Narrowing his eyes as he found himself thinking about how many people had allowed themselves to sell out their integrity for the protection of the Borgia, Ezio sighed as he remembered again just how precarious the situation in Roma truly was. He and the rest of the Brotherhood were trying to make things better, but it was slow going and it was only natural that the citizens would crave some surety amidst all the chaos surrounding them. And, under the circumstances, it was all too easy to find oneself with no other options than to turn to the Borgia for what protection they could offer.
It was a shrewd plan, for all its cruelty, and he knew that Machiavelli approved, in his way.
Sighing again, Ezio shook his head as he, Ottavio, and Primo continued on their way through the streets, searching for the merchants who had sold out their fellows for the dubious protection that the Borgia would be willing to offer. Primo Penna had offered to come along with him nearly as soon as the pair of them had spotted each other within the Brotherhood's hidden headquarters on Isola Tiberina; it was more than clear that the young man was trying to impress him, and thus to make his courting of little Maria all the more simple.
It was, thus, with a certain sense of nostalgic amusement that Ezio brought him along on this latest of his excursions into Roma on the Brotherhood's business.
As the three of them fanned out, each one of them seeking one of the merchants that had allowed themselves to believe the Borgia when they made their offers of protection – likely enough with the threat of brigands that they themselves had paid off as a further incentive – Ezio found himself as calm and steady as he truly could be under the present circumstances. He kept half an eye on Primo, of course, since the eagerness of a young man – particularly one who wished to impress someone – could easily carry him away during this kind of work. Ezio knew the feeling.
He wasn't about to forget the foolish things he'd done when he'd been courting Christina, so long ago; not that little Maria would have allowed him to do such a thing, anyway.
Once he'd managed to find the first of the merchants who had sold out their fellows for what meager protection that the Borgia were willing to offer, Ezio killed the man quickly and silently with the hidden-blade clasped around his right wrist. Once he'd finished performing the man's last rites, Ezio moved quickly away from the stall where he'd been kneeling, after taking a moment to snatch what was clearly the bribe money that had been left with the man when his contact had departed. The Brotherhood could always use the funds, and depriving the Borgia of both their money and influence in Roma would only be a good thing.
Spotting a group of Borgia guardsmen out of the corner of his right eye, Ezio melted back into the crowds, checking to see if they were merely patrolling and he could leave them for later, or if they'd managed to spot one of his apprentices and he'd need to deal with them quickly. As he tracked them from the rooftops, Ezio breathed a sigh of relief as they passed by. He hadn't been looking forward to being forced into combat against such a large group.
Making his way back down to the street in the absence of a cushion of either hay or leaves swept clean from the streets, Ezio breathed deeply for a moment as he rose back to his feet, and then hurried in to the site of a large cloud of smoke that had clearly been deployed by one or more of the apprentices that Ezio had brought with him into this engagement. Narrowing his eyes as he activated his second-sight, Ezio found himself smiling softly as he found that there was not a single red-shaded enemy form moving about within the cloud.,
Joining up with the group as they made their way away from the place where the last of the two merchants who had sold out their fellows in exchange for what dubious protection that the Borgia would offer to them, Ezio kept himself alert for any other guards or Borgia soldiers who might try to attack them even at this late stage of things. He also found himself wondering what little Maria was doing. Whatever it was, he hoped she was all right.