The briefing was quick and precise, Yao Jing able to concisely describe the happenings over the last seven hours. After he had fainted, Arthur had been brought back to the clan building under guard while the remaining members of the Suey Ying tong had been killed or taken prisoner. The impromptu alliance had then split apart, the immediate demands of the alliance fulfilled.
“But they still want something, right?” Arthur cocked his head to the side as he led the way down the hallway, searching for the exit. Thankfully, finding the staircase down was not hard and he still recalled details of the map well enough.
“Of course,” Yao Jing said. “Who gives anything for free?”
“Captain America?” Arthur said, wryly. “Spiderman?”
“They’re not real, lah.”
“Mother Theresa?”
“Heard she’s not nice, actually.”
Arthur stopped halfway down the stairs, hand on the railing—he was being careful on his way down. He looked back at Yao Jing, frowning. “Really?”
“Ya.”
“Shit.” Arthur shook his head. “You going to tell children that Santa Claus isn’t real, next? How about taking my UBI fix, dick.”
“Do I need to?” Yao Jing snorted. “That’s a Western thing, you know. As if we have chimneys. Aircon ducts maybe.”
That brought a laugh to Arthur, only for him to grip his side in pain as it sent arcing tendrils of agony from his wound through him. Still, the image of a portly Santa Claus trying to squeeze his bulk through air conditioning ducts like a wizened, bearded John McClane was hilarious to him.
“You good, boss?”
“I’ll live.” A slow deep breath as the laughing stilled, and then he kept going down. Meeting rooms on the bottom floor, his own residence at the top. Why was it that the more “important” you were, the more walking you were supposed to do?
He was nearly to the ground floor when Uswah found him. He blinked, remembering the mission he had assigned her, to find and save the prisoners. “How’d it go?”
“Easy.” Uswah shrugged. “We found them.”
“How many? Any, uh . . .” He trailed off, not wanting to describe it.
“Four. Three of ours, another random that got swept up because she was a woman,” Uswah said in return. “Two guards. More intent on watching one another than us.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Problem?”
Arthur considered that question, his own feelings. Truth was, it mattered little to him. A small part of him, the part that had grown up in Malaysia was a little disgusted. Mostly though, he found that his feelings were cold, dispassionate. He cared not what they did, not in this case.
“No. You got them out, right?” Arthur confirmed.
A nod, and Arthur gestured down the way. Uswah stepped aside, following him down as she continued her report. “We got them back. Amah’s handling our allies, but it’s all breaking apart. Now that the Suey Ying aren’t a target . . .”
“There’s no reason to be with us,” Arthur said. “And we aren’t strong enough, not ourselves, to keep them together. Not when other trouble might be coming.”
“Pretty much.”
“Then what do we do?” Yao Jing said from behind the pair.
Uswah shrugged, not having a suggestion. Nor did Arthur, not at this moment. Everything that happened had been a headlong rush, from one crisis to another, and then nothing. Now, he had time to plan, and Arthur realized that he really sucked at it.
***
“You have no idea what you’re going to do, do you?” Amah Si said, arms crossed in the meeting room. There were only clan members in here, a good hour after Arthur had finished adding a slew of other members of the Thorned Lotuses to the clan roster. No improvement to the clan stats, though, nothing beyond a minor upgrade in their Credit Rating, and he still had no clue what it did.
“Nope,” he said. There was something freeing about being brutally honest. And in here, with Amah and Uswah, Mel, and Jan, nothing else but frank honesty would suit him. Even Yao Jing had been relegated to the outside of the room. “Do you?”
“We need allies. You risking your life, risking the clan because of some foolish, juvenile notion of heroism—that set us back further than you can believe,” Amah said, scathingly.
“Really?” Arthur said. “Or was it the fact that you were willing to let one of your own people die, for nothing more than a short-term gain?” His gaze trekked over to Mel. “Sometimes trust, once broken, can’t be repaired.”
Mel’s face was stoic, showcasing nothing of her feelings or inner thoughts.
“And if you had died? The clan would have gone. Just like that. After everything we sacrificed,” Amah bit back.
“They sacrificed.”
“Now, you want me to plan for you. Figure out what we’re going to do, when you can just destroy everything I’m working for in moments.”
Ah. And so here it was. Arthur let out a long sigh, knowing that it had come to pass now. The struggle for supremacy, between him and her. Who really ran the clan? For a moment, he regretted having let her in, having so easily given her what she wanted. Not without knowing how to kick her out.
And yet . . .
“Yes. Exactly,” Arthur said. “And if you don’t like it, I recommend you leave.” Arthur leaned forward, wincing a little as his side throbbed. “This is my clan. I told you that. I told your people that. I’m sorry it happened this way, but there’s only one way this is going to work, and you know it.”
“You think you have a clan without me? Without my people?”
Arthur cocked his head, looking over to Mel, Uswah, and Jan who sat around the table. He looked at them, people he had fought with, suffered with. Then he took a gamble and gestured. “Why don’t you ask them?”
His words shocked the older woman. She turned then to her people. Or what she had thought were her people. In her eyes, there was a trace of doubt now as she awaited judgment.
“I’m with you, Amah. Always.” Jan fixed Arthur with a flat look, but she was no surprise.
Uswah spoke next, her voice soft. “I joined to climb.” She raised the stump of her arm now. “That doesn’t seem possible, not if I follow you, Amah. I’m sorry. At least he’s got a way. Maybe.”
Amah growled, but eventually nodded. She understood. How could she not? Then, there was one left. And this time, Mel stared back at Amah, her gaze weighing against the other. Recollection of all that had been said, all that had been done, reflecting in both their eyes.
“Do you need me to say it?” Mel said, eventually.
Amah Si held the other woman’s gaze for a long beat more, before she ducked her head.
Into the uncomfortable silence, Arthur forged on.
“Well, that’s that then. Can we move on to something more productive?”