@Athos Horse said, a lot have changed these days. "The family is not as united as it was, Jim-Mac, our voice of reason is missing and assumed to be dead as well as many of the family's inner circle. You did not hear it in the news of course with multi billion cooperate buildings razed to dust and undead walking the streets, our problems are no news at all. One of the rockets however, did not miss it's target like claimed in the news. It destroyed a small, inexpensive and in-distinctive building in the Barrens. Nothing at first glance, but in this 'nothing' we held an emergency meeting. A meeting to decide what do do about the Yakuza. Coincidence? extremely bad luck? I do not believe in these things. They were so discreet about that meeting that even I was not notified beforehand. They trust Valentina, not me you see I am not part of the inner circle. Even if I run the show right now at least for our branch. "
He sighs, "After such a disaster nobody in the family is going to talk to anyone else, we are back light years in the matters of trust. Somebody betrayed us and it is not just you and Yulia and Valentina. I had to find Valentina if anyone would know what to do it is her, but nobody knew anything about Valentina, none of her contacts non of her enemies nobody in the shadows she vanished without a trace. "
Horse pauses, and look you in the eyes.
"I still haven't answered your question have I? Who is joining us? Like I started telling you each of my investigations have been one dead end after another. Could Valentina really disappear of the face of the earth without any recorded evidence accross the city, no contact that is willing to speak and even mages that cannot locate her with their super fancy mojo?
It was Yulia, that told me the answer. You see, Yulia has this mentor, Tony he is one of the brightest people there is. If I cannot find Valentina I wanted some advice from Tony - but as I was told Tony was also nowhere - was he? At first I was but then questioning the staff here I eventually learned that Tony has never left the Gate. Not since his meeting with Yulia, moreover Valentina has explicitly forbidden anyone to see him. That sounded a bit fishy for me, and still Zombie apocalypse and family breaking apart required extreme measures so I went to see Tony.
Guess how did that go for me? "
Horse stops dramatically, he obviously has some sense of drama.
" Our iron lady, stayed at the Casino the entire time. She hid with Tony - her old mentor and the two seemed to be hitting continuing from where they stopped many years ago. She seemed happy, careless and completely in love with him.
It was a bit awkward to watch Valentina, so emotional but I guess they weren't expecting company. I guess we all have our soft sides - but then thinking about how lucky I was the paranoia started working overtime.
She couldn't have - could she?
Was I extremely lucky to find her this morning?
Is it possible that somehow, she was smart enough to play the entire family? the entire city? All of that while locked in a warded Faradey cage ? It is a bit extreme I know, but she is legendary after all - so before they are joining us, please tell me..."
He pauses and continues with a low voice: " Who blew up the warehouse, I do not care about the actual evidence give it to Valentina, I want your honest and informal answer - what the fuck happened in there. The entire city was alarmed by this overly priced warehouse. "
