Cesare Borgia sipped his glass of wine, as he looked out through the glass of his hotel suite's windows out onto twentieth-century Rome.
But it is not the modern city that he sees before him, instead overlaid it he sees the fifteenth-century city of his youth in all its filth and glory.
But unfortunately for the ultimate Condocterrie Captain, he was not in the city of his birth to remember his family's reign over the eternal city, instead, he was here for business, one of the few things that could get him to leave his island after centuries of life.
And so, draining the last few drops of the wine, the Man stood, brushing down and straightening out his impeccably tailored black suit, not like there was anything to straighten out of course, but still, His crimson aura flared to life around him and the air filled with the aroma of cinnamon as he used the slight reflection in the window to make sure he looked perfect before he left the hotel room.
To be frank, calling the Palazzo Manfredi a mere hotel room hardly did the place justice but still Cesare left the spacious two floor suite and soon enough arrived at the lobby where his driver was waiting for him. "Are you ready to meet the client Generalissimo?" Micheletto Corella asked softly, using the archaic italian both men spoke in their youth when the two immortals first met.
"Si" Cesare said in the same tongue, hardly stopping as he left the building, Micheletto a step behind him and to the right, ready to tackle his friend and boss to the ground if a sniper dared to take on the most dangerous of the living immortals. But luckily for both men, they made it safely to the parked limousine, Cesare sitting in the back seat while Micheletto took the driver's seat and began driving to the designated meeting place, slowly making his way through the convoluted traffic that fills Rome's streets at all times.
But at last the duo arrived at the gates to a stately palace on the outskirts of the city, on paper the palace was owned by a shell corporation which was owned by a shell corporation which was co owned by two other shell corporations and so forth and so forth until one would practically need to be an immortal in their own right to even come close to finding the true owner of the palace.
The Car was stopped at the gate by two large bulky men clad in matching charcoal suits and wraparound mirrored sunglasses, whom Cesare's experienced eyes doubted were fully humani based on the greenish tint to their skin.
However after the guards waved handheld scanners over the vehicle they nodded to an unseen camera and the gates opened clearing Micheletto to drive through into the grounds and park in a prepared spot by the large double doors held open by uniformed servants, but Cesare and Micheletto glanced at each other through the rear view menu and nodded, both knowing that the army needed work and so simultanously exited the car and walked through the aforementioned double doors and into a massive lobby, its marble floor gleaming in the light streaming through the door, while waiting for the mercenaries just inside was a tall, but aged man clad in a blue and gold uniform.
"Monsieurs Borgia and Corella?" the attendentant said in polite french, and although both men were a little shocked to have their birth surnames spoken by a stranger, they were hardly surprised considering who they were here to meet so they nodded in agreement even though the guards would have hardly let anyone else into the estate.
"If you would follow me please Monsieurs the Grand Duchess Romanoc is waiting on you in the Amber Room" the attendenant said before turning and heading towards a pair of double doors tucked beneath the staircase in the foyer which he opened and bowed as the two mercaneries passed by him and into the opulence of the Amber Room,which even to the experienced eyes of two immortals, one of them a Borgia amd the other his right hand man was magniicent, they took a minute to exame the work of art they last saw in the 1940s when they saved it from certain destruction under contract to the woman they had come to meet. It was only once Cesare had finished looking over the piece that he turned and acknowledged the heavy set elderly woman sitting in an arm chair by a fireplace, faced by a table that had a porcelain teaset as well as two other armchairs, But Cesare bowed slightly to the woman and kissed the back of her offered hand "Good evening Madame Catherine" Which Catherine the Great politely nodded in reply to Before Cesare sat down in one of the offered Armchairs while Micheleto followed his Master's lead in greeting their hostess before sitting down.
But it is not the modern city that he sees before him, instead overlaid it he sees the fifteenth-century city of his youth in all its filth and glory.
But unfortunately for the ultimate Condocterrie Captain, he was not in the city of his birth to remember his family's reign over the eternal city, instead, he was here for business, one of the few things that could get him to leave his island after centuries of life.
And so, draining the last few drops of the wine, the Man stood, brushing down and straightening out his impeccably tailored black suit, not like there was anything to straighten out of course, but still, His crimson aura flared to life around him and the air filled with the aroma of cinnamon as he used the slight reflection in the window to make sure he looked perfect before he left the hotel room.
To be frank, calling the Palazzo Manfredi a mere hotel room hardly did the place justice but still Cesare left the spacious two floor suite and soon enough arrived at the lobby where his driver was waiting for him. "Are you ready to meet the client Generalissimo?" Micheletto Corella asked softly, using the archaic italian both men spoke in their youth when the two immortals first met.
"Si" Cesare said in the same tongue, hardly stopping as he left the building, Micheletto a step behind him and to the right, ready to tackle his friend and boss to the ground if a sniper dared to take on the most dangerous of the living immortals. But luckily for both men, they made it safely to the parked limousine, Cesare sitting in the back seat while Micheletto took the driver's seat and began driving to the designated meeting place, slowly making his way through the convoluted traffic that fills Rome's streets at all times.
But at last the duo arrived at the gates to a stately palace on the outskirts of the city, on paper the palace was owned by a shell corporation which was owned by a shell corporation which was co owned by two other shell corporations and so forth and so forth until one would practically need to be an immortal in their own right to even come close to finding the true owner of the palace.
The Car was stopped at the gate by two large bulky men clad in matching charcoal suits and wraparound mirrored sunglasses, whom Cesare's experienced eyes doubted were fully humani based on the greenish tint to their skin.
However after the guards waved handheld scanners over the vehicle they nodded to an unseen camera and the gates opened clearing Micheletto to drive through into the grounds and park in a prepared spot by the large double doors held open by uniformed servants, but Cesare and Micheletto glanced at each other through the rear view menu and nodded, both knowing that the army needed work and so simultanously exited the car and walked through the aforementioned double doors and into a massive lobby, its marble floor gleaming in the light streaming through the door, while waiting for the mercenaries just inside was a tall, but aged man clad in a blue and gold uniform.
"Monsieurs Borgia and Corella?" the attendentant said in polite french, and although both men were a little shocked to have their birth surnames spoken by a stranger, they were hardly surprised considering who they were here to meet so they nodded in agreement even though the guards would have hardly let anyone else into the estate.
"If you would follow me please Monsieurs the Grand Duchess Romanoc is waiting on you in the Amber Room" the attendenant said before turning and heading towards a pair of double doors tucked beneath the staircase in the foyer which he opened and bowed as the two mercaneries passed by him and into the opulence of the Amber Room,which even to the experienced eyes of two immortals, one of them a Borgia amd the other his right hand man was magniicent, they took a minute to exame the work of art they last saw in the 1940s when they saved it from certain destruction under contract to the woman they had come to meet. It was only once Cesare had finished looking over the piece that he turned and acknowledged the heavy set elderly woman sitting in an arm chair by a fireplace, faced by a table that had a porcelain teaset as well as two other armchairs, But Cesare bowed slightly to the woman and kissed the back of her offered hand "Good evening Madame Catherine" Which Catherine the Great politely nodded in reply to Before Cesare sat down in one of the offered Armchairs while Micheleto followed his Master's lead in greeting their hostess before sitting down.
"Why have you contacted us Madam?" Cesare asked after a minute of silence between the trio.
"I need you to bring me an Immortal" the Russian says, sipping on a cup of tea.
Both mercenaries looked at each other in slight shock. "Catherine, did the tribunal give you permission to attack one of our own?" cesare asked bluntly, even the thought of the retributions even a single member of the tribunal could bring to bear, let alone all three making him forget his manners.
"Oh of course" the old woman said brightly, passing him a sheet of yellowed parchment which Cesare dutifully read, raising an eyebrow before passing Micheleto the parchment who read it likewise.
Cesare sighed, knowing the target even after being weakened would still be no small feat "Give me ten million in coin and you can consider it done" he said, resigned after a moment of inner deliberation.
"But of course my dear Generalissimo, now go kill Niccolo Machiavelli for me-"