Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20161216022828/@comment-25389303-20161222182621

Diaboli's eyes widened in surprise for a split second at the mention of his lieutenant's name. But not for his safety, but for Blanc's. He'd been very, very thorough in erasing any indication of her existence to keep her safe, but if Zanipher somehow knew about Medicus - who admittedly hadn't done a terribly good job at hiding his identity when he first turned to crime - then perhaps she knew about Blanc as well? Zanipher almost certainly mentioned Medicus to show off her knowledge and to intimidate him, but he doubted she knew how close she'd come to stepping on landmine by bringing up the names of his subordinates.

"You've done your research," he said, hiding his surprise with a confident smirk, pretending that he couldn't care less. "He's safe and sound in Mistral, just like everyone else." Quite frankly, Diaboli wouldn't be particularly concerned if all nine of the Dragons used every Lien they had in order to find Medicus. The doctor could hide himself so well even he wondered whether or not he could find him, should the man decide that he didn't want to be found.

After walking another couple of metres in silence, Diaboli remembered the second question Zanipher had asked - and it was something he'd actually pondered several times.

"If the Nine Dragons of Vale are a tightly-knit group of wealthy, powerful factions working together to continue their own existence, then the Patched is the exact opposite. There's actually only one other member of the original Patched gang still working for me - everybody else is part of a subjugated gang under my control."

Diaboli adjusted his patchwork scarf as he explained. "Rather than deal with the day-to-day problems of running such a massive criminal empire, I just let the gangs act like they are still independent. Every leader has a second in command just waiting to take their place, and that is especially true for street gangs. All I had to do was send Smiler around, have him take out their leaders, and then make a deal with their second in commands where they take control, but I get a large cut of their profits. And, whenever I need some muscle, I can call on them to lend me their men for whatever I want. After that, I just need to sit back and watch the money roll in.

"Of course, occasionally I had to send Smiler back to make sure the money keeps rolling in. After all, fear will only inspire loyalty for so long. But from that point on its just a matter of repeating the same method over and over again. Hardly any of the members of the Patched are actually aware they're in the Patched in the first place, which just makes my life so much easier."

(Sure, I was actually thinking the same thing)