HYPERION
After waiting four hours,at the thirteenth hour,all the enforcers in Or were assembled. I came out of the office with Jorge. "What I want you to do is, first of all,give me a list of all enforcers who are stronger than you,take a roll call and tell me all those who are missing and their excuses. That's not unreasonable is it?",I asked. "Certainly not, I'll get to it right away",he replied .
After an extra two hours,Jorge was done and gave me the list after dismissing the enforcers."Wow, some of them are still going back home", Ida said. "Why not, they're not going to do anything just because they were called back. Plus,I don't need them right now. Crazy how only one person in this station is stronger than the fat man,guess he has some juice. Also crazy how he also didn't come for roll call and had no excuses".
After taking the man's file from Jorge,I sat on a chair beside his office and read.;"Luiz haffmann,age thirty eight, enrolled fifteen years ago and was transferred to Or after three years of service,Or native wife and a ten year old daughter,guess he got busy fast. Anyway,this is exactly what I was looking for,come on a journey with me",I told Ida.
We walked over to Luiz's house. It was a pretty average bungalow with a lush lawn and grey paint with goofy paintings on it, probably the work of his daughter. After knocking,a woman opened the door, she was dark skinned with curly hair."Anything I can help you with?","We are here to see a mister Luiz",I responded. "I'll go get him",she said as she closed the door. After a minute,a hefty man showed up at the door. "What do you want?",he barked. "We are huntsmen,we came to help with your infestation",Ida replied. Come in,he said. He took us to his dining room, please sit, "thank you",we chorused. "Now, what infestation are you talking about?",he asked. "I know you've been fighting crime,or at least planning to, your background kind of says it all, family man,has people to protect,but also strong and hasn't fled for some reason. You're torn between prioritising your family,or your sense of justice. But that doesn't matter to me, I'm here for information on corvus aurum",I answered. "First of all, assuming I am what you say I am,why should I trust you",he asked. Firstly, you basically just admitted it,now for your question, because we're stronger than you and haven't killed you yet, that proves we aren't working with the ravens. Two,I know you don't have a group, which means I'm not trying to get into any inner circle either. And three,you can't do anything, meaning giving us a shot is worth it",I replied. "A lot of holes in your argument",he said. "Didn't really have time to think up valid points",I replied.Okay I'll trust you, follow me.
He took us to a sort of shed at the back of his house. As we got in,he shut the door,then he pulled aside some sand to reveal a door leading to a sort of basement where he had a man tied up. "I don't know much about the ravens,but I manage to capture this man,he works for them"."Well, would you mind telling us your part before we move to the main dish",Ida said.
"The corvus aurum is apparently a very large group,so I don't have much information on them",he said. "Oh no bother,our goal is the Or unit,so just tell us what you know about these ones",I replied. "Okay, they came here about eight years ago. This town was rich in natural gold,but they began to rob the miners on a daily basis. Eventually,the miners stopped going to the mines,so the ravens came up with the strategy of kidnapping children and wives and demanding ransom in form of service,so peace became something bought with a large portion of gold from us. The enforcers had been trying their best,until all of a sudden head enforcer Jorge became more active in our activities,dissuading us from work,and eventually banning patrol. Eventually,he came out bare and admitted he worked with corvus aurum. A lot of the force joined him or refused to speak out,I was outnumbered. So I basically left the force and tried fighting on my own. I'm not going to lie,I wasn't really doing much interrogating with this man in as much as he was just an outlet for my frustration",he narrated. "So are you saying you torture him",I asked,"not really,I just punch him and ask him to tell me what he knows",Luiz replied. I raised my head and squinted my eyes in disappointment. "You don't actually torture him",I yelled puzzled. "Even children are resistant to punches these days,I know you didn't have any actual aim,but I still have to say,that was pointless. Thankfully,I've come to your aid. How soundproof is this place?",I asked. "Not at all sound proof". I sighed disappointedly. "Ida,a little help". Sure,she replied. We took a bunch of ropes and tied up the man more. I picked a pair of pliers. "Now",I said. "I shall begin with your fingernails and tornails,then your head hair,then armpit hair,then the hair in your special place. If that is not enough,I might or might not flay you,all you need to know is you might or might not run out of life before I run out of methods,so try hard for the both of us since your death won't benefit any of us. Now the rules;you are to wink three times to signify surrender. No partial answers,if you are not willing to tell us all you know, don't surrender. Finally, don't die".
The man's screams were so loud I almost couldn't bear it,I had to increase the amount of cloth I put in his mouth. He surprisingly had the fortitude to take complete hand and feet denailing. "A tricky one",I thought inwardly, "but hair pulling is too bloody,and I have no will for that today",I added. "Look,we are done with your nails,so, we'll move to the next method,but first, I'll take your sight". I shone an intense beam of light at his eyes. "Now,nod if you can still see",he didn't nod. Well,I sat on a log nearby,"so are you ready to speak",he affirmed with a nod. "Don't scream",I said as I took of his gag. "What made you decide to speak,did you really love your sight that much, because I have to confess,you won't be permanently blinded by that. I still need you to see in case you want to lead us somewhere". "Actually,he said between sobs, I surrendered after you took my fourth fingernail but you didn't notice me wink". "I'm sorry for that, you were just very loud",I said. "I know recovery magic,I wanted to use it after the denailing was done,but I saw that you were a tough nut",I caught sight of Ida sighing exasperatedly.
After I reduced his pain with recovery magic and used a rag to wipe his face,we untied him since he couldn't really run from us."So,are you ready to tell us everything?",I asked."Yes", he replied.