Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-25582638-20151210004452/@comment-5999656-20160207052049

Taken aback, the plainclothed agent looked at the large bodyguard who had appeared out of nowhere. The rest of Zanipher's undercover men casually glanced over to see if the contact would devolve into a brawl.

"Uh, yeah,where the hell did you come from?" he snapped. Instead of pursuing the topic further he bent down to pick up his Scroll, and wiped it on his jeans.

"It's no big deal," he muttered, before walking past Brunhilde and down the stairs.

____________________________

Zanipher stood silently with Fen in her office as they prepared to call the Suzhens. The young woman was proud of the fact that her plan had gone more or less perfectly according to protocol, and thus would begin a new chapter not just for the Nine Dragons but for herself as well. Even so, she had a sudden moment of doubt when she realized, as if in a sudden bout of lost humanity:

What have I done?

She had pulled in her innocent younger sister not just for business reasons but to satisfy her own loneliness. Now she would make her own blood a part of the machine which she had been built to serve since birth. It was, in a sense, literal doom. Once you join the mafia, there is no conceivable way out other than death. And Zanipher had not hesitated in making her sister a part of this unbreakable bond.

But I have done nothing more than what has been expected of me.

It wasn't that bad once one got used to it. You had the guaranteed protection of a massive network, and those who worked hard and worked smart would rise to become not just a part of the machine, but an operator of it. Zan had done just that.

She reached forward and called the direct line to the Suzhen's. Once the phone started ringing, she handed it to Fen.

"I think... your parents will be best able to explain it to you."

"Explain what?" Fen's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Your parents and I... are affiliates of the Nine Dragons of Vale."

Fen's eyes widened with shock, but by then her father's voice could be heard on the opposite end, and after a brief exchange he began to spill everything. Everything except Zan's blood relationship to Fen, which she was making sure to save for last. Otherwise, the poor girl might completely panic and lose control.

(Well, that's that!)