Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20160207063839/@comment-5999656-20160514045501

Fen told Zanipher everything. About how she'd been shafted into a team with Cyzarine Bluthardt, how that had ended horribly. How Platinum had been intrigued by the murders and taken off after them. How she'd gone back to Cyzarine because she'd thought the Dragons would not help her. All of it.

Zanipher sat in silence for a few seconds afer Fen had finished. True - it was not the policy of the Nine Dragons to get involved with personal feuds. But they were paid to do what they did best, and investigation happened to be the specialty of the Daybreak Syndicate. Even so, giving a typical monolugue about protocol seemed like sidestepping the bigger issue, which was that Fen had thought that she could not come to her big sister for help when she needed it most.

Zan leaned forward, allowing her dark eyes to meet Fen's light ones.

"Fen. Don't ever go to somebody outside of the network for help. All you have to do is come to us, and all of the Dragons' resources will be available for you to use. I can vouch for that."

"Oh yeah? And what am I supposed to say when I drag a bunch of criminal masterminds into the public eye to save my friend? 'Sorry, I have connections?' "

"You were afraid of jeopardizing the Syndicate, and pulled an unpredictable outside faction into your personal mess, just to come right back and ask me to help you in the end. If they choose to pursue this issue, the two organizations could easily cross paths in the near future. How is this situation any better than how it would have been if you'd come straight here?"

Fen broke eye contact, feeling the shame well up inside her. There it was - her lack of forethought and inability to pick a side were creating all sorts of problems. This proved one thing - there was no going back to her old, careless life.

Zan leaned back and clasped her hands.

"So you get the idea," the young CEO finished. Instead of pushing the topic, she slid a few tabs around on the projection between her and her sister, so that two images showed on the screen. One profile shot of a woman, neat and smug, was displayed, next to that of a rough young man with narrowed eyes and one hell of a glare.

"Everglades Zaroff. Worked as an on-off assassin for the Dragons, but dropped off the grid over ten years ago. She gained some notoriety in circles for her extremely unusual methods of murder, and because she tended to get sidetracked by the thrill of the kill rather than finishing the job quick and getting out of there. She's not particularly strong, never attended any combat academies, but her knowledge of chemistry is extremely thorough. Probably a university grad who used her skills to destroy rather than create."

Zan pointed to the male next.

"Vayne Fuller. Seems like your typical brawny thug, all muscle and not much brain, typical spawn of the streets. But when he unlocked his semblance in the middle of a job one day, he became that much more formidable. He's immune to chemicals. They don't do anything to him. Mutated Aura maybe, who knows. He," Zanipher gestured back at the woman, "And Everglades teamed up and found that they worked perfectly together. Chemical reaction."

Fen nodded. "So you think they're the ones behind the murders?"

"It's a foregone conclusion. There are almost no people in the business who use such flamboyant methods, and Everglades provides the plan while Vayne provides the force. Otherwise it'd be impossible to kill effectively with such difficult-to-control substances."

"So where can we find them?"

"Aha." Zanipher raised her eyebrows, and gave a mock smile. "Let's not be too eager, even if they're close. We compared the sites of each of the killings, but found that there was no correlation with a central base. They seem to follow a rough path though, so they probably operate from a mobile home. We weren't able to pin down an exact site, just a radius." Zan reached up and slid the headshots off, bringing up a map in their place marked with the locations of each murder.

"They've moved away from the city, towards the suburban limits. Our best bet is to do some investigating with the locals with the images we have of Everglades and Vayne to solidify their path. Aaaand you're coming along, aren't you?" Zan said, bemused by Fen's set expression. The girl cringed.

"I can read your body language," Zan said before Fen could ask. "Basic requirement of investigations."

Fen waited, but Zanipher said nothing more.

"You're not gonna try to stop me?" That was surprising, since it seemed like this was dangerous business she would be getting into.

"It'll give you an idea of how we work, so maybe you'll be more willing to trust us once you see how effective we can be." That was the logical explanation. But even Zan had enough experience with human emotion to realize that logic usually vanished in the face of strong feelings. That was the only option; either you went after what mattered to you or you gave up caring about anything. And somebody who didn't care, especially one who had lots of talent and did nothing with it, was doomed to waste their entire lives.

"Believe me, Fen, it might sound strange but I know what it feels like to have a best friend put in danger." Zanipher rose and patted Fen firmly on the shoulder before exiting and signaling for the Huntress to follow.

"Hopefully with my help you'll actually be able to save her."