The kidnapping went on for a few more hours in different areas around Fargo, and the various teams soon converged as their captain—Garan—had finally arrived in the area.
Through the Aether letters, they had mapped out each others' locations and determined where to meet up. For safety, every one of their 'victims' had sacks on their heads (made from cheap hemp cloth—very rough—with a quality they usually used as mops in Altera). There were even a lot of dirt and bugs in there, just to make things harder for the bastards.
Garan decided to set the meeting in Mao's camp, which was most mature due to Chris' OCD and Mao's convenient earth abilities.
Eagle's was also nice, but they camped very near the mines and, due to the number of people there, there were also more mobs. They cleared some to lower the death count of the slaves, but now that the team had to meet up, it was not practical to be there anymore.
Speaking of mines, they looked at the three new rescues they had. One was a poor thin guy named Thomas. Next to him was a former policeman named Bruce and finally a little girl named Lina. They all used to be from Bright, and they naturally had a lot of questions about what happened to them.
Anyway, when they got rescued and were treated, they told Eagle and the others about what these men did to their people. While the Alterans couldn't touch those stationed in the mines (yet) to remain low-key, they certainly vented a lot on the 'kidnapped' men.
Naturally, Eagle forwarded the info to Garan and the rest of them. Considering what they knew, every and each one of these bastards—perhaps except Gian—had violated other people in that way. Whether it was man or woman, adult or child—they had done something gruesome to at least one of them.
The imagery burned everyone's stomachs into acid, consequently adding several more bruises to the Fargo men.
Sammy, in particular, was very passionate about torturing the bastards more. They would kick, punch, and step on random balls, enticing many many yells around.
They would scream and sometimes a bug would enter their mouths and then their souls would die of disgust. The bugs they put weren't lethally poisonous, but a few of them did have some very painful effects on the men, especially when their immune system was down due to their various injuries.
There were plenty of men who asked to be killed because it felt like they were being bitten by ants from the inside. They weren't, but the tingling paralysis effect of the bugs was something they'd note for future reference.
When someone was especially annoying, Mao would get more bugs—they had learned a lot about these things through Althea—and then placed them in their clothes, before kicking them again, yelling at them to 'stop dancing'.
The others watched the show in interest, and Mao looked at the 'slaves', pointing at the bastards currently being tortured by Sammy. "Would you like to try? It's very therapeutic."
Thomas and Bruce looked hatefully at the men on the floor, but sighed in the end. "Unfortunately, we cannot hurt them even if we wanted to," Thomas said, and Bruce nodded.
"But we are happy to see them suffering like this. Thank you, for everything."
Sammy smiled, "No problem. We're kind of indirect old friends, after all," he said and the policeman smiled.
Bruce had already heard about Tom and the others from Eagle—it was the first thing he asked when he realized they were from Altera.
His baby daughter was doing well in Altera. He heard they had also enrolled her to the school there. He also heard from Sir Garan that she even played in the arcade.
Bruno couldn't imagine what kind of arcade they could build in a place like this, but they said Lily was smiling and that was more than enough for him.
Regardless, the largest weight had been lifted already and he could smile so widely despite being a lowly slave because of it.
Thomas, on the other hand, looked at the men suffering vindictively. While there was none among them who had taken advantage of his wife, he knew these people had done similar things to others so he still hated them to the core. Seeing them suffering like this made his eyes water a bit.
Ah, he wanted to stab them too, but unfortunately he was still a slave.
…
Garan and the others soon started a formal meeting, consolidating their maps and their plans, ensuring the 'main force' participating in the war would be as prepared as possible.
As for the kidnapped men, they were handled differently. Overall, the Alterans had taken about a hundred strong men from Fargo, who were stored differently according to their uses. A good fraction of which were aborigines from the so-called Rongo Mercenary Team. Gian was also there, tied and for 'trial'.
Most of the ones that they'd keep alive longer than others were buried by the earth users like Mao, Gill, and a few others. Only their nose would be outside to keep them breathing, which also meant they could discuss things as needed because the men wouldn't be able to hear it.
They also added some insect attraction potions in them (Althea thought of many things) and they would be suffering insect bites from the underground insects and be unable to scream well because they'd be underground and doing so would make them swallow dirt with who-knew-what inside.
"So Althea and the rest of them should be going through this spot. This area would be the second choice if it was closer to wherever the array would take them," Garan said, pointing at the weak areas in each side of Fargo.
They proceeded on analyzing the walls. "The outer wall is easy. It's large in diameter and is only level 2—even lower than the buildings inside. The inner wall is the problem."
The group continued to chat and strategize. Beside them, Eagle couldn't help but comment.
"Walls were probably very expensive. I can understand why Fargo is pushing concrete."
Other than the men's crimes, they also got some other news from the two 'slaves'. One was that the slaves were divided into two groups. Less than was left in the mines, while the rest were in charge of processing it, turning it to concrete, and the like.
"Pity it can't be used to reinforce walls," Mao mumbled, earning him a soft thump on the head care of Sammy.
"Don't you mean 'luckily'?" After all, adding that could cause a bit more trouble to them as the attacking territory.
"What? I believe Altera will get this place! Believe it til' it's true." After all, he believed they'd get limestone and be able to mass produce concrete—he naturally wanted it to be as useful as possible!
"Ah, makes sense."
"They also found copper," Bruce added beside them. There were so many things they had to discuss before so this particular detail passed by their heads.
He didn't think too much of it because, like Fargo, he didn't think they'd be able to use it very soon. Unexpectedly, the Alterans whipped their heads to him, almost at the same time.
"What?"
Bruce flinched, a little scared of the apt attention. "...What?"
"You said they found copper?"
"...they did. In the Southern part—"
Mao almost jumped at this. "Hey! Isn't that one of the few materials left before we can get electricity?" This meant he could finally charge his phone! He can finally videotape the evil men they were torturing!
"You're right!" Sammy said, nodding, eyes also bright, mind already wondering what their research center would come up with!
As if a signal, a discussion exploded, and for a moment they focused on this particular development.
The two slaves gaped at them as they chatted.
Were they seriously discussing electricity right now?