CHAPTER XL
KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND
Master Maximilian paced back and forth in the holding bay on the Nexus Machine. Everything was looking up, for once. The Legion was growing ever stronger, with bases in various places across the universe – The castle in Radiant Garden, which he so graciously had let Leon and Tifa take charge of; The former Organization Headquarters in the World That Never Was, which he knew Maleficent and Pete were controlling; the asteroid base in the eastern sector of the universe, which Ember, Jafar and Vincent were now overseeing, due to Vincent's inability to do it himself; and the Nexus Machine, which Maximilian himself was proud to say he commanded.
Radiant Garden had already fallen to the heartless. That was an excellent win for the Legion. He stopped by the wall of posters that Sora had seen back when he was imprisoned. When he found the Radiant Garden landscape, he scrawled a massive circle on the picture.
Maleficent had reported that the residents of Emptiness Crossing in the World That Never Was were as good as slaves, though Maximilian was always prepared for an uprising. He placed a massive question mark on the picture of the World That Never Was.
He found the picture of Monstropolis' Scream Factory and angrily slashed an 'x' on the poster. "One loss, just one loss…" he quietly said to himself. When he was forced to draw another 'x' on Treasure Planet, he sighed. "Make that two…"
A door-sized hatch opened up next to the posters with a mechanical whirring noise. Vincent walked through, and immediately bowed deeply to Maximilian.
"Master, the Legion Knights have all assembled in the meeting room…whenever you're ready, we can begin…" he said, emotionless. Ever since Sora and his friends had miraculously escaped from his clutches, Maximilian was keeping very close tabs on Vincent. He nodded and shooed Vincent from the room.
Ten minutes later, Maximilian walked into a large room, full of glassine windows facing out into the emptiness of space. The Nexus Machine was not so much a spaceship as a moving base that happened to be capable of space travel. The meeting room was sparse, save a large computer screen and a large oval table which had nearly twenty seats circling it. In the center of the table was a small hologram projector, very similar to the one Sora and Jim had seen on Treasure Planet. In fact, it was made with the same technology – when Ember had gone there, he copied the main idea of the displayer, but couldn't mimic the portal technology…the closest he could come was displaying an image of the world on the computer screen.
It worked well enough for Maximilian's purposes. Pete playfully jabbed at different planets in the projection, as the computer screen changed to show that particular world. He laughed like a small child playing in a cardboard box…up until Maximilian entered the room, his tall frame towering over the Legion Knights sitting around the table.
Vincent took his seat across from Pete as Maximilian sat in the large, ornate swiveling chair at the head of the table. Sitting to his left and right were Maleficent and a strange man that none of them had ever seen before, with the exception of Maximilian. His mask was much brighter than the others, with large, red lips and eyes that were slotted upward, like a cat's. This Strange Man had more markings on his suit then everyone except Maximilian, and he sat with his leg arrogantly crossed over his other. His hands pitched a small tent as he held them over the table, tapping them ever-so-slightly.
Maleficent's normal black robes were replaced with robes that bore the Legion's tribal markings. Her horned appendages were covered in the third-most markings.
Next down the line were the Silent Man and the only other Legion female besides Maleficent. Leon and Tifa kept their masks on, as did most of the other Legion members.
After Leon and Tifa sat the pudgy Ember, still wearing his Unsmiling Mask. Across the table from him frowned Jafar, who opted not to remove his Frowning Mask as well. Vincent and Pete were at the end of the table, and it was clear that their suits had the least amount of tribal markings.
Maximilian said nothing as he raised his hands, causing all eyes to shift to him. The doors cracked open and revealed a new Legion member, sashaying his way into the room like he owned the place. He wore a long, black toga, which barely had more golden and silver tribal markings than Pete's. His mask was strange – it only had two eyes peeking out from a large red flame that covered the entire face of the mask. The Burning Man walked up and stood by Maximilian's side.
"Our newest recruit. The Burning Man – otherwise known as Hades," Maximilian said, gesturing for the Burning Man to head down the table.
"That's Hades, Lord of the Underworld…just keep that straight, okay?" he said to the Legion Knights, passing by Jafar. Noting that they were not amused, he chuckled and added, "hey! I'm just kidding…sheesh…"
"Move you slovenly oaf," Maximilian said, as Hades stood behind Pete's chair.
The room was silent as Pete stared into the hologram, still amazed by its pretty green glow. When he felt the dagger eyes of everyone in the room staring at him, he looked up sheepishly at Maximilian. "Uh…who, me?" he said, knowing the answer.
"NOW!" Maximilian's judgment was never clearer. If ever anyone questioned his authority in the Legion, that cry removed all doubt. Pete quickly jumped over a seat, relinquishing his position to the newcomer. In a flash, some of Pete's tribal markings disappeared as Hades' robe became slightly more decorated.
"Last time I do you any favors, ya jerk…" Pete said, remembering when he had worked with Hades in the underworld during Sora's last journey.
"Hey, them's the breaks, kid," Hades said, turning his attention back to Maximilian, who had once again raised his hands over his head.
"This intimidating figure to my left is also a relatively new recruit, though his track record is sparkling. Why, this fantastic example of darkness has more than proven just how ruthless he can be… You will refer to him as the Strange Man, at his request."
Everyone looked at the Strange Man as he barely shifted his fingers, resting his elbows on the table.
"Now that our new Knights have settled in, we'll get down to business. The Dark One's location has been hinted at by the girl, Kairi. Play back the tape!" he said, as the speaker system crackled on. Soon, the voice of Kairi rang out through the meeting room.
"Sora…don't worry…even if they do find Riku, he can handle himself. Besides, they'll never be able to get to him where he is…"
It played twice and then shut off. Maximilian tapped his fingers on the table, looking at the Knights as they remained motionless. Maleficent cleared her throat.
"Yes, Maleficent?" said Maximilian.
"Master Maximilian…the place of which the girl speaks is certainly Disney Castle. They posses the Cornerstone of Light, which prevents the darkness from entering the castle…surely if that wretched Mouse is still on their side, they've taken advantage of his protection. In fact, a faction of heartless space vessels were destroyed quite near Disney Castle right after the Battle of Radiant Garden…" she said, her eyes darting around the room at the rest of the Legion Knights. She was quite pleased to be able to help her master with such a fitting piece of information.
Maximilian's ever Smiling Mask for once revealed his true emotions. "Good, very good. Thank you, Maleficent…you are a wonderful informant…"
In his computer room based in Disney Castle, Cid was accessing the audio files of each of the computers he had integrated into his laptop…the computer that Cloud had linked him to on the asteroid base was full of revealing audio recordings…it seemed that they left the recording devices in their bases on as a defense…but in this circumstance, Cid had turned it around to be very much to his advantage.
He smiled as he lit another cigarette. "They can't be that dumb…" he said, as he heard Maximilian tell Maleficent that she was a wonderful informant. "But I've been wrong before…" he muttered, as he jogged from the computer room to alert Merlin and the other friends.
