Cesare & Micheletto made their way to the cells, joined by ten armed guards who burst down the door to Mac's cell, swarming around him before he could react and adding extra security measures to him so by the time they were finished he was bundled in iron chains and with a mask covering most of his face with only his glaring eyes still being visible, overkill for what Mac appeared to be, ie a harmless old man enjoying his last days, but all aboard knew it was not nearly enough security for what he truly is and his guards watched him nervously as they forced him from his cell, With Cesare and Micheletto standing off, both men having their auras primed and ready to go if Mac somehow broke through the chains binding him and preventing the use of his own aura.
Four guards and the scorecommander stayed behind to watch over Billy but the rest lead Mac off of the plane and into a nondescript building nearby, nodding to each other, Cesare and Micheletto went to keypads on opposite sides of the room, they carefully entered their codes, taking pains that both ten digit codes were entered at the same time and when they were finished entering their codes a hidden door on one side of the seeming storeroom split-opened revealing an elevator paneled with gold inlay and mahogany wood.
The Party filed into the spacious elevator and as soon as the last person was inside the doors slid shut and began to descend, no button needed to be pressed, in fact there were no buttons to press.
It took five minutes according to Cesare's watch but eventually the doors of the elevator slid upon again, revealing a premium lobby, its walls and roof arched as if to compensate for how deep underground they now were. But although the lobby itself was nice, Cesare's focus was not on the lobby, instead on the twenty & one people waiting for them within, twenty of them were clearly guards, clad in white body armour and with white masks, Cesare was uncomfortably reminded of the knights templar by the masks, the twenty first person however was a dark skinned woman in a smart white pantsuit and holding a tablet. All twenty one people however be they in body armour or a pantsuit, had the same badge on their chest; a Diamond divided into four segments, each a different one of the four colours elemental, in order with fire on the top: Red, silvery grey, light blue, & light green.
"Hi there, how can I help you?" the woman asked brightly, ignoring the fact she was the only person neither carrying a weapon nor bound in chains.
"We were told by Catherine the Great to bring one Niccolo Machiavelli to the headquarters of the Quadumvirant." Cesare said gruffly, handing the woman the folded letter explaining the job details.
The receptionist took the letter and quickly read it.."all seems to be in order Mister Borgia." She chirped, and gestured for the guards to lower their weapons and they did. "Right this way please Gentlemen!" She began walking to one of the corridors branching off from the entry lobby, pausing at the archway to make sure the mercenaries and prisoner were following her before she continued, half of the guards followed them once they were through into the corridor, the rest staying behind to keep watch over the elevator.
Cesare idly looked at the artifacts on display as they walk;
A painting depicting the fall of Danu Talis, credited to Leonardo Da vince in the eighteenth century.
A six foot long cloak made of all yellow bird feathers.
Next was a corinthian helmet from ancient greece, or maybe ancient Mare Nostrum, not even Cesare could tell.
Several other artifacts came and went, including a stone from the Great wall of Chine, a collection of coins from Ptomolic egypt.
Cesare was perhaps most shocked by the Ancient Skeleton, he had never seen a piece of an Ancient's body and had only seen a few eons-old depictions of the Great Race before, so he paused for a moment to look at the spindle bodied, large headed, and six fingered skeleton before he noticed his soldiers had obediently marched past the artifacts so Mr. Borgia had to quickly walk back to his former place in the group as if he hadn't been about to be left behind.
As if the Ancient Skeleton wasn't shocking enough, he inhaled sharply as soon as he saw the next exhibit.
"Stop!" He ordered, and his troops stopped so suddenly that a pair ran into each other, Cesare made a mental note to punish the two when they returned to the castle, but for now his fury was focused on the receptionist. "Where did you get this?!" He half-shouted at the receptionist, pointing at the painting on display.
"What do you mean?" She asked serenely.
"Who is that man?" Cesare asked, the man had the same face as the one he had seen on a golden statue some five hundred and twenty years ago, the same face he saw as his brother died and he was awakened. But where then he had been clad in what Cesare now knew to be blue jeans and a t-shirt, here in this painting he was unkempt and clad in a black robe with a plain metal hook replacing one of his hands.
"Oh!" The receptionist chirped, "that is a painting of the mysterious being Marethyu, it was painted in the year 2013 by the Immortal Sophie Newman." She recited off the top of her head.
Cesare inwardly returned to his calm dismeanor but inside his brain was whirring trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle, all centered around one thought, "who is this Marethyu?"
With Cesare seemingly satisfied the party made it to the Council room, a two layered pentagon shaped space, with one side having the entrance and the other four sides, at least for the bottom layer were arched brick walls, the truly interesting parts were on the second layer, where the members of the Quadrumvirate were seated, a bronze portcullis slid shut as soon as the last member of the mercenary party entered into the room leaving the guards and receptionist behind in the corridor.
However Cesare dispite being trapped knew he was safe, he trusted the members of the Quadumvirant and if for some reason they turned on him him, Micheletto plus the soldiers could take on the four immortals arrayed before him.
The fifth figure on the second layer stamped his bronze staff creating a loud booming sound, clearing whoever designed the space made it so even the slightest whispers could be heard by all.
"The honoured Quadrumvirate welcomes you to their humble home!" The Chamberlain said loudly. "Master of Fire, Kamahameha the great, Master of Air, Alexander the Great, Master of Earth the Qin Shi Huang, & Mistress of Water Cleopatra", each of the immortals nodded down to the Mercenaries as each name was called.
All four were clad in matching black suits, the only difference in their attire being the tie each wore, each in the wearer's colour elemental.
Cesare bowed to each in turn, the other members of the party stood at parade rest, staring straight ahead, they all knew that Cesare preferred them to be seen, not heard when he was talking to powerful people. "Welcome honoured Peacekeepers of the Arcane, I have brought the notorious criminal Niccolo Machiavelli to your court so you might judge him for his crimes against the Russian people on behalf of the honoured Catherine II the great."
"We accept your offer and will judge him for Catherine so she will not break Dee's peace." Kamahameha replied after looking at the other three looking for their consent and all three nodded.
The dark skinned elderly man cleared his throat, and although she did not share his tã moko, Cesare could tell that the receptionist held some descent from Hawaii's uniter. "What crimes were you told to bring this Machiavelli to us for?"
"He lead the invasion forces of the battle of Stalingrad during the humani's 'world war two', he almost destroyed the city and was responsible for the deaths of three quarters of a million Russian cities. For those crimes and a hundred more over the centuries of his life this man." Cesare pauses for dramatic effect."has earned the ire of Catherine the great, who seeks to earn revenge for her subjects, so please, so she is not forced to break Dee's law and unleashes the chaos that law seeks to prevent, punish this man for his crimes." Cesare, now finished talking bows to the quadumvirant and took a step back from where he was standing.
"Let the man speak." Alexander said gruffly, the stocky man, his face covered in scars had long since outgrew the boyish appearance of his youth, he fidgeted with a metallic pen as he looked intently down at Machiavelli.
Cesare gestured to two of his soldiers who undid the mask/gag on Machiavelli's face.
"Why did you join with the Nazis and march on Stalingrad?" Alexander asked, going from twirling the pen to clicking it on the table, Qin Shi Huang looked annoyed by Alexander's pen but stayed silent.
Mac worked his jaw for a moment, clearly Cesare's bonds weren't designed for his prisoner's comfort. "Your honours, at the time I was bound to the service of the Elder Aten, I had no choice but to do as he wished for me to do."
The four Immortal warlords exchanged glances and mutters so quiet they couldn't be heard from the first level.
"Go on" Qin She Huang said after a moment of discussion between his peers.
Mac bows slightly to the Chinese Emperor; "Your honors, as I was saying, my "master" had bound my very life to his cause, and if I did not do as he commanded, I would be killed or worse." The Italian immortal paused, "it was only my encounter with the young immortal William "Billy the Kid" Bonnet that gave me the courage to break free from his will and it was only his death in the wars that Dee brought that truly freed me. The same wars that caused the great Kamehameha to unite you four to bring peace, that is all I have to say besides that i wish you would take my slavery to Aten into account when pronouncing my punishment." Mac bowed and took a step back.
A loud boom echoed through the halls, stopping what Cleopatra was about to say before she even uttered a word.
to be continued...