and Clyde here.=
"I...ya know what, I’m not gonna question it...I don’t think I can," Zhen Liu commented as he stared into what was essentially a modern indoor stage set complete with costumes, but with the more cybernetic stuff he was used to seeing replace with aether tool equivalents...it was rather surreal.
Why was this door placed right next to the bathroom doors...he wouldn’t know.
Taking Logos’s suggestion in mind, Zhen Liu made his way over the closet and took note of what was available.
It was all rather... ostentatious.
"Okay, I am counting like three suits of armor, a funky necromancer robe and something I’m ninety percent sure should be worn for a very different type of production. What gives?"
=One moment,= Logos paused as he set up the two stalker hostages. The two of them were being rigged up in this weird contraption that could manipulate them like a zero gravity camera puppet. Once she was satisfied with the rigging, she turned to answer Zhen Liu’s question.
=Simple, milord. You’re attempting to intimidate those "main branch" fellows while maintaining an air secrecy, right? Coordinating with Pathos, the two of us designed these disguises based on your past attempts to be secretive and some items of interest in regards to your "pop culture".=
"Uh...huh...I was about to ask if I could introduce some form of limit to Pathos’s access to that section...but I get the feeling you tried."
"Right...I’m gonna go make myself look like an evil masquerade wizard."
=Of course milord, tell me when you’re ready.=