Jai and his friends made sure to take the Clan invite, of course. Along with the help of the only actual nurse in the Clan, they'd managed to position his near-detached arm such that there was a good chance it would actually be functional. Right now, he was pouring whatever energy he had into fixing it most of the way, though he had been cautioned to leave the remainder healing for natural Tower processes on the off-chance it would do a better job than a rushed one.
Truth be told, Arthur figured the nurse was being too cautious, but since it was a matter of days rather than weeks or months, he didn't say anything. Also, he wasn't exactly looking at having her glare at him. For such a tiny woman, she had quite the ferocious look as she hovered around the injured.
Which should have been him, but he'd managed to sneak away by pulling rank. And the need to finish interrogation.
A small but busy group of Clan members were dealing with the bodies, stripping them of goods and clothing before hauling them outside. The bodies would eventually be tossed outside the city perimeter to allow the beasts to deal with them, unless someone came by to claim them.
Which would have been rather daring, all things considered.
In the meantime, mops and buckets and lots of mop were in play, while the remaining still conscious member of the gang was propped up in a corner, Jan seated before him, picking dried blood out from under her fingers with a knife.
Dramatic but effective from the way he was sweating.
"So, who sent you lah?" Jan asked, again.
"I told you, it was the boss! He told us to come, we come." The man half-sobbed out. "Please, don't kill me. I have a little brother!"
"So? So do I," Jan said. "I don't like mine though." Knife came out, pointed at him. "And I tak suka liars."
"I'm not lying!"
Jan leaned forward with the knife pointed at the man's eye, forcing him to lean back. He couldn't back off, what with being strapped to the weight machine with its weight on the bar and his arms tied to it in a spread-eagle fashion.
"Stop." Arthur said, causing Jan to look over at him, knife hovering in front of the other man's face, mere inches from punching into the other's eyes.
"Boss? He's lying."
"I know, but we're better than that," he said, disapprovingly. He waited for the man to slump a little in relief, before he continued. "Everyone just cleaned up this area. Don't make a mess again here. So inconsiderate."
Yao Jing, standing behind the other man and holding the barbell rack down with one hand just in case the other tried to jump up snorted. Arthur bent low, waited for Jan to move the knife away so it wouldn't be near him as he continued, speaking to their prisoner.
"You know who I am, right?"
"Ya!"
"You know where we are, right?"
Confused, the man said. "Training hall?"
"In the Tower. Where there's no actual laws," Arthur said. "No Geneva Convention, no civil rights. We want to beat you, cut you, kill you... no one really says anything, you know?"
The man blubbered again, "Tolong lah. I know nothing."
"And I want to believe you, but I don't. You must know something. Otherwise, I'll let her get it out of you. And if you think I won't..." He shrugged, gestured backwards to the exit and where the clan was still cleaning the blood out of the floor and equipment."
"I... Please..."
Arthur sighed, leaned back and pointed to Jan. "Give him a few minutes. Let him think about what he can remember. And then, if he doesn't tell us anything, you know what to do."
He waited for her to nod, then turned to their prisoner. "Just so you know, we moved your other friends to the other side, there, yes." A gesture to the end of the hall where the other two injured and unconscious members lay. He would have to make his way over, put some of his Yin energy into them to make sure they stayed asleep. "Anything you tell us, it better be the truth. Because we'll be asking them.
"And anything they tell us, you don't?" Arthur smiled.
"I don't what? What!?"
He ignored the man's shouting, limping over to check on the others. Sometimes, leaving the others to fill in the blanks was the best threat of all. He just hoped that Jan knew to only push it so far. As much as they might threaten torture, he didn't actually intend to use it. After all, it set a bad precedent - and left any of his own people open to retaliation of the same sort.
There was a reason there were lines in war. You tried not to cross them, if you could.
Of course, the fact that the 04 were a gang and not a triad, well, maybe someone was willing to cross those lines. If that was the case, then Arthur was just going to have to dissuade them.
Uswah, gliding up beside him as he limped over, asked softly. "So?"
"Nothing yet. We'll get something." He hesitated, looked at her. "Can you find out more? About the 04? Ask Casey and her people. Maybe the White Lotuses and around. I need to know what we're against."
"You think it's not just one group?"
"I don't know," Arthur said. "And I'd rather not be forced to keep guessing."
"Okay, boss." A one-handed lazy salute and then she slunk off as they crossed into the obstacle course, moving to disappear. He wondered if it would be wrong to buy a ninja costume for the Yin-bodied sneak. After all, the head covering would still keep her hair hidden, but it might be a little too on-point.
Dismissing idle speculation, he began the process of pulling energy into his body and transferring it to his hand. Both of the remaining members of the gang were here, both trussed up securely, one much more than the other mostly due to the injury of the second. In fact, other than a big blue-black egg forming around one head and a deep cut down one arm, the second opponent was doing pretty good. Well enough that he was glaring at Arthur.
"He say anything?" Arthur asked the guard curiously. He didn't even recognise them, though the way they held their weapon and the fact they'd arrived with the rest of the Clan, he'd assumed it was someone he recently added.
"No."
"Okay, one second then." Making a quick decision, he went over to the more injured one, letting Yin energy slide into their body. Laboured breathing evened out as they slipped fully unconscious, only for their other captive to thrash, spitting and swearing around the gag.
"Chill." He reached forwards, watched the man thrash and he pulled his hand back. "Chill, I said." Eventually, he managed to get the gag off without getting his fingers bit off which was always a plus.
"If you..."
"I put him to sleep. Helped him be in less pain." Arthur smiled, trying for kind though he was pretty sure he just came off cold. Hard to find empathy for a man who'd recently cut you up and you still sported a few of the wounds. "We're not monsters."
"What do you want?"
"World peace, a lot of beast stones and a dragon," Arthur said. "Barring that, how about your story?"
"Then what? You kill us?"
Arthur shook his head. "As I said, I'm not monsters. Your taikor got killed. No need to add you to it. You're just a soldier, right?" A reluctant nod. "So, I get promises, hang onto you and get ransoms. That's about it." He smiled. "If you tell me who your boss is and who ordered you here. The whole story, right?"
He watched a variety of emotions flicker across the man's face. Thought, consideration. Then he looked sideways, at the woman who had been watching him. His eyes widened and instinct had Arthur throwing himself sideways, a hand rising in a block. Spotting the parang, swinging sideways, meant for his neck.